Social rank overrides environmental and community fluctuations in determining meat access by female chimpanzees in the Tai National Park, Cote d'Ivoire.

ABSTRACT: Meat, long hypothesized as an important food source in human evolution, is still a substantial component of the modern human diet, with some humans relying entirely on meat during certain times of the year. Understanding the socio-ecological context leading to the successful acquisition and consumption of meat by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), our closest living relative, can provide insight into the emergence of this trait because humans and chimpanzees are unusual among primates in that they both (i) hunt mammalian prey, (ii) share meat with community members, and (iii) form long-term relationships and complex social hierarchies within their communities. However, females in both human hunter-gatherer societies as well as chimpanzee groups rarely hunt, instead typically accessing meat via

SUBMITTER: Riedel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6982416 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature