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Re: chimpanzee cannibalism -->research question
Herb Huston (huston@access3.digex.net)
2 Apr 1995 15:35:22 -0400
In article <3li9if$2rh@rebecca.albany.edu>, <cc3265@albnyvms.bitnet> wrote:
}In article <3leson$b7d@diplomatic.passport.ca>, edmundo@passport.ca (Edmundo Olaivar) writes:
}>Chimpanzee cannibalism. Why?
}>
}>My working theory:
}>Chimpanzees are not real cannibals. Comsumption of other chimpanzee is to
}>facilitate population control and not to satisfy hungry.
}
}Hi. Does this happen often? It was my understanding that there was an
}isolated incident of it in the Gombe group, by one chimp & her daughter,
}who may have been abnormal in some way. I haven't heard or read any more
}about it than this. You might try the Primate Talk ListServ for info.
There have been several incidents at Gombe and other sites, and there were
other cannibals at Gombe besides Passion and Pom. For more information,
see Jane Goodall, _The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior_, 1986,
Belknap, Cambridge, MA.
There's also an account of a chimpanzee eating a human infant, but that's
only fair since many humans eat chimpanzees.
-- Herb Huston
-- huston@access.digex.net
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