Food envy
January 11, 2017 by Anna -
Sometimes a chimp will savor something that’s so delicious, that another chimp will feel the need to come over and watch them intently (sometimes awkwardly close) as they eat. We call this behavior food peering. Today Burrito had a wadge (a lip full) of chewed up primate chow. After he added a couple chewable vitamins to the wadge, Foxie came over and peered jealously at his hoard.
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Foxie’s face is unbelievablly adorable and of course Mr. B is always a treat!!
Thanks for sharing…what a delight to see them in a moment of them together.
I would find that a bit unnerving. Do chimps have a different concept of personal space than humans?
Have alpha chimps been known to simply remove food from another adult chimp’s mouth? I think I remember seeing something like that from the Gombe chimps, but never anything from habituated chimps or those in sanctuary. And has Jamie ever done anything like this?
It can happen, but it is more common for a dominant chimp to take the food from their hand or to intimidate them so they don’t want to take the food in the first place.