In the wild, chimpanzees create a wadge when eating certain types of food. A wadge is simply a ball of food that is placed in the lower lip and sucked on. Wadging can be a way to extract juice and nutrients from foods that are too fibrous to swallow, or it can be a way to extract the flesh from fruits that have bitter or poisonous seeds. Chimps sometimes create a wadge when eating small bits of egg or meat by adding leaves and chewing everything together. Some think that this might just be a way to prolong the enjoyment of a scarce but highly valued food.
Whatever the ultimate reason may be, it’s clear that some foods are just meant to be wadged, and primate chow is high on that list. As Annie demonstrates here, you start but dumping the entire bag into your mouth and arranging them into your lower lip.
Then, add water.
Make sure you take out the wadge once and a while to check on its progress.
Then, sit back and enjoy!
Very interesting. I haven’t done it, at least deliberately.
This would be good with graham crackers (which I am pretty sure is not on the chimps diet list). Thanks for the demo Annie!
Could be similiar to the human custom of chew…only at least with the chimps they’re smart enough to use something nutrious and not tobacco for their pleasure! 🙂 You know…just a little bit between yer cheek and gum! :)…or bottom lip depending on your preference….
Could this be way to carry your meal with you when on the move in the Wild?
At any rate she is enjoying it.
Great demonstration Annie!! I’ve seen Orangutan’s do this and they kind of protrude it out on their bottom lip to look at it and then suck it back in real quick. Guess we have things on sticks to do the same thing, like lollipops. 😉