Breakfast this morning at the sanctuary was a leisurely affair in a warm and cozy greenhouse. The chimpanzees enjoyed apples, pears and the fruit smoothie in addition to their chow. The menu appeared to be quite popular with everyone today and there was quite a bit of food peering going on. Food peering is a common occurrence in chimpanzee communities and is observed in both captive and free-living situations. Essentially, it is a nonverbal way of asking, “Are you going to eat all of that?” As a method of communication, it can be more or less effective given the audience and the mood. Today, although there were quite a few instances of it, there were not very many instances of actual food sharing, so, I would say as a strategy it was, on the whole, largely ineffective.
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Food peering reminds me of sitting on the subway and watching someone peering into the newspaper someone next to them is reading!!! There’s a sense of wanting to consume something someone else has! I think we humans food peer too….
First, I love to see the chimps eat. They are so quiet and have such nice manners — well with the exception of the peering! When they eat it is just yummy munching sounds. I also love the way Negra just chews away as if no one is around — it’s just Negra and her food! I think think I’d give everything to Annie and her laser eye peering.
I clicked on on the “food peering” link in the copy and I have to ask, is it just me or does Jody in silhouette look exactly like the Grinch — the animated version that is?! (And I want you to know I adore the Grinch and Chuck Jones who is illustrator/animator of the Grinch). : )
Heck this is what I do. Actually my adult sons do this to me until I give them a bite. So funny that they do it for fun and next time I will remind them just how much they behave like their cousins.
My dog is an expert at food peering!
Even though no one shared today, which of the chimps tends to be most generous in this instance, and do they give a little piece or the rest of what they are eating to the “peer-er”?
In general it is not a very successful strategy for getting food. It is not impossible although I have to admit, I have not seen food sharing result from food peering that often. It is more likely that a chimpanzee sitting that closely to another eating will stick their hand out to ask for or, simply, to take food from the other. This type of “sharing” can be more or less successful depending on the chimpanzees’ moods, of course.