Chimpanzees exchange meat for sex

Apr 17, 2009

Male chimpanzees enter into 'deals' with female ones and exchange meat for sex, according to researchers.

Male chimpanzees enter into 'deals' with female ones and exchange meat for sex, according to researchers.

This is a long-term exchange, so males share their catch with females when they are not fertile, copulating with them when they are.

The researchers describe their findings in the journal PLoS One.

Cristina Gomes and her colleagues, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, studied chimps in the Tai Forest reserve in Ivory Coast.

She and her team observed the animals as they hunted and monitored the number of times they copulated. "By sharing, the males increase the number of times they mate and the females increase their intake of calories," said Dr Gomes. "What is amazing is that if a male shares with a particular female, he doubles the number of times he copulates with her, which is likely to increase the probability of fertilising that female."

High value
Meat is important for the animals' diet because it is so high in protein. Since female chimps do not usually hunt, "they have a hard time getting it on their own," said Dr Gomes.

The "meat for sex hypothesis" had already been proposed to explain why male chimps share with females.

Professor Gurven, who was not involved in this study, added that the nature of this exchange of meat for sex is "kind of like pair bonding in humans, because it's long-term.

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