Abstract
ALTHOUGH food sharing has been observed among gibbons1, the active donation of food by one non-human primate to another has been reported only for free ranging chimpanzees2,3, and—in a single case—for captive gorillas4. Such behaviour has not been reported for monkeys. In the absence of positive evidence, it has seemed reasonable to assume that monkeys do not share food, except in the sense of feeding in close proximity to one another5. Since the active sharing of food may have been of fundamental importance in the early evolution of mankind6–9, examples of such behaviour among non-human primates are of particular interest to anthropologists. I describe here some observations of food sharing and donation in a captive group of douc monkeys (Pygathrix nemaeus nemaeus).
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KAVANAGH, M. Food-sharing Behaviour within a Group of Douc Monkeys (Pygathrix nemaeus nemaeus). Nature 239, 406–407 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239406a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/239406a0
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