Jacob Harman
Anthropology 102
9/28/2015
Matthew R. "Is Honey a Fallback Food for Wild Chimpanzees or Just a Sweet Treat?" Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2015): n. pag. Web.
Is Honey a Fallback Food for Wild Chimpanzees or Just a Sweet Treat?
Honey, being a highly nutritious food, is often exploited by wild chimpanzees. Honey-gathering among both Human foragers and chimpanzees suggests that honey was a regular food source for ancestral Hominins. This study asks whether honey is just a sweet treat, or a legitimate fallback food source for chimpanzees.
Dr. Matthew McLennan from the Department of Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes recorded the eating habits of chimpanzees. During two studies lasting 22 months, the first being between 2007-2008,
…show more content…
He also studied the droppings of chimps during the first study and the flower and fruit phenology in the second. Chimpanzees tools as a means of acquiring the honey was also looked at during these studies.
What Dr. Matthew McLennan found was the while Chimpanzees diets often consisted of fruits for their main source of nutrition, but they occasionally eat insects and insect products like honey; however, it known if Chimpanzees were simply eating honey when it was most available or if they only consumed it during times of food scarcity. It was found that as fruit availability decreased, the amount of bee/beeswax found in feces was at higher frequencies. They also discovered that during honey season, when honey was more abundant, chimpanzees did