On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:50:40 -0000, "pearl" > wrote:

> wrote in message u...
>
>> "Chimpanzees' habitat been increasingly encroached upon,
>> destroyed, and fragmented by human activites. This has
>> undeniably caused an increase in population in remaining
>> habitat, and thus increased competition for the available
>> resources. This is why the earlier studies more reliably
>> reflect primates' natural dietary preferences and habits."
>>
>> This begs the question and is a tautology ,ie. the snake chasing its
>> logical tail.
>
>There has to be a logical reason for the discrepancies.

When they begin to eat meat they find out it tastes good
and it probably makes them feel good too, so after they
start they're likely to continue when they can.

>'During the 1980s, Africa lost an estimated 47 million
>hectares of forest. By 1995 another 19 million hectares
>had been lost, according to FAO,..
>..
> In forested areas, patches of logging, agricultural advance
>and unsustainable harvesting of fuelwood and non-timber
>products fragment and degrade remaining forests.
>Fragmentation leads to loss of contact with part of the
>ecosystem necessary to maintain regeneration and full
>biodiversity. Many species need large and diverse areas.
>Others depend on other species, living in the border areas
>of the ecosystem or species being hunted or harvested.
>Thus, very few entire forest ecosystems, frontier forests
>keep existing.
>
>Worldwide, 80% of original forest cover has been cleared,
>fragmented, or otherwise degraded in the 20th century. In
>the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil, the West African rainforests,
>Madagascar, and Sumatra - some of the richest biological
>treasure houses of the world - much less than 10% of the
>original forest cover is left. There, many populations of
>plants and animals are losing their long-term viability through
>fragmentation and genetic erosion. A wave of extinctions is
>just around the corner - unless "radical" action is taken.
>
>http://www.afrol.com/features/10278
>
>> Chimps eat meat, do so with great energy and relish consuming it.
>
>Not according to earlier studies, nor all recent studies.

According to these they certainly appear to:
__________________________________________________ _______
[...]
In the American Scientist article, Stanford describes witnessing the largest massacre
ever documented at Gombe. Two hunting parties with a total of 33 chimps - two of
them swollen females - converged on a group of 25 colobus monkeys. The male chimps
chased and shook the monkeys from trees, eventually killing seven. Before Stanford's
eyes, a large male chimp plucked a baby monkey from a branch and "dispatched it with
a bite to the skull." The chimp then approached a swollen female with the carcass,
dangling it just out of her reach until she presented her swelling. Only after copulation
did the male share his food.

"An important issue today in human male-female relationships is control," Stanford said.
"What we're seeing is the evolutionary roots of this kind of mutual attempt to manipulate
and control. Male chimps are using meat to control female behavior and female chimps
are making use of their reproductive system to get meat."
[...]
http://www.usc.edu/ext-relations/new...tml/chimp.html
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__________________________________________________ _______
[...]
We might look toward the social aspects of chimpanzee societies to understand their hunting
patterns. One clue to the significance of meat in a chimpanzee society comes from the observation
that males do most of the hunting. During the past decade, adult and adolescent males made over 90
percent of the kills at Gombe. Although females occasionally hunt, they more often receive a share of
meat from the male who captured the prey.

This state of affairs sets up an interesting dynamic between males and females. Sometimes a begging
female does not receive any meat until after the male copulates with her (even while clutching the
freshly killed carcass). Some other observations are also telling. Not only does the size of a hunting
party increase in proportion to the number of estrous females present, but the presence of an estrous
female independently increases the likelihood that there will be a hunt. Such observations suggest that
male chimpanzees use meat as a tool to gain access to sexually receptive females. But females appear
to be getting reproductive benefits as well: William McGrew of Miami University in Ohio showed that
female chimpanzees at Gombe that receive generous shares of meat produce more offspring that
survive.

The distribution of the kill to other male chimpanzees also hints at another social role for meat. The
Japanese primatologist Toshisada Nishida and his colleagues in the Mahale Mountains showed that
the alpha male Ntilogi distributes meat to his allies but consistently withholds it from his rivals. Such
behavior, they suggest, reveals that meat can be used as a political tool in chimpanzee society.
Further studies should tell us whether such actions have consequences for alliances between males.
[...]
http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/article...ford-full.html
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__________________________________________________ _______
[...]
Based on new insights into the behavior of chimps and other great apes, our
now extinct human ancestors, and existing hunting and gathering societies,
Stanford shows the remarkable role that meat has played in these societies.
Perhaps because it provides a highly concentrated source of
protein--essential for the development and health of the brain--meat is
craved by many primates, including humans. This craving has given meat
genuine power--the power to cause males to form hunting parties and
organize entire cultures around hunting. And it has given men the power to
manipulate and control women in these cultures. Stanford argues that the
skills developed and required for successful hunting and especially the
sharing of meat spurred the explosion of human brain size over the past
200,000 years. He then turns his attention to the ways meat is shared within
primate and human societies to argue that this all-important activity has had
profound effects on basic social structures that are still felt today.
[...]
http://www.pup.princeton.edu/titles/6549.html
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