On Jun 5, 12:35 pm, "Kadaitcha Man" > wrote:
...
> Erm... Chimpanzees and apes eat meat.

'According to Tuttle, the first substantive information on chimp
diets was provided by Nissen in 1931 (p.75). In 1930 Nissen
spent 75 days of a 3-month period tracking and observing
chimps. He made direct unquantified observations and
examined fecal deposits and leftovers at feeding sites. He also
found "no evidence that they ate honey, eggs or animal prey"
- this observation may have been too limited due to seasonal
variations in the chimp diet.

In Reynolds and Reynolds (1965), Tuttle says that a 300 hour
study of Budongo Forest chimps over an 8-month period
revealed "no evidence for avian eggs, termites or vertebrates",
although they thought that insects formed 1% of their diet (p.81).

In another study of Budongo Forest chimps from 1966 to 1967,
Sugiyama did not observe "meat-eating or deliberate captures
of arthropods", although he reported that "the chimpanzees
did ingest small insects that infested figs" (p.82).

Tuttle says that later observations at Budongo by Suzuki revealed
meat eating. Where the earlier observations wrong, or incomplete,
or maybe an accurate reflection of their diet at the time? Did the
chimps change their diet later? We do not know. Chimps
sometimes change their diets on a monthly basis. A study of
chimps at the Kabogo Point region from 1961 to 1962 by Azuma
and Toyoshima, revealed that they witnessed "only one instance
of chimpanzees ingesting animal food, vis. termites or beetles
from rotten wood." (p.87).

>From 1963 to 1964, similar observations were found in Kasakati
Basin by a Kyoto University team, and when Izawa and Itani
published in 1966 they reported "no chimpanzees eating insects,
vertebrates, avian eggs, soil or tree leaves and found no trace in
the 14 stools that they inspected " (p.86). In contrast Kawabe
and Suzuki found the Kasakati chimps hunting in the same year
(p.88), although only 14 of 174 fecal samples contained traces
of insects and other animal foods. So perhaps these differing
observations are due to seasonal variation, or even local
differences (cultural variation) in feeding preferences - Tuttle
does not reveal which. Maybe some of the chimps groups are
'vegetarian', while others are not. But see the Kortlandt
observations below before believing that all chimps are
meat-eaters.

Far less is known about bonobo feeding habits than about the
common chimpanzee. Like chimps, the bonobo is also known
to eat insects and carrion, although unlike chimps it has not
been observed to hunt. Kano and Mulavwa provided the most
detailed account of the feeding behaviour of Wamba bonobos
based on a 4-month study. Tuttle reports that their diet was
80% fruit pulp, 15% fibrous foods and 5% seeds, and that
"Animal foods constituted a minute part of their fare" (p.95).

The best evidence, if there is any, of a "vegetarian" ape is the
gorilla. As with the other apes, there is great variation in what
gorillas eat based on their locality, and season. A 15-month
study of gorillas at Campo by Calvert, is reported by Tuttle
(p.100), in which he says that out of 280 stools, 1 example of
stomach contents and 1400 feeding sites, plus direct
observations, there was "no evidence" that "Campo gorillas
ingested animal matter." Similarly, Casimir and Butenandt
followed a group about 20 gorillas at Kahuzi during 15 months
in 1971 to 1972 (Tuttle, ibid., p.102). They collected 43 fecal
samples at fairly regular intervals but none "contained remains
of vertebrates or invertebrates". In addition, the gorillas did
not disturb active birds and honeybee nests that were clearly
visible near their own nests. Nor did they unearth bee nests.
Goodall also noted that Kahuzi gorillas ignored eggs and
fledglings and did not invade bees nests (Tuttle, ibid., p.105),
and that none of the many fecal samples he found contained
animal remnants. Tuttle also reports that the "most detailed"
study of 10 groups of Zairean Virunga mountain gorillas by
Schaller in 13 months from 1956 to 1960, including fecal
samples and 466 direct hours of observation, found "no
evidence that they raided apian nests, which were common
at Kabara, ingested animal foods, or drank water." (p.107)
In 1959, a 64-day study by Kawai and Mizuhara of gorillas
at Mts. Muhavura and Gahinga also found "no evidence for
animal foods in the gorillas' fare." (p.108)

The story for gorillas is by no means a clear one, as findings
seem to vary from one study to another. You can pick them
to suit your agenda. For example, Adriaan Kortlandt says in
'Food Acquisition And Processing In Primates', page 133-135,
that "Gorillas have never been observed to eat honey, eggs,
insects or meat, not even when they were sitting or nesting
almost on top of honeycomb or a bird's nest, except for
one single case of honey-eating reported by Sabater-Pi (1960)"
He adds however, that Fossey (1974) reports that slugs, larvae
and worms were found to constitute 1% of the food item
observations recorded. Kortlandt adds that "No animal
remains have been found in gorilla dung, except for one
case presumably indicating cannibalism (Fossey, 1981)."

Kortlandt states that predation by chimpanzees on vertebrates
is undoubtedly a rather rare phenomenon among rainforest-
dwelling populations of chimpanzees. Kortlandt lists the
reasons given below in his evidence.

# the absence (or virtual absence) of animal matter in the
digestive systems of hundreds of hunted, dissected or
otherwise investigated cases
# the rarity of parasites indicating carnivorous habits
# rarity of pertinent field observations
# the responses when he placed live as well as dead potential
prey animals along the chimpanzee paths at Beni (in the
poorer environments of the savanna landscape however,
predation on vertebrates appears to be much more common)

Kortlandt concludes this section on primate diets by saying
that the wealth of flora and insect fauna in the rain-forest
provides both chimpanzees and orang-utans with a dietary
spectrum that seems wide enough to meet their nutritional
requirements, without hunting and killing of vertebrates being
necessary. It is in the poorer nutritional environments, where
plant sources may be scarce or of low quality where
carnivorous behaviour arises. Even then he says that the meat
obtained are minimal and perhaps insufficient to meet basic
needs. Finally he adds "The same conclusion applies, of course,
to hominids . . . it is strange that most palaeoanthropologists
have never been willing to accept the elementary facts on this
matter that have emerged from both nutritional science and
primate research."
...'
http://venus.nildram.co.uk/veganmc/polemics.htm

> Man eats meat because man likes the taste of meat.

'The big problem we have before us in the meat industry is to
how to reduce the levels of fat in meat without leaving it dry
and tasteless when we eat it. Fat contributes a lot of taste to
meat, particularly those flavours that allow us to recognize
one species from another. Without it, we may end up with
just a bland, general meaty taste. '
http://www.aps.uoguelph.ca/~swatland/ch2_4.htm

'Measuring Brain Activity In People Eating Chocolate Offers
New Clues About How The Body Becomes Addicted

CHICAGO --- Using positron emission tomography scans to
measure brain activity in people eating chocolate, a team of U.S.
and Canadian neuroscientists believe they have identified areas
of the brain that may underlie addiction and eating disorders.

Dana Small, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern
University Medical School, and colleagues found that
individuals' ratings of the pleasantness of eating chocolate
were associated with increased blood flow in areas of the
brain, particularly in the orbital frontal cortex and midbrain,
that are also activated by addictive drugs such as cocaine.
...
According to Small, a primary reinforcer is a stimulus that an
individual doesn't have to learn to like but, rather, is enjoyed
from birth. Addictive drugs can be viewed as primary
reinforcers. Fat and sweet also are primary reinforcers, and
chocolate is chock full of fat and sweet, Small said.
...
Small explained that studying the brain's response to eating a
highly rewarding food such as chocolate provides an effective
"in-health" model of addiction. "
...'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0829082943.htm

'The combination of fat with sugar or fat with salt seems to
have a very particular neurochemical effect on the brain,"
Ann Kelley, a professor at the University of Wisconsin
(search) who co-authored the unpublished study, said on the
Fox News Channel. "What that does is release certain
chemicals that are similar to drugs, like heroin and morphine."
...'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,93031,00.html