Date Night for Monkeys Might Be Equivalent to Sharing Food, New Study Suggests

During a date, humans often share food while getting to know one another and attempt to form bonds. Some would go to a fancy restaurant, and others would simply spend time in their homes. But who would have thought that animals also date each other?

So far, there has been no evidence of monkeys sharing food with each other. But lead researcher Dr. Camille Troisi from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, has recorded six instances of this happening. It is considered to be the very first evidence of monkeys sharing their food.

It is believed that monkeys sharing bananas or food may be the equivalent of them taking a date out for dinner. They do not often share food as they like to hoard food for themselves. The only time they share food is a mother and a child, but it has never been between two adults in the wild.

Monkeys Sharing Food

According to the findings published in the journal Primates, golden marmosets, monkeys native to the forests in Brazil, may have a more complex and flexible social life than once thought. These monkeys are believed to have the ability to forge and strengthen social relationships outside their family groups by sharing their food.

"Given that individuals emigrate from their natal group to find opportunities to reproduce, I suggest that those food transfers could be a way for individuals to estimate the quality or availability of potential mates or social partners," said Dr. Troisi.

Although it is not fully understood how food transfers or sharing functions between groups, she suggests that more study is needed. The six observations they were able to document could contribute to understanding the flexibility of primates' social life.

Golden marmosets are specifically known to give lots of food to their young, an unusual behavior observed among primates. Observations on this species, both from captivity and now from wild, show that they are willing to share their food with other monkeys.

For animals, giving food to others shares nutrition and reveals what food tastes good and what is not.

In the past, it was thought that nutrition and information were the only goals of sharing food. But now, it seems there is a third reinforcement that fuels this behavior. Scientists believe it could be for developing and reinforcing social bonds.

When Should Animals Share Food?

Animals adapt to a variety of techniques in acquiring their food. Some engage in kleptoparasitism, wherein they steal food that has already been discovered by others. Depending on the ecological situations, challenged animals might defend their food or retreat and leave it to the challenger.

The likelihood of this behavior depends on whether it is divisible or not. For example, when food is discovered in divisible clumps, animals could divide it in a number of ways. But if food items are indivisible, sharing would be impossible, and either the challenger or defender must retain to have the food.

Considering the conditions in which food sharing could be possible, it should occur in a wide range of ecological conditions like the limited supply of food, and sharing might not significantly reduce the short-term consumption of food, and defending the food would have a high cost and a low probability of success.

Then, the use of food sharing techniques would be beneficial in this situation.