![]() There are plenty of primates who, like their cartoon counterparts, enjoy nothing more than a banana. They can be ranked by the popularity of meat-eating among their members, with burgeoning vegans at one end, and veritable butchers at the other: Primates Who Rarely (Or Never) Eat Meat Yet dining habits vary widely among primate groups. Their rarity, along with the value of protein, go a long way in explaining meat-eating among primates. “Sometimes they get more protein than they can handle.”Īnd while vitamins like A and B12 are harder to find in plants, they're abundant in meat. Meat is also “a protein bonanza,” Watts says. Chimps can gain plenty of immediate energy from eating meat - especially from organs, which are stuffed with fat and provide twice the caloric bang of either protein or carbs. These theories can easily apply to chimpanzees and their favorite hunting game, red colobus monkeys. Some researchers have argued that meat mainly provides them with energy, while others say it’s primarily a source of protein or vitamins. ![]() Individual chimpanzees can go months, or even years, without eating meat.Įven though the pursuit of meat isn’t necessary for survival, and can come at great personal cost to health and safety, it’s still sought out by the majority of primates. Unlike lions and other obligate carnivores, primates can live healthy, happy lives on a plant-based diet of leaves, fruits and nuts (and some do). Meat-eating is not only dangerous, but it could also be called unnecessary. Similar to the dragon hoards of myth, capuchins must use their cunning to claim the treasure, and that they do: The monkeys stand on their hind legs and use sticks as shovels to pry the eggs from the nest. Or in the case of capuchin monkeys in the Amazon, the eggs they covet aren’t those of a bird, but of a 20-foot-long, monkey-eating crocodilian, the black caiman. If you’re not swooped up by defensive parents, you might be mobbed by an entire flock. Like plants, eggs can’t flee from predators. ![]() Rather than the exception, it’s the majority - even when meat comes with a potentially violent price.Ĭonsider the safest meat to obtain - the embryo contained in a prey’s egg. Watts noted that 12 of the current 16 families of primates featured meat-eaters, a total of 89 species. Which primates, exactly, enjoy dining on flesh? Most of them, according to David Watts, an anthropologist at Yale University who analyzed over 400 studies of meat-eating among primates in a 2020 review paper. But for the primates who eat meat, these threats are an unfortunate reality. You won't be gored by a broccoli floret, and it’s impossible for a protective mother of a soybean to kick your head in. In many ways, a plant-based diet is a safe choice, and this is doubly true if you have to catch and butcher meals yourself.
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