The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #112945   Message #2396339
Posted By: GUEST,DV
23-Jul-08 - 06:32 PM
Thread Name: BS: Chongo needs a wife!
Subject: RE: BS: Chongo needs a wife!
Well, apparently I fail the blue clicky test.

While it may be anti-climactic, this is what I'm talking about!

Forbidden fruit: Chimp ladies love it

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pilfered fruit brazenly plucked under the farmer's gaze may be the secret to stolen love, at least for wild male chimpanzees and their consorts, British researchers said on Tuesday.

Wild chimps in West Africa pinch fruits from local farms to impress the lady chimps, and it seems to pay off, said Dr. Kimberley Hockings of the University of Stirling's department of psychology.

"The adult male who shared most with this female engaged in more consortships with her and received more grooming from her than the other adult males, even the alpha male," said Hockings, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS One.

"Such daring behavior may be considered an attractive trait," Hockings said in comments e-mailed to Reuters.

She and colleagues studied crop-raids made by wild male chimpanzees in the West African village of Bossou in the Republic of Guinea. The study is the only recorded example of routine sharing of plant foods by chimps who are not related, the researchers said.

The favored fruit was typically papaya, which is large and easy to share, but oranges and pineapple also scored.

Hockings said possessing a desirable food item may draw positive attention to an individual and help establish or cement an adult male chimpanzee's relationships.