Hesitancy to eat novel foods hampers the immediate enlargement of the diet but serves to limit the risk of ingesting toxic foods. Neophobia has been systematically investigated in only a few primate species and it seems affected by social influences. Surprisingly, little is known about chimpanzees' neophobia. We studied the response of 8 adult captive chimpanzees to 16 foods (foods commonly eaten by humans and never tasted before by chimpanzees). Each novel food was presented twice to the chimpanzee by a familiar or an unfamiliar human. Between the two trials the human ate the food face to face with the chimpanzee (demonstration). Results showed that some foods were almost unanimously accepted whereas others were not. Moreover, there were marked interindividual differences in food acceptance and consumption; chimpanzees ranged from being almost completely neophobic to accepting almost all foods. Familiarity with the human and the human's demonstration did not affect responses to the foods. Humans' predictions on chimpanzee's acceptance of the different foods were rather good; furthermore, in 7 cases out of 8 the human's preferences did not correlate with his/her predictions on chimpanzees' preferences. The finding that most captive chimpanzees are initially cautious towards novel foods supports the little information available for wild chimpanzees, whereas the lack of influence of the human's familiarity and demonstration on the response to food by chimpanzees calls for more naturalistic studies, in which social influences are provided by group members. Since novel stimuli provide sensory stimulation and elicit exploration and social interest, occasional presentation of novel foods could be a promising and cheap device for feeding enrichment.
Responses to novel foods in captive chimpanzees
2002
Abstract
Hesitancy to eat novel foods hampers the immediate enlargement of the diet but serves to limit the risk of ingesting toxic foods. Neophobia has been systematically investigated in only a few primate species and it seems affected by social influences. Surprisingly, little is known about chimpanzees' neophobia. We studied the response of 8 adult captive chimpanzees to 16 foods (foods commonly eaten by humans and never tasted before by chimpanzees). Each novel food was presented twice to the chimpanzee by a familiar or an unfamiliar human. Between the two trials the human ate the food face to face with the chimpanzee (demonstration). Results showed that some foods were almost unanimously accepted whereas others were not. Moreover, there were marked interindividual differences in food acceptance and consumption; chimpanzees ranged from being almost completely neophobic to accepting almost all foods. Familiarity with the human and the human's demonstration did not affect responses to the foods. Humans' predictions on chimpanzee's acceptance of the different foods were rather good; furthermore, in 7 cases out of 8 the human's preferences did not correlate with his/her predictions on chimpanzees' preferences. The finding that most captive chimpanzees are initially cautious towards novel foods supports the little information available for wild chimpanzees, whereas the lack of influence of the human's familiarity and demonstration on the response to food by chimpanzees calls for more naturalistic studies, in which social influences are provided by group members. Since novel stimuli provide sensory stimulation and elicit exploration and social interest, occasional presentation of novel foods could be a promising and cheap device for feeding enrichment.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
