Food Sharing

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Certainty styling is being phased out topic by topic.

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True   Likely   Speculative
What is MOCA?
MOCA FAQ...
Human Uniqueness Compared to "Great Apes": 
Relative Difference
MOCA Domain: 
Behavior
MOCA Topic Authors: 
Alyssa Crittenden
Margaret Schoeninger

In nearly all human cultures, food sharing is a common practice, especially among families and friends and between potential mates. Food sharing occurs between healthy individuals and those that are infirm or elderly. In great apes, food sharing outside of the mother-infant dyad rarely occurs . After a hunt, male chimpanzees may share the meat from the kill with others who participated in the hunt. It has been suggested that ape males may also share food with females in exchange for sex (Gomes and Boesch 2009). Recently published work, however, reports that long term chimpanzee data indicates that such food-for-sex exchanges are quite rare and very different in nature from similar exchanges among humans (Gilby et al. 2010). 

 

Timing

Timing of appearance of the difference in the Hominin Lineage as a defined date or a lineage separation event. The point in time associated with lineage separation events may change in the future as the scientific community agrees upon better time estimates. Lineage separation events are defined in 2017 as:

  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and old world monkeys was 25,000 - 30,000 thousand (25 - 30 million) years ago
  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and chimpanzees was 6,000 - 8,000 thousand (6 - 8 million) years ago
  • the emergence of the genus Homo was 2,000 thousand (2 million) years ago
  • the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and neanderthals was 500 thousand years ago
  • the common ancestor of modern humans was 100 - 300 thousand years ago

Probable Appearance: 
2,000 thousand years ago
Definite Appearance: 
100 thousand years ago
Related MOCA Topics
Related Topics (hover over title for reason):
Topic Certainty
Care of the Infirm and Elderly Likely
Cooperative Breeding Likely
Food Storage Speculative
Home Base Likely
Inter-birth Intervals Likely
Inter-Generational Transfers True
Intra-group Coalitions/Alliances Speculative
Mating Effort Speculative
Nuclear Families Likely
Nutritional Requirements During Different Life Stages True
Organized Gathering of Food Likely
Organized Hunting for Meat Likely
Organized Scavenging for Meat Speculative
Parental Investment True
Post Reproductive Life Stage Likely
Reciprocal Altruism Likely
Trade Likely
Referenced By:
Topic Certainty
Feasting
Home Base True
Nutritional Requirements During Different Life Stages
Organized Gathering of Food Likely
Parental Investment

References

  1. No evidence of short-term exchange of meat for sex among chimpanzees., Gilby, I. C., M Thompson Emery, Ruane J. D., and Wrangham R. , J Hum Evol, 2010 Jul, Volume 59, Issue 1, p.44-53, (2010)
  2. Wild Chimpanzees Exchange Meat for Sex on a Long-Term Basis, Gomes, C. M., and Boesch C. , PLoS ONE, 2009, Volume 4, Issue 4, p.e5116, (2009)
  3. To give or not to give: The behavioral ecology of human food transfers, Gurven, M. , Behavioral Brain Sciences, Volume 27, p.543-583, (2004)
  4. Hadza meat sharing., Hawkes, K, O'Connell J F., and Jones N G. Blurton , Evol Hum Behav, 2001 Mar, Volume 22, Issue 2, p.113-142, (2001)
  5. Why do chimpanzees hunt and share meat?, Mitani, J. C., and Watts D. P. , Animal Behavior, Volume 61, p.915-924, (2001)
  6. Tolerated Theft: Suggestions about the ecology and evolution of food sharing, hoarding, and scrounging. , Blurton-Jones, N. J. , Social Science Information, Volume 26, p.31-54, (1987)

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