How Do We Eat? Hypothesis of Foraging Strategy from the Viewpoint of Gustation in Primates

Abstract

Eating is one of the fundamental activities of animals, including humans. We humans usually have to eat several times in a day. Humans can consume quite a wide range of plants and animal foods and so are called omnivorous apes. Also, humans cannot tolerate continuous ingestion of monotonous foods irrespective of nutritional sufficiency. Although this behavior is conspicuous in humans, many primates other than humans also consume a variety of foods, including plants and animals such as insects. Chimpanzees and baboons, for example, even hunt small mammals. As a result of this feeding strategy, the primates are generally labeled as omnivores.