Chimp 'Prostitutes' Trade Sex for Meat

Male chimps who shared hunt spoils had twice as many partners
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 8, 2009 8:25 AM CDT
Chimp 'Prostitutes' Trade Sex for Meat
Chimpanzees play with a pumpkin with a Halloween face at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in this 2005 file photo.    (AP Photo/Mark Baker )

Male chimps who get lucky hunting are a lot likelier to get lucky with female chimps if they share the spoils, a new study finds. Researchers tracked a band of chimps in the wild and found that while all were promiscuous, male hunters who shared meat—generally a rare treat for chimps—with females had twice as many partners, the Independent reports.

"Males who shared meat with females doubled their mating success," a researcher said, "whereas females, who had difficulty obtaining meat on their own, increased their calorific intake without the energetic costs and potential risk of injury related to hunting."
(More chimpanzees stories.)

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