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.



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 Striling's department of psychology.



"The adult male who shared most with this female engaged in more consortships with her and received 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 behaviour may be considered an attractive trait," Hockings said in comments e-mailed to Reuters.



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



The favoured 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.



Adult males were most likely to share such foodsobtained in exposed locations and in the presence of local people."Food-raiding adult males may be advertising prowess to other group-members," she said.



Hockings said the males showed signs their risky behaviour was nerve-racking,as evidenced by rough self-scratching,a behaviour pattern involving large movements of the arm that suggests anxiety.



Rough self-scratching levels were more than 4 times higher when adult male chimps stole and ate cultivated food compared with wild food.Nevertheless,stolen foods were shared much more frequently than wild plant foods.



英国研究员称,从农夫眼皮子底下厚着脸皮偷摘下的果子可能正是窃取芳心的秘诀,起码对野生雄性黑猩猩和他的配偶来说是这样.



斯特林大学心理系的金伯利·霍金斯博士说，西非的野生黑猩猩在当地农场窃取水果，以求博得异性的欢心，而且这方法似乎很有成效。



霍金斯的研究成果已刊登在公共科学图书馆的期刊《公共科学图书馆·综合》上，她说“与雌猩猩分享果子最多的雄性黑猩猩能得到‘她’更多的接触和关爱，而其他雄性黑猩猩，哪怕是族群首领也望尘莫及。”

“ 这种大胆的偷盗行为可能被认为是魅力十足的表现。”霍金斯在发给路透社的电邮中评论道。

她和同事们在几内亚共和国的小村博苏研究这种野生雄性黑猩猩“掠夺食物”的行为。研究人员说，这一研究是无亲缘关系的黑猩猩们分享果实的唯一记录。

最受欢迎的水果通常是木瓜，它个儿大，便于分享，另外橙子和菠萝也颇受喜爱。

霍金斯说，拥有令人垂涎的食物可以获得异性的青睐，并帮助成年雄性黑猩猩建立或巩固恋爱关系。

成年雄性黑猩猩最有可能与异性分享于光天化日，当地人的众目睽睽之下获得的食物。“这些‘掠夺狂’可能在向同伴耀武扬威，”她说。

霍金斯还说，雄性黑猩猩显示出的一些迹象表明这种冒险行为令它们十分不安。其证据是它们会粗暴的挠搔自己—这一动作牵涉很大的臂膀活动，暗示了它们的焦躁情绪。

当成年雄性黑猩猩偷吃人类种植的果子时，它们会粗暴挠搔自己的频率比吃野果时高四倍还多，尽管如此，较之野果，分享偷来果子的情况更为频繁。

*PublicLibrary of science：公共科学图书馆，简称PLoS，成立于2000年，是一个与科学家和医生组成的非营利机构，致力于将全世界的科学和医学文献作为免费资源向公众开放，《公共科学图书馆·综合》为其创建的在线期刊。

[ 本帖最后由 streetstone 于 2008-2-23 21:12 编辑 ]