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Our vervet monkeys in South Africa will often do this but not always. When they steal fruit from our kitchens, they seem to take bites out of each item in their
by ycombinete 5y ago
Our vervet monkeys in South Africa will often do this but not always. When they steal fruit from our kitchens, they seem to take bites out of each item in their haul, then run off, sometimes with their favorite one.
I'm guessing abundance is one reason, similar to how predators in a glut will eat the liver, and other high value meat before moving on to new prey.
- technothrasher 5y agoI very much enjoyed watching the vervet monkey shenanigans when I was in South Africa. I watched a vervet monkey at a camp come down and poke around a pile of apples, seemingly sorting out which were the best ones to take. But the instant somebody came out of the kitchen, the monkey dropped all the apples, grabbed a cupcake, and ran. Another one came down off the roof to try and take some leftovers at the table I was sitting at. When it saw me, it looked right at me, puffed up its body, bared its fangs, and gave off an evil sounding hiss. I just looked right back at it and said, "Really, buddy? I'm ten times your size and weight. Go ahead, come at me." It obviously couldn't understand English, but it clearly knew I was calling its bluff. It looked crestfallen and left sulkily. Funny little things.
- ycombinete 5y agoThat’s such a great story. Maybe he earmarked the cupcake immediately as his favourite, and started sorting through the rest in case there was something better.