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Distribution Patterns of Tropical Plant Foods as an Evolutionary Stimulus to Primate Mental Development
Abstract
Primates are noted for their mental abilities but the selective basis for such traits has remained obscure. It is hypothesized that the element of predictability associated with the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of plant foods in tropical forests has served to stimulate mental development in primates taking much of their food from the first trophic level. Primates able to remember the locations and phenological patterns of a wide variety of plant foods could move directly to such foods when and where available without wasting time and energy in random search. This would enhance overall foraging success by lowering procurement costs associated with a varied and patchily distributed plant diet. Membership in a cohesive social unit, that utilized the same supplying area over many consecutive generations, would also enhance foraging success by serving to transmit important information about diet to close kin. Data on the foraging behavior of howler and spider monkeys are presented to test certain implications of this hypothesis. Similar selective pressures, but applied to foods from the second trophic level, may have been of critical importance in the mental development of hominids. [primates, evolution, intelligence, plant foods, Aleles, Alouatta]
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“The foraging hypothesis posits that dietary complexity, indexed by field reports of dietary breadth and reliance on fruit (a spatiotemporally distributed resource), was the primary driver of primate cognitive evolution (151-154).”
From The evolution of self-control. (2014) · cites this paper as [151]
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Paleoenvironmental basis of cognitive evolution in great apes
Potts, R. (2004) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.20016 · Cited by 76
“They range from the intricacies of social interaction [Byrne & Whiten, 1985; Dunbar, 1992, 1995] and spatial foraging [Milton, 1981; Garber, 1989] to the challenges posed by arboreal travel [Povinelli & Cant, 1995] and food extraction [Parker & Gibson, 1977; Parker, 1996; Byrne, 1997].”
BackgroundConvergent Evolution of Cognition in Corvids, Apes and Other Animals
van Horik, J. O., Clayton, N. S., & Emery, N. J. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738182.013.0005 · Cited by 78
“Selection pressures, favoring foraging effi - ciency, are, therefore, thought to enhance species’ cognitive capacities for spatial and temporal memory (Milton, 1981).”
BackgroundThe First Million Years: The Archaeology of Protohuman Culture
Toth, N. P., & Schick, K. (1986) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-003109-2.50005-2 · Cited by 73
Schooler, L. J., & Anderson, J. R. (2017) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.21042-0 · Cited by 71
Monkeys and apes: Are their cognitive skills really so different?
Amici, F., Aureli, F., & Call, J. (2010) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.21305 · Cited by 69
“This kind of sparsely and patchily distributed food resources would call for an extra processing capacity to remember the location of food and better predict when and where to forage (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1980; Milton, 1981).”
BackgroundInfluentialAuletta, G. (2011) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.001.0001 · Cited by 91
Platt, M. L., Brannon, E. M., Briese, T. L., & French, J. A. (1996) · Animal Learning & Behavior · doi:10.3758/bf03199010 · Cited by 68
Social Complexity as a Driver of Communication and Cognition
Sewall, K. B. (2015) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icv064 · Cited by 71
“The main alternative to the Social Intelligence Hypothesis is that non-social factors, such as foraging, have driven the evolution of the brain and so-called ‘‘domain general’’ or global aspects of cognition, which permitted the subsequent emergence of greater sociality (Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1980; Milton 1981; Byr…”
BackgroundSponsel, L. E. (1986) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.an.15.100186.000435 · Cited by 67
Taï chimpanzees use botanical skills to discover fruit: what we can learn from their mistakes
Janmaat, K. R. L., Ban, S. D., & Boesch, C. (2013) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-013-0617-z · Cited by 64
“…seasons, which can be as short as 2 weeks, in combination with the low density and wide distribution of trees of many primate fruit species, increases the challenge of discovering newly emerged fruit (Anderson et al. 2005; Chapman et al. 1999; Milton 1981; Milton et al. 2005 (pg.19); Vooren 1999).”
BackgroundGarber, P. A., & Hannon, B. M. (1993) · International Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1007/bf02220255 · Cited by 65
Foraging Cognition in Nonhuman Primates
Zuberbühler, K., & Janmaat, K. (2010) · Primate Neuroethology · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326598.003.0004 · Cited by 61
“Temporal patterns of emergence can be complex, and fruits are often present for short periods only (Chapman et al., 1999b; 2004; Janmaat et al., submitted; Milton, 1981, 1988).”
BackgroundThe use of fruiting synchrony by foraging mangabey monkeys: a ‘simple tool’ to find fruit
Janmaat, K. R. L., Chapman, C. A., Meijer, R., & Zuberbühler, K. (2011) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0435-0 · Cited by 61
“Within a species, levels of synchrony vary in time and space and the discovery of fruits in one tree does not automatically predict the presence of fruit in other conspecific trees (Milton 1981; Chapman et al. 1999, 2004).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe development of feeding behavior in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)
Bray, J., Thompson, M. E., Muller, M. N., Wrangham, R. W., & Machanda, Z. P. (2017) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.23325 · Cited by 62
“Similarly, delayed maturation could help in learning the location and seasonality of food resources (Menzel, 1997; Milton, 1981a); optimal foraging theory suggests that travel time between patches is a key component of foraging efficiency (Charnov, 1976).”
BackgroundInfluentialEstrada, A., & Coates, R. I. (1985) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.1350090104 · Cited by 62
Taï chimpanzees anticipate revisiting high-valued fruit trees from further distances
Ban, S. D., Boesch, C., & Janmaat, K. R. L. (2014) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-014-0771-y · Cited by 63
“For instance, an individual tree can bear ripe fruits for an average of 0.8 months per year with individual fruits remaining edible for only three to six days (Milton 1981).”
BackgroundInfluentialAmici, F., Call, J., Watzek, J., Brosnan, S. F., & Aureli, F. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-21496-6 · Cited by 61
Barrickman, N. L., & Lin, M. J. (2010) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.21354 · Cited by 59
“…Inc. Inquiries into the benefits of encephalization are crucial to understanding the evolution of increased brain size within the primate lineage (Milton, 1981; Byrne, 1988; Sawaguchi, 1988; Sawaguchi, 1990; Barton, 1996; Reader and Laland, 2002; Byrne and Corp, 2004; Deaner et al., 2007;…”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- MILTON, K.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Corresponding author
- MILTON, KATHARINE
- Venue
- American Anthropologist
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1981-09
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 534-548
- ISSN
- 0002-7294 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1433
- OpenAlex
- W2113940759
- Cited by
- 501
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 5.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Anthropologist (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- foraging behavior, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, Alouatta, social learning, kin selection, hominin evolution, evolution of intelligence
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