Feed envy
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Feed envy is a humanizing , i.e. non-scientific term for a behavior pattern of animals while eating , which is wrongly interpreted in analogy to the emotion envy of humans . This is a competitive behavior that can be observed in many vertebrates living in groups when they defend food against competitors of their kind or when they eat food competitors keep their distance.
From the point of view of behavioral biology , such behaviors are interpreted, for example, in dogs as an expression of an existing hierarchy between the animals. In dogs that are poorly socialized, for example because they were separated from their mother too early, this competitive behavior can also be directed against the owner, who is then not tolerated near the filled food bowl.
The competitive behavior of people (mostly children) is also sometimes referred to as food envy , who mutually dispute the best pieces when eating together and occasionally consume more together than they would if they were eating separately. Occasionally the term feed envy is also used in non-scientific usage to refer to the competition between species for food.
Case study on chimpanzees
In a study on chimpanzees , the animals were given the choice of either helping other chimpanzees to get food by pulling a rope, or of moving the food to an empty room instead. In both cases, the chimpanzee pulling the rope received nothing. Contrary to the researchers' expectations, the chimpanzees behaved neither selflessly nor disapprovingly. After the animals were familiar with the test situation, half of the animals did not pull any of the ropes; so they neither pushed the food towards the neighbor nor away from the neighbor. The other half of the test animals drew the food in exactly equal proportions either to the empty room or to the neighbor. This behavior demonstrates, the researchers argue, that the chimpanzees acted neither selflessly nor disapprovingly. The researchers therefore interpreted both properties as “exclusively human properties” and came to the conclusion: “If selflessness and malice are limited to humans and do not occur in chimpanzees, then it is likely that these properties have changed over the course of the last six million years have evolved since the genealogical paths of humans and chimpanzees parted. "
This interpretation was reinforced by a second experiment on chimpanzees. Again, the test animals had the choice between two ropes. This time, however, they could pull the food on a rolling table either with one rope within their own, sole reach or - with the other rope - to a place where both themselves and a neighboring chimpanzee had access to the treats. The result: sometimes the test animals moved to the right, sometimes to the left, and the test animals did not prefer sole access to the food.
See also
literature
- Rafaela von Bredow : The power of wickedness. In: Der Spiegel 5/2006, pp. 124–126, full text .
Web links
Individual evidence
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↑ Keith Jensen, Brian Hare, Josep Call, Michael Tomasello : What's in it for me? Self-regard precludes altruism and spite in chimpanzees . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B . tape 273 , no. 1589 , 2006, p. 323-376 , doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2005.3417 , PMC 1560238 (free full text). Our bad me. People have a strong desire to help one another, but do we share resentment and malice with our closest relatives? On: mpg.de from January 18, 2006.