someone in the comments asked me what we were doing in congo and now, after things have settled down, i'm pleased to introduce our new study: food for sex. it's no secret that whenever there is food around, bonobos have sex. to ease the tension, and to stop fighting. in chimps, the dominant gets the food and if anyone else tries to take it, he beats them up. in bonobo, there seems to be a more egalitarian way of doing it and when there's food around, especially EXPENSIVE food, like green apples flown in from south africa at $100 a box, they go crazy. everyone has sex, so everyone seems to get a little bit.
but what's never been shown in an experiment before is whether they EXCHANGE food for sex. so yeah, they have sex, but will they give food in exchange for it?
first trial today!
