Fermented food consumption in wild nonhuman primates and its ecological drivers.
Katherine Ryan AmatoÓscar M ChavesElizabeth K MallottTimothy M EppleyFilipa AbreuAndrea L BadenAdrian A BarnettJulio Cesar Bicca-MarquesSarah A BoyleChristina J CampbellColin A ChapmanMaría Fernanda De la FuentePengfei FanPeter J FashingAnnika FeltonBarbara FruthVanessa B FortesCyril C GrueterGottfried HohmannMitchell T IrwinJaya K MatthewsAddisu MekonnenAmanda Dawn MelinDavid B MorganJulia OstnerNga NguyenAlexander K PielBraulio Pinacho-GuendulainErika Patricia Quintino-ArêdesPatrick Tojotanjona RazanaparanyNicola SchielCrickette M SanzOliver SchülkeSam ShaneeAntonio SoutoJoÃo Pedro Souza-AlvesFiona A StewartKathrine M StewartAnita StoneBinghua SunStacey TecotKim ValentaErin R VogelSerge WichYan ZengPublished in: American journal of physical anthropology (2021)
We posit that primates capitalize on the natural fermentation of some fruits as part of a nutritional strategy to maximize periods of fruit exploitation and/or access a wider range of plant species. We speculate that these factors contributed to the evolutionary emergence of the human propensity for fermented foods.