Considerations on field methods used to assess non-human primate feeding behaviour and human food intake in terms of nutritional requirements

Claude Marcel Hladik (1)

1 EAE - Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie

Measuring food intake has been a major issue in our multidisciplinary research team, where anthropologists and primatologists worked together aiming at the objective of a better understanding of food preferences and choices in various contexts, especially in environmental settings where indigenous, spontaneous, species can cover most of the nutritional requirements. The idea of merging primatological studies with an anthropological approach resulted from the search of methods to differentiate what part of the feeding behaviour is exclusively determined by biological factors and what is shaped by the sociocultural context including symbolic aspects, which can become a major force determining food choices in human groups. Of course, the differences in our approaches have never been excessively different, since non-human primates share with humans several traits that are now considered as ‘cultural'.

Mots clés: quantification of diet; primate diets; human diets; food intake; energy balance

Mots clés: quantification de l'alimentation; alimentation des primates; alimentation humaine; prise alimentaire; équilibre énergétique

Domaines: Anthropologie biologique; Alimentation et Nutrition

Claude Marcel Hladik. Considerations on field methods used to assess non-human primate feeding behaviour and human food intake in terms of nutritional requirements. J.MacClancy & A.Fuentes. Centralizing fieldwork: critical perspectives from primatology, biological anthropology and social anthropology, Berghahn, Oxford & New York, pp.170-185, 2011. ⟨hal-00547677⟩