ABSTRACT
Evolutionary thc-ory predicts that individuals act with their seU:'interest paramount, but hunters give a\vay precious meat, even to non-relatives. Such sharing networks vary across species, communities, and indi,·iduals. Chimpanzee males hunt monkeys, which they share with one another and with adult It-males, who pass on meat to their young. Bonobo It'males seize antelopes, and share meat with each other, but not with males. In one chimpanzee community, patterns of meat distribution changed when the most dominant (alpha) male was usurped by another. Such selective sharing appears to be strategic, in that it influences status and reproductive Sll(Tt'SS. In this way, it resembles the indirect (but effective) pay-oils accrued by human hunters in f(mtging societies, e.g. Ach(~ of Paraguay.
