I remember a documentary years ago with a cool redemption story in it. They followed a primate troupe around for a couple of years.
One of their newest members was a young male that had been ousted from his birth troupe. He had trouble integrating but they let him be. Let's call him George.
Next year was a drought year. Food is getting scarce. Distress is building. One day, some of the troupe find George eating some fruit. Fruit that the troupe had never been observed eating. WTF George, you can eat those? So they watch him, and watch him, and nothing bad happens. Pretty soon the whole troupe is eating this new food source that has been under their noses the whole time.
Hypothesis: primates do not instinctively know what is edible any more than we do. It's learned behavior picked up from observation. If one social group eats a food it doesn't mean that all of them do, and in this case bringing in an outsider brought new ideas.
One of their newest members was a young male that had been ousted from his birth troupe. He had trouble integrating but they let him be. Let's call him George.
Next year was a drought year. Food is getting scarce. Distress is building. One day, some of the troupe find George eating some fruit. Fruit that the troupe had never been observed eating. WTF George, you can eat those? So they watch him, and watch him, and nothing bad happens. Pretty soon the whole troupe is eating this new food source that has been under their noses the whole time.
Hypothesis: primates do not instinctively know what is edible any more than we do. It's learned behavior picked up from observation. If one social group eats a food it doesn't mean that all of them do, and in this case bringing in an outsider brought new ideas.