The NYT posted an article today on a study exploring subordinate monkeys' use of high-calorie foods to help alleviate social stress:
Once these foods were available, the low-status monkeys promptly developed an appetite. They began eating significantly more calories than their social superiors. While the dominant monkeys dabbled in the sweet, fatty pellets just during the daytime, the subordinate monkeys kept scarfing them down after dark...
...“Essentially, eating high-calorie foods becomes a coping strategy to deal with daily life events for an individual in a difficult social situation,” Dr. Wilson said. “The subordinates don’t get beat up, but they get harassed by high-ranking monkeys. If they’re sitting somewhere and a dominant monkey comes over, they give up their seat and move away. They’re always looking over their shoulders.”
It's kind of humbling to see your entire high school experience summed up by rhesus monkeys and banana-flavored pellets.
Actually, the NYT is quick to point out why the monkeys are BETTER than us:
“Female humans report that they eat high-calorie foods to make themselves feel better when stressed,” Dr. Zellner says, “but they actually don’t feel better after eating them. Instead, because they are restrained eaters, they feel guilt and actually feel worse. Female monkeys don’t have that cognitive baggage.”
Bear in mind, the rhesus monkey experiment mentioned above observed only female monkeys.
When dealing with a mixed-sex rhesus cage, it became all too difficult to isolate snacking causes, as the females would pretend they don't eat, opt for Diet-Coke-and-salad-flavored pellets, and go to the bathroom in groups.
Once the males were removed, the females rewarded themselves with Pinkberry pellets, followed by induced vomiting and extended rhesus pilates.
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