Much of the potential of sensory information for understanding primate feed
ing has been ignored because the subject is usually approached from a nutri
tional perspective rather than a sensory one. However, nutrients are abstra
ct constructs of modern science, so how can we expect primates to know what
they are? To argue that a foraging primate is avoiding fiber or searching
for a particular nutrient class such as protein, we have to establish a sen
sory link to these abstract food components. This review synthesizes widely
scattered information on the sensory ecology of primates and asks how the
senses might convey information on food location, abundance, and quality. P
rimates receive a barrage of sensory inputs, which help them make efficient
feeding decisions about food distributed in time and space. We do not trea
t these senses in a traditional manner, but divide them into those that rec
eive input from outside the animal (external senses) and from inside the di
gestive system (internal senses). We treat less completely some areas that
have been reviewed in past issues of Evolutionary Anthropology, such as col
or vision,(1) taste,(2) and food physics.(3).