Excited the new patch dropped. My nomads were at 35/40 food (on endless timescale), and killed a deer. It showed +5 food from the spoils, but they didn't spawn a 2nd group. Instead they were at 37.5/40 food.

So their "loot" got cut in half. Is this intentional now in the new patch?

Did you have another tribe nearby?
If so, the spoils were split between the two.

there was another group, perhaps a few hexes away. I’ll have to check if one got 3 food, and the other got 2 food.

when did that change take place. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before 

It's been that way for at least many months, yeah, possibly since the game shipped.  I don't often see it, but I learned from this forum that that's what happens, and confirmed it myself later when I knew what to look for.

I wonder if a full tribe (4x units) wins a fight against wildlife and another tribe with room to grow is nearby, if they'll split it or if the other tribe gets it all.