Living across Africa and the Caribbean, this widely dispersed primate population must adapt to different environmental challenges. How do members of the genus Chlorocebus live in desert-like conditions and in areas with freezing temperatures and snow in winter? This book examines the ways these primates adapt genetically, hormonally, physically and behaviourally to their changing landscapes. It features summary chapters for major topics such as behavioural ecology, life history, taxonomy, genetics and ethnoprimatology. Shorter essays supplement the work, with experts detailing their particular research on these primates. The combination of scholarship provides both a comprehensive view of this adaptable genus while enabling the reader to gain depth in specific topics. Developed from a symposium, this book combines decades of experience working with savanna monkeys into a tangible resource, for students and researchers in primatology as well as evolutionary and behavioural studies.

The battle of the sexes can be explained at its deepest level, writes Meredith Small, as a war of different mating strategies. In her intriguing and provocative book about females and sex, Small concentrates on primates - the prosimians, monkeys, and apes, whose ancestry we share - to show how females have evolved to be highly sexual creatures. Using nonhuman female primates as a gauge, she describes the sexual and reproductive strategies of our nearest cousins to demonstrate that just as males are strategists in the reproductive game, females also search for good partners, enjoy sex, and keep their own reproductive interests in mind. Female Choices opens with the evolution of sexual reproduction and of males and females as distinct forms. Small then introduces primates and gives a detailed history of the average female's life cycle. After devoting chapters to sexuality, reproduction, and sexual selection theory - the theory behind female mate choice - she discusses what female primates actually do. Drawing on her own firsthand observation of nonhuman primates, she shows that some are highly "promiscuous, " others prefer several unfamiliar males, and some apparently make no choices at all. The behavior of the undiscriminating females often affects the evolution of relationships between the sexes and can influence the social structure of a species. In a final chapter on human behavior, Small maintains that the human pair-bond is a tenuous compromise made by the two sexes to bring up highly dependent infants. But, she writes, because both sexes also have a "natural" tendency to seek out other partners, that bond is always at risk. Small insists that female choice is not necessarily sexualselection, but is nonetheless important to female fitness. Sure to provoke controversy, her book will add a new twist to an exciting field of research while offering significant clues as to the origins of our own sexuality.

From foraging patterns in a single tree to social interactions across a home range, how primates use space is a key question in the field of primate behavioral ecology. Drawing on the latest advances in spatial analysis tools, this book offers practical guidance on applying geographic information systems (GIS) to central questions in primatology. An initial methodological section discusses niche modelling, home range analysis and agent-based modelling, with a focus on remote data collection. Research-based chapters demonstrate how ecologists apply this technology to a suite of topics including: calculating the intensity of use of both range and travel routes, assessing the impacts of logging, mining and hunting, and informing conservation strategies.

As our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees offer tantalizing clues about the behavior of early human ancestors. This book provides a rich and detailed portrait of chimpanzee social life in the wild, synthesizing hundreds of thousands of hours of research at seven long-term field sites. Why are the social lives of males and females so different? Why do groups of males sometimes seek out and kill neighboring individuals? Do chimpanzees cooperate when they hunt monkeys? Is their vocal behaviour like human speech? Are there different chimpanzee 'cultures'? Addressing these questions and more, Adam Arcadi presents a fascinating introduction to the chimpanzee social universe and the challenges we face in trying to save this species from extinction. With extensive notes organized by field site and an appendix describing field methods, this book is indispensable for students, researchers, and anyone else interested in the remarkable and complex world of these intelligent apes.

The illegal trade in live apes, ape meat and body parts occurs across all ape range states and poses a significant and growing threat to the long-term survival of wild ape populations worldwide. What was once a purely subsistence and cultural activity, now encompasses a global multi-million-dollar trade run by sophisticated trans-boundary criminal networks. The challenge lies in teasing apart the complex and interrelated factors that drive the ape trade, while implementing strategies that do not exacerbate inequality. This volume of State of the Apes brings together original research and analysis with topical case studies and emerging best practices, to further the ape conservation agenda around killing, capture and trade. This title is also available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

The study of the chimpanzee, one of the human species' closest relatives, has led scientists to exciting discoveries about evolution, behavior, and cognition over the past half century. In this book, rising and veteran scholars take a fascinating comparative approach to the culture, behavior, and cognition of both wild and captive chimpanzees. By seeking new perspectives in how the chimpanzee compares to other species, the scientists featured offer a richer understanding of the ways in which chimpanzees' unique experiences shape their behavior. They also demonstrate how different methodologies provide different insights, how various cultural experiences influence our perspectives of chimpanzees, and how different ecologies in which chimpanzees live affect how they express themselves. After a foreword by Jane Goodall, the book features sections that examine chimpanzee life histories and developmental milestones, behavior, methods of study, animal communication, cooperation, communication, and tool use. The book ends with chapters that consider how we can apply contemporary knowledge of chimpanzees to enhance their care and conservation. Collectively, these chapters remind us of the importance of considering the social, ecological, and cognitive context of chimpanzee behavior, and how these contexts shape our comprehension of chimpanzees. Only by leveraging these powerful perspectives do we stand a chance at improving how we understand, care for, and protect this species.

In 1987, the University of Chicago Press published "Primate Societies", the standard reference in the field of primate behavior for an entire generation of students and scientists. But in the twenty-five years since its publication, new theories and research techniques for studying the Primate order have been developed, debated, and tested, forcing scientists to revise their understanding of our closest living relatives. Intended as a sequel to "Primate Societies", "The Evolution of Primate Societies" compiles thirty-one chapters that review the current state of knowledge regarding the behavior of nonhuman primates. Chapters are written by leading authorities in the field and organized around four major adaptive problems primates face as they strive to grow, maintain themselves, and reproduce in the wild. The inclusion of chapters on the behavior of humans at the end of each major section represents one particularly novel aspect of the book, and it will remind readers what we can learn about ourselves through research on nonhuman primates. The final section highlights some of the innovative and cutting-edge research designed to reveal the similarities and differences between nonhuman and human primate cognition. "The Evolution of Primate Societies" will be every bit the landmark publication its predecessor has been.

From the snub-nosed monkeys of China to the mountain gorillas of central Africa, our closest nonhuman relatives are in critical danger worldwide. A recent report, for example, warns that nearly 20 percent of the world's primates may go extinct within the next ten or twenty years. In this book Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar integrate cutting-edge theoretical advances with practical management priorities to give scientists and policymakers the tools they need to help keep these species from disappearing forever.
"Primate Conservation Biology" begins with detailed overviews of the diversity, life history, ecology, and behavior of primates and the ways these factors influence primate abundance and distribution. Cowlishaw and Dunbar then discuss the factors that put primates at the greatest risk of extinction, especially habitat disturbance and hunting. The remaining chapters present a comprehensive review of conservation strategies and management practices, highlighting the key issues that must be addressed to protect primates for the future.

The bonobo, along with the chimpanzee, is one of our two closest living relatives. Their relatively narrow geographic range (south of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo) combined with the history of political instability in the region, has made their scientific study extremely difficult. In contrast, there are dozens of wild and captive sites where research has been conducted for decades with chimpanzees. Because data sets on bonobos have been so hard to obtain and so few large-scale studies have been published, the majority of researchers have treated chimpanzee data as being representative of both species. However, this misconception is now rapidly changing. With relative stability in the DRC for over a decade and a growing community of bonobos living in zoos and sanctuaries internationally, there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the bonobo with dozens of high impact publications focusing on this fascinating species. This research has revealed exactly how unique bonobos are in their brains and behavior, and reminds us why it is so important that we redouble our efforts to protect the few remaining wild populations of this iconic and highly endangered great ape species.

Featuring forty-seven original essays by seventy leading researchers, Primates in Perspective, Second Edition, offers a comprehensive and contemporary overview of all major areas of primatology. Thoroughly revised and updated throughout, the second edition offers a diversity of theoretical positions on such topics as reproduction, ecology, and social behavior and intelligence.
Primates in Perspective, Second Edition, is ideal for introductory primatology courses and can also be used in upper-division behavior and conservation courses. Additionally, it is an essential reference for primate researchers.

The illegal trade in live apes, ape meat and body parts occurs across all ape range states and poses a significant and growing threat to the long-term survival of wild ape populations worldwide. What was once a purely subsistence and cultural activity, now encompasses a global multi-million-dollar trade run by sophisticated trans-boundary criminal networks. The challenge lies in teasing apart the complex and interrelated factors that drive the ape trade, while implementing strategies that do not exacerbate inequality. This volume of State of the Apes brings together original research and analysis with topical case studies and emerging best practices, to further the ape conservation agenda around killing, capture and trade. This title is also available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.

In Decolonizing Extinction Juno Salazar Parrenas ethnographically traces the ways in which colonialism, decolonization, and indigeneity shape relations that form more-than-human worlds at orangutan rehabilitation centers on Borneo. Parrenas tells the interweaving stories of wildlife workers and the centers' endangered animals while demonstrating the inseparability of risk and futurity from orangutan care. Drawing on anthropology, primatology, Southeast Asian history, gender studies, queer theory, and science and technology studies, Parrenas suggests that examining workers' care for these semi-wild apes can serve as a basis for cultivating mutual but unequal vulnerability in an era of annihilation. Only by considering rehabilitation from perspectives thus far ignored, Parrenas contends, could conservation biology turn away from ultimately violent investments in population growth and embrace a feminist sense of welfare, even if it means experiencing loss and pain.

Mother and infant negotiate over food; two high-status males jockey for power; female kin band together to get their way. It happens among humans and it happens among our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom, the great apes of Africa. In this eye-opening book, we see precisely how such events unfold in chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas: through a spontaneous, mutually choreographed dance of actions, gestures, and vocalizations in which social partners create meaning and come to understand each other.

Using dynamic systems theory, an approach employed to study human communication, Barbara King is able to demonstrate the genuine complexity of apes' social communication, and the extent to which their interactions generate meaning. As King describes, apes create meaning primarily through their body movements--and go well beyond conveying messages about food, mating, or predators. Readers come to know the captive apes she has observed, and others across Africa as well, and to understand "the process of creating social meaning."

This new perspective not only acquaints us with our closest living relatives, but informs us about a possible pathway for the evolution of language in our own species. King's theory challenges the popular idea that human language is instinctive, with rules and abilities hardwired into our brains. Rather, "The Dynamic Dance" suggests, language has its roots in the gestural "building up of meaning" that was present in the ancestor we shared with the great apes, and that we continue to practice to this day.

Furry and wide-eyed, lorises and pottos are small, nocturnal primates inhabiting African, Asian and Southeast Asian tropical and subtropical forests. Their likeable appearance, combined with their unusual adaptations - from a marked reduction of the tail to their mostly slow, deliberate locomotion, powerful grasping and, in some species, a venomous bite - has led to a significant rise in research interest in the family Lorisidae over the last decade. Furthermore, lorises in particular have featured frequently in international media largely due to illegal trade, for example as pets. This is the first volume to present a full picture of the breadth of research being undertaken on lorisids to aid future studies as well as conservation efforts. Focusing on five key topics: evolutionary biology, ecomorphology, behavioural ecology, captive management and conservation, this book is a vital read for graduate students and researchers in primatology, biological anthropology, evolutionary biology, animal behaviour and conservation.

The bonobo, along with the chimpanzee, is one of our two closest living relatives. Their relatively narrow geographic range (south of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo) combined with the history of political instability in the region, has made their scientific study extremely difficult. In contrast, there are dozens of wild and captive sites where research has been conducted for decades with chimpanzees. Because data sets on bonobos have been so hard to obtain and so few large-scale studies have been published, the majority of researchers have treated chimpanzee data as being representative of both species. However, this misconception is now rapidly changing. With relative stability in the DRC for over a decade and a growing community of bonobos living in zoos and sanctuaries internationally, there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the bonobo with dozens of high impact publications focusing on this fascinating species. This research has revealed exactly how unique bonobos are in their brains and behavior, and reminds us why it is so important that we redouble our efforts to protect the few remaining wild populations of this iconic and highly endangered great ape species.

The Tai Chimpanzee Project (Tai National Park, Cote D'Ivoire) has yielded unprecedented insights into the nature of cooperation, cognition, and culture in our closest living relatives. Founded in 1979 by Christophe and Hedwige Boesch, the project has entered its 40th year of continuous research. Alongside other famous long-term chimpanzee study sites at Gombe and Mahale in East Africa, the tireless work of the team at Tai has contributed to the fields of behavioural ecology and anthropology, as well as improving public awareness of the urgent need to protect this already endangered species. Encompassing important research topics including chimpanzee ecology, reproductive behaviour, tool use, culture, communication, cognition and conservation, this book provides an engaging account of how Tai chimpanzees are adapted to African jungle life and how they have developed unique forms of cooperation with less violence, regular adoptions and complex cultural differences between groups.

As our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees offer tantalizing clues about the behavior of early human ancestors. This book provides a rich and detailed portrait of chimpanzee social life in the wild, synthesizing hundreds of thousands of hours of research at seven long-term field sites. Why are the social lives of males and females so different? Why do groups of males sometimes seek out and kill neighboring individuals? Do chimpanzees cooperate when they hunt monkeys? Is their vocal behaviour like human speech? Are there different chimpanzee 'cultures'? Addressing these questions and more, Adam Arcadi presents a fascinating introduction to the chimpanzee social universe and the challenges we face in trying to save this species from extinction. With extensive notes organized by field site and an appendix describing field methods, this book is indispensable for students, researchers, and anyone else interested in the remarkable and complex world of these intelligent apes.

The number of primates on the brink of extinction continues to grow, and the need to respond with effective conservation measures has never been greater. This book provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art synthesis of research principles and applied management practices for primate conservation. It begins with a consideration of the biological, intellectual, economic, and ecological importance of primates and a summary of the threats that they face, before going on to consider these threats in more detail with chapters on habitat change, trade, hunting, infectious diseases, and climate change. Potential solutions in the form of management practice are examined in detail, including chapters on conservation genetics, protected areas, and translocation. An Introduction to Primate Conservation brings together an international team of specialists with wide-ranging expertise across primate taxa. This is an essential textbook for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and established researchers in the fields of primate ecology and conservation biology. It will also be a valuable reference for conservation practitioners, land managers, and professional primatologists worldwide.

This book is a collection of fascinating contributions from research experts around the world and their studies on monkeys, their brains, behaviours, endocrinology, diseases that pose potential threats to our species and the evolution of hormonal genes. If "humans are like onions -- made of layers", as said by the character in the movie Shrek, monkeys are perhaps made of the same layers, except for the outermost. Thus, we share most of our genetics, physiology and pathology with them, in addition to our behaviour and social conduct. These great similarities, particularly in metabolic aspects, are thoroughly documented by the authors that close the book which describes the baboon as just an experimental animal model used to discover the genetic and hormonal alterations behind the appearance of those chronic diseases that have become a pandemic. The authors dealing with the brain development subject make the point that, given the position that non-human primates (NHP) occupy within the evolutionary tree, and as the closest phylogenetic species to humans, the rhesus monkeys constitute an ideal animal model for the study of fundamental neural mechanisms occurring throughout the developmental and maturation phases of life; from the neonatal to senile stages.

This book focuses on the biology, behaviours and disorders of monkeys. Topics discussed include the use of non-human primates in biogerontology; cognitive correlates of communication in primates; effects of the adverse rearing experience on the organisation of the brain and behaviour among non-human primates; parent-infant relationships in Marmosets; planning abilities of monkeys; neuropeptides in the monkey brainstem and developmental neuronal toxicity and the Rhesus monkey.

Primatology draws on theory and methods from diverse fields, including anatomy, anthropology, biology, ecology, medicine, psychology, veterinary sciences and zoology. The more than 500 species of primate range from tiny mouse lemurs to huge gorillas, and primatologists collect data in a variety of environments including in the field, research facilities, museums, sanctuaries, zoos, and from the literature. The variability in research interests, study animals and research sites means that there are no standard protocols for how to study primates. Nevertheless, asking good questions and designing appropriate studies to answer them are vital to produce high quality science. This accessible guide for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers explains how to develop a research question, formulate testable hypotheses and predictions, design and conduct a project and report the results. The focus is on research integrity and ethics throughout, and the book provides practical advice on overcoming common difficulties researchers face.

The size and composition of primate groups varies tremendously across species, within species, and within groups over time. Written by leading authorities, this book focuses on the causes and consequences of variation in the number of males per group. This variation lies at the heart of understanding adaptive variation among primate social systems. The volume also provides an extensive overview of variation in group composition across all major primate taxa using up-to-date reviews, case studies, evolutionary theory, and theoretical models. A comparative review of birds and selected other mammals is included. This text will become a favorite with all those interested in the behavioral ecology of primates.