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Where We Stand Field workers-scientists of animal (including
human!) behavior in nature-have long been fascinated by wild
chimpanzees. A person who once has studied wild chimpanzees will be
eager to observe them again. A person who has studied them twice
will make every effort to continue the study, unless prevented from
doing so. In short, behavioral primatology is addictive! Many
people, among them Jane Goodall, Richard Wrangham, and I, do not
regret that they have dedicated their whole lives to the study of
wild chimpanzees. This is because the apes' behavior is always
challenging: chimpanzees are cheerful, charming, playful, curious,
beautiful, easygoing, generous, tolerant, and trustw- thy most of
the time, but also are cautious, cunning, ugly, violent, ferocious,
blo- thirsty, greedy, and disloyal at other times. We human beings
share both the light and dark sides with our closest living
relatives. For decades, we have documented huge across-population
variation in behavior, as well as within-population variation.
Cultural biology (now called cultural pri- tology), as proposed 60
years ago by Kinji Imanishi, recently has flourished.
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Great Ape Societies (Paperback, New)
William C. McGrew, Linda F. Marchant, Toshisada Nishida; Foreword by Jane Goodall; Afterword by Jun'Ichiro Itani
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R1,781
Discovery Miles 17 810
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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The Great Apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans) are our closest living relatives, sharing a common ancestor only five million years ago. We also share key features such as high intelligence, omnivorous diets, prolonged child-rearing and rich social lives. The Great Apes show a surprising diversity of adaptations, particularly in social life, ranging from the solitary life of orangutans, through patriarchy in gorillas to complex but different social organizations in bonobos and chimpanzees. As Great Apes are so close to humans, comparisons yield essential knowledge for modeling human evolutionary origins. Great Ape Societies provides comprehensive up-to-date syntheses of work on all four species, drawing on decades of international field work, zoo and laboratory studies. It will be essential reading for students and researchers in primatology, anthropology, psychology and human evolution.
The chimpanzee of all other living species is our closest relation, with whom we last shared a common ancestor about five million years ago. These African apes make and use a rich and varied kit of tools, and of the primates they are the only consistent and habitual tool-users and tool-makers. Chimpanzees meet the criteria of a culture as originally defined for human beings by socio-cultural anthropologists. They show sex differences in using tools to obtain and to process a variety of plant and animal foods. The technological gap between chimpanzees and human societies that live by foraging (hunter-gatherers) is surprisingly narrow at least for food-getting. Different communities of wild chimpanzees have different tool-kits and not all of this regional and local variation can be explained by the demands of the physical and biotic environments in which they live. Some differences are likely to be customs based on socially derived and symbolically encoded traditions. This book describes and analyzes the tool-use of humankind's nearest living relation. It focuses on field studies of these apes across Africa, comparing their customs to see if they can justifiably be termed cultural. It makes direct comparisons with the material culture of human foraging peoples. The book evaluates the chimpanzee as an evolutionary model, showing that chimpanzee behavior helps us to infer the origins of technology in human prehistory.
The chimpanzee of all other living species is our closest relation,
with whom we last shared a common ancestor about five million years
ago. These African apes make and use a rich and varied kit of
tools, and of the primates they are the only consistent and
habitual tool-users and tool-makers. Chimpanzees meet the criteria
of a culture as originally defined for human beings by
socio-cultural anthropologists. They show sex differences in using
tools to obtain and to process a variety of plant and animal foods.
The technological gap between chimpanzees and human societies that
live by foraging (hunter-gatherers) is surprisingly narrow at least
for food-getting. Different communities of wild chimpanzees have
different tool-kits and not all of this regional and local
variation can be explained by the demands of the physical and
biotic environments in which they live. Some differences are likely
to be customs based on socially derived and symbolically encoded
traditions. This book describes and analyzes the tool-use of
humankind's nearest living relation. It focuses on field studies of
these apes across Africa, comparing their customs to see if they
can justifiably be termed cultural. It makes direct comparisons
with the material culture of human foraging peoples. The book
evaluates the chimpanzee as an evolutionary model, showing that
chimpanzee behavior helps us to infer the origins of technology in
human prehistory.
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