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Some primate field studies have been on-going for decades, covering significant portions of individual life cycles or even multiple generations. In this volume, leading field workers report on the history and infrastructure of their projects in Madagascar, Africa, Asia and South America. More importantly, they provide summaries of their long-term research efforts on primate behaviour, ecology and life history, highlighting insights that were only possible because of the long-term nature of the study. The chapters of this volume collectively outline the many scientific reasons for studying primate behaviour, ecology and demography over multiple generations. This kind of research is typically necessitated by the relatively slow life histories of primates. Moreover, a complete understanding of social organization and behaviour, factors often influenced by rare but important events, requires long-term data collection. Finally, long-term field projects are also becoming increasingly important foci of local conservation activities.
Researchers have studied non-human primate cognition along different paths, including social cognition, planning and causal knowledge, spatial cognition and memory, and gestural communication, as well as comparative studies with humans. This volume describes how primate cognition is studied in labs, zoos, sanctuaries, and in the field, bringing together researchers examining similar issues in all of these settings and showing how each benefits from the others. Readers will discover how lab-based concepts play out in the real world of free primates. This book tackles pressing issues such as replicability, research ethics, and open science. With contributors from a broad range of comparative, cognitive, neuroscience, developmental, ecological, and ethological perspectives, the volume provides a state-of-the-art review pointing to new avenues for integrative research.
Primate Ecology: Studies of Feeding and Ranging Behavior in Femurs, Monkeys and Apes describes the behavioral aspects of ecology, including activity patterning, food selection, and ranging behavior. The book is composed of 19 chapters; 17 of which are concerned with the ecology or behavior of particular social groups of primates, arranged in the taxonomic order of the species concerned. The final two chapters review some of the generalizations emerging from comparison of inter- and intraspecific differences in feeding and ranging behavior. The book aims to suggest areas of particular interest where research can be usefully developed.
This will be the first time a volume will be compiled focusing on South American monkeys as models to address and test critical issues in the study of nonhuman primates. In addition, the volume will serve an important compliment to the book on Mesoamerican primates recently published in the series under the DIPR book series. The book will be of interest to a broad range of scientists in various disciplines, ranging from primatology, to animal behavior, animal ecology, conservation biology, veterinary science, animal husbandry, anthropology, and natural resource management. Moreover, although the volume will highlight South American primates, chapters will not simply review particular taxa or topics. Rather the focus of each chapter is to examine the nature and range of primate responses to changes in their ecological and social environments, and to use data on South American monkeys to address critical theoretical questions in the study of primate behavior, ecology, and conservation. Thus, we anticipate that the volume will be widely read by a broad range of students and researchers interested in prosimians, New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes, humans, as well as animal behavior and tropical biology.
Where do our images about early hominids come from? In this fascinating in-depth study, David Van Reybrouck demonstrates how input from ethnography and primatology has deeply influenced our visions about the past from the 19th century to this day - often far beyond the available evidence. Victorian scholars were keen to look at contemporary Australian and Tasmanian aboriginals to understand the enigmatic Neanderthal fossils. Likewise, today's primatologists debate to what extent bonobos, baboons or chimps may be regarded as stand-ins for early human ancestors. The belief that the contemporary world provides 'living links' still goes strong. Such primate models, Van Reybrouck argues, continue the highly problematic 'comparative method' of the Victorian times. He goes on to show how the field of ethnoarchaeology has succeeded in circumventing the major pitfalls of such analogical reasoning.A truly interdisciplinary study, this work shows how scholars working in different fields can effectively improve their methods for interpreting the deep past by understanding the historical challenges of adjacent disciplines.Overviewing two centuries of intellectual debate in fields as diverse as archaeology, ethnography and primatology, Van Reybrouck's book is one long plea for trying to understand the past on its own terms, rather than as facile projections from the present.David Van Reybrouck (Bruges, 1971) was trained as an archaeologist at the universities of Leuven, Cambridge and Leiden. Before becoming a highly successful literary author (The Plague, Mission, Congo...), he worked as a historian of ideas. For more than twelve years, he was co-editor of Archaeological Dialogues. In 2011-12, he held the prestigious Cleveringa Chair at the University of Leiden.
A 1985 amendment to the Animal Welfare Act requires those who keep nonhuman primates to develop and follow appropriate plans for promoting the animals' psychological well-being. The amendment, however, provides few specifics. The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates recommends practical approaches to meeting those requirements. It focuses on what is known about the psychological needs of primates and makes suggestions for assessing and promoting their well-being. This volume examines the elements of an effective care programâ€"social companionship, opportunities for species-typical activity, housing and sanitation, and daily care routinesâ€"and provides a helpful checklist for designing a plan for promoting psychological well-being. The book provides a wealth of specific and useful information about the psychological attributes and needs of the most widely used and exhibited nonhuman primates. Readable and well-organized, it will be welcomed by animal care and use committees, facilities administrators, enforcement inspectors, animal advocates, researchers, veterinarians, and caretakers.
Monkeys, apes, gorillas, and chimps! There are so many primates for budding nature lovers to meet. Learn all about the career of a real-life National Geographic scientist as she heads into the wild to study these amazing animals. Come along with Dr. Jill Pruetz as she heads to the wilds of Africa to study chimpanzees and other primates. Through simple, accessible text in question-and-answer format and bright, friendly photography, young scientists will learn all about this exciting science career. Do all primates live in the jungle? Do primatologists live there with them? What's a primatologist's day like? Explore these questions and more!
A fun and immersive look into the lives of the three greatest primatologists of the twentieth century: Biruté Galdikas, Dian Fossey, and Jane Goodall, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feynman.
