An Introduction To Primate Conservation

This work provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art synthesis of research principles and applied management practices for primate conservation.

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.

Primate Conservation provides a comprehensive discussion of the conservation of many species of nonhuman primates. The problems of conservation are discussed by distinguished scientists who are experts in their knowledge of the animals they write about and who have firsthand knowledge of the problems of conserving them. Animals ranging from Galago to the Gorilla have been selected to serve as examples of the types of problems that conservationists face. The book begins by discussing the ecology of two species of galagine in South Africa. It covers factors such as their distribution, habitat, population densities, activity patterns, feeding, group structure, and reproduction. This is followed by separate chapters on the conservation of the following: aye-aye; the lion tamarins of Brazil; the Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey; the toque macaque of Sri Lanka; rare lion-tailed monkey of South India; rhesus monkeys in Northern India; the gelada baboons; the hanuman langur and douc langur; red ouakaris; black colobus monkeys; lesser apes; and eastern gorillas.

Primate Behavioral Ecology, described as “an engaging, cutting-edge exposition,” incorporates exciting new discoveries and the most up-to-date approaches in its introduction to the field and its applications of behavioral ecology to primate conservation. This unique, comprehensive, single-authored text integrates the basics of evolutionary, ecological, and demographic perspectives with contemporary noninvasive molecular and hormonal techniques to understand how different primates behave and the significance of these insights for primate conservation. Examples are drawn from the “classic” primate field studies and more recent studies on previously neglected species from across the primate order, illustrating the vast behavioral variation that we now know exists and the gaps in our knowledge that future studies will fill.

This book considers primate tourism as a primate conservation tool, weighing its effects and developing informed guidelines for ongoing and future tourism ventures.

A ground breaking study of primates that live in flooded habitats around the world.

A major contribution to great-ape research, covering every aspect of the Mahale Mountain Chimpanzee Project to offer new, unique insights.