Peculiar Primates

From flossing and howling, to building nests and thumping chests, this delightful follow up to Freaky, Funky Fish explores the amazing things primates do. All primates climb and breathe in air. They have big brains and hands and hair. But. . . some live alone, some live in groups. One primate has a nose that droops. Peculiar Primates is an adorable picture book with a scientific—and child-friendly—underpinning. With examples of different primates for each description, as well as extensive backmatter explaining the fascinating science behind their behaviors, this bizarre book captures the wonders of our ecosystem.

A study of primatology, discussing its history, the scientists in the field, and the issues that have shaped its development, particularly gender, technology, and the media.

The field of primatology has expanded substantially in the last twenty years, particularly with regard to studies of primates in human-altered landscapes. This text aims to review the recent literature on anthropogenic (of human origin) influences on non-human primates, bringing an overview of this important area of primatology together for students. Chapters are grouped into three sections, representing the many ways anthropogenic activities affect primate populations. The first section, ‘Human Influences on Primate Habitat’, covers ways in which wild primates are affected by human actions, including forest fragmentation, climate change, and the presence of dogs. Section two, ‘Primates in Human-Dominated Landscapes’, looks at situations where non-human primates and humans share space; this includes primates in urban environments, primate tourism, and primates in agroecosystems. The final section, ‘Primates in Captivity’, looks at primate behaviour and welfare in captive situations, including zoos, the primate pet trade, and in entertainment.

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.

Social learning commonly refers to the social transfer of information and skill among individuals. It encompasses a wide range of behaviours that include where and how to obtain food, how to interact with members of one's own social group, and to identify and respond appropriately to predators. The behaviour of experienced individuals provides natural sources of information, by which inexperienced individuals may learn about the opportunities and hazards of their environment, and develop and modify their own behaviour as a result. A wide diversity of species is discussed in this book, some of which have never been discussed in this context before, and particular reference is made to their natural life strategies. Social learning in humans is also considered by comparison with other mammals, especially in their technological and craft traditions. Moreover, a discussion is included of the social learning abilities of prehistoric hominids.

The present volume is the result of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Montaldo, Turin (Italy), between the 7 and 19 June 1972. The aim of the Study Institute has been the development of a general philosophy for the science of Primatology. Lecturers were selected from those scientists deeply involved and interested in this field. The course intended to serve students and researchers using primates in medical and biological research, but especially those interested in the natural history of the group and in human biology. In the past the study of primates was largely limited to deter mine the origin of the human species. Today, however, interest in them extends far beyond this narrow focus. In terms of both prac tical human purposes and theoretical interests, the study of primate biology and behaviour is of ever increasing importance. Their close comparative relationships with man has proved of such great value to human biology and medicine that their numbers and kinds are quickly dwindling. For this reason, one of the main focuses of the A.S.I. was on their reproductive biology and conservation. During the meeting days a broad series of lectures on specific topics of comparative anatomy, physiology, endocrinology, repro ductive physiology, genetics and molecular biology, cytogenetics and behaviour were delivered by leading primatologists.

Covers a wide variety of species of animals in the world, including mammals that fly, birds that laugh, fish that walk, and insects that consult over nesting options, to identify just a few of the amazing behaviors animals provide.

This book challenges the assumption that morphological data are inherently unsuitable for phylogeny reconstruction, argues that both molecular and morphological phylogenies should play a major role in systematics, and provides the most comprehensive review of the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of the head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles of primates. Chapters 1 and 2 provide an introduction to the main aims and methodology of the book. Chapters 3 and 4 and Appendices I and II present the data obtained from dissections of the head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles of representative members of all the major primate groups including modern humans, and compare these data with the information available in the literature. Appendices I and II provide detailed textual (attachments, innervation, function, variations and synonyms) and visual (high quality photographs) information about each muscle for the primate taxa included in the cladistic study of Chapter 3, thus providing the first comprehensive and up to date overview of the comparative anatomy of the head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles of primates. The most parsimonious tree obtained from the cladistic analysis of 166 head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscle characters in 18 primate genera, and in representatives of the Scandentia, Dermoptera and Rodentia, is fully congruent with the evolutionary molecular tree of Primates, thus supporting the idea that muscle characters are particularly useful to infer phylogenies. The combined anatomical materials provided in this book point out that modern humans have fewer head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles than most other living primates, but are consistent with the proposal that facial and vocal communication and specialized thumb movements have probably played an important role in recent human evolution. This book will be of interest to primatologists, comparative anatomists, functional morphologists, zoologists, physical anthropologists, and systematicians, as well as to medical students, physicians and researchers interested in understanding the origin, evolution, homology and variations of the muscles of modern humans. Contains 132 color plates.