Primate Conservation

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

Combining personal stories of motivation with new research this book offers a holistic picture of primate conservation in the Anthropocene.

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.

The list of challenges facing nonhuman primates in the 21st century is a long one. The expansion of palm oil plantations to feed a growing consumer class is eating away at ape and monkey habitats in Southeast Asia and Central Africa. Lemurs are hunted for food in the poorest parts of Madagascar while monkeys are used as medicine in Brazil. Traditional cultural beliefs are maintaining demand for animal body parts in West African markets while viral YouTube videos of “cute” and “cuddly” lorises have increased their market value as pets and endangered their populations. These and other issues are addressed in this book by leading researchers in the field of ethnoprimatology, the study of human/nonhuman primate interactions that combines traditional primatological methodologies with cultural anthropology in an effort to better understand the nuances of our economic, ritualistic, and ecologic relationships.

This practical volume brings together a group of distinguished primate researchers to synthesise field, laboratory, and conservation management techniques for primate ecology and conservation.

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