Chimpanzee and red colobus : the ecology of predator and prey / Craig B. Stanford ; with a foreword by Richard Wrangham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stanford, Craig B. (Craig Britton), 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chimpanzees--Ecology.

Chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees--Behavior.

Red colobus monkey--Ecology.

Red colobus monkey.

Red colobus monkey--Behavior.

Predation (Biology).

Ecology.

Physical Description:

xvii, 296 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1998.

Summary:

Our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, are familiar enough -- bright and ornery and promiscuous. But they also kill and eat their kin, in this case the red colobus monkey, which may say something about primate -- even hominid -- evolution. This book, the first detailed account of a predator-prey relationship involving two primates, documents a six-year investigation into how the risk of predation molds primate society. Taking us to Gombe National Park in Tanzania, a place made famous by Jane Goodall's studies, the book offers a close look at how predation by wild chimpanzees -- observable in the park as nowhere else -- has influenced the behavior, ecology, and demography of a population of red colobus monkeys.

As he explores the effects of chimpanzees' hunting, Craig Stanford also asks why these creatures prey on the red colobus. Because chimpanzees are often used as models of how early humans may have lived. Stanford's findings offer insight into the possible role of early hominids as predators, a little understood aspect of human evolution.

The first book-length study in a newly emerging genre of primate field study, Chimpanzee and Red Colobus expands our understanding of not just these two primate societies, but also the evolutionary ecology of predators and prey in general.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-284) and index.

ISBN:

0674116674

OCLC:

38239139