The Functional and evolutionary biology of primates - Hardcover

Tuttle, Russell (ed)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0202020118 ISBN 13: 9780202020112

Publisher: Aldine-Atherton, 1972

Synopsis

These original contributions on the evolution of primates and the techniques for studying the subject cover an enormous range of material and incorporate the work of specialists from many different fields, showing the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to problems of primate morphology and phylogeny. Collectively, they demonstrate the concerns and methods of leading contemporary workers in this and related fields. Each contributor shows his way of attacking fundamental problems of evolutionary primatology.The range of findings in this book include new clues to the evolution of the middle ear and the subsistence behavior of early primates, a persuasive critique of the Smith-Jones hypothesis that many features of primate cranial morphology are adaptations to the special vicissitudes of arboreal habitation, the remarkable association of relative muscle mass in the hands and feet of catarrhine primates with the particularities of prehensile behaviors, the wealth of behavioral data that may be obtained by the concentrated study of certain primates in the vicinity of waterholes, the striking differences between inferences about the same behavioral phenomena that are based on long-term as opposed to short-term observations of one primate social group, and the strategy of sophisticated mathematical techniques for elucidating biomechanical, evolutionary, and behavioral problems.Each chapter conveys the status and progress of research in these and other particular areas of special interest, pointing the way toward further clarification of the functional biology and phylogeny of primates through the application of relatively new techniques or the comprehensive employment of available methods. No attempt is made to smooth over controversial points of view, or to endorse a single uniform model of primate evolution. This work will be an important reference for evolutionary and physical anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, comparative morphologists, human anatomists, behavioralists, and students of evolution.

About this title

About the Author

Russell Tuttle is professor of anthropology, on the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, and part of the Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Biology and Medicine at the University of Chicago. He specializes in research in the history and theory of human evolution, primate behavior, and comparative functional morphology. His contributions to the literature have appeared in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Science, Science Journal, and other publications.

Review

“At a time when scientists are becoming increasingly defensive, it is refreshing to find authors so willing to speculate and offer hypotheses in areas where detailed information is often limited. The broad scope of the book renders it a useful reference for research workers in widely differing fields of primate studies... The main themes of the book are methodology, lines for future research and the need for more detailed study on all aspects of the morphology and behaviour of extant primates if inferences drawn from prehistoric forms are to be meaningful.”

—John MacKinnon, Journal of Animal Ecology

“This excellent volume is based on a 1970 Burg Wartenstein Symposium of the same title. Its expressed purpose is to establish broader perspectives on experimental design and inference from fossil data... [A]n excellent resource for advanced students.”

—Claud A. Bramblett, American Anthropologist

“The book, The Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates, edited by Russell Tuttle, is a collection of revised versions of papers given at the Berg Wartenstein Symposium No. 48... [A]n exciting and stimulating book.”

—Dwight W. Read, Evolution

“This is a  book for specialists, each of whom will find something of importance.”

—M. H. Day, Science

“The present volume is a nicely produced and carefully edited compilation of the papers presented at a symposium organized in July 1970 by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research at its Austrian Conference Centre. Its overall quality is high and the volume forms a compendium, valuable alike to experienced workers and to advanced students... Several interrelated themes run throughout this well-textured symposium.”

—Eric H. Ashton, Man

“This book will... assume a place on the list of well-used references for both professionals and students and could, no doubt, contribute to any course dealing with primatology, regardless of its orientation.”

—Pamela Cook, American Scientist

“The volume collects several working papers on the study of primate evolution in general and human evolution in particular. The topics dealt with include paleoprimatology, cranial morphology, comparative neurobiology, post cranial morphology, and behavior and ecology.”

—Nicholas S. Thompson, The Quarterly Review of Biology

Edition details

• Publisher: Aldine-Atherton
• Publication date: 1972
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0202020118
• ISBN 13: 9780202020112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 487