Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution

ISBN 10: 0674010043 / ISBN 13: 9780674010048

Published by Harvard University Press, 2010

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674010043
• ISBN 13: 9780674010048
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

How did we become the linguistic, cultured, and hugely successful apes that we are? Our closest relatives--the other mentally complex and socially skilled primates--offer tantalizing clues. In Tree of Origin nine of the world's top primate experts read these clues and compose the most extensive picture to date of what the behavior of monkeys and apes can tell us about our own evolution as a species.

It has been nearly fifteen years since a single volume addressed the issue of human evolution from a primate perspective, and in that time we have witnessed explosive growth in research on the subject. Tree of Origin gives us the latest news about bonobos, the "make love not war" apes who behave so dramatically unlike chimpanzees. We learn about the tool traditions and social customs that set each ape community apart. We see how DNA analysis is revolutionizing our understanding of paternity, intergroup migration, and reproductive success. And we confront intriguing discoveries about primate hunting behavior, politics, cognition, diet, and the evolution of language and intelligence that challenge claims of human uniqueness in new and subtle ways.

Tree of Origin provides the clearest glimpse yet of the apelike ancestor who left the forest and began the long journey toward modern humanity.

About the Authors

Frans B. M. de Waal was Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Emory University and former director of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution at the Emory National Primate Research Center.

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Director of the Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

William C. McGrew is Professor of Anthropology and Zoology at Miami University, Ohio.

Craig Stanford is Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Southern California.

Karen B. Strier is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.