A Complete Guide to Monkeys, Apes and Other Primates

This is a complete, up-to-date, fully illustrated guide to all the world's living primates. Written by an expert primatologist in a way that is accessible and fascinating for the general reader as well as authoritative and detailed for the specialist. A Complete Guide to Monkeys, Apes and Other Primates contains the results of the latest fieldwork and investigations into primates and describes their physical characteristics, their ecology and behaviour.

Michael Kavanagh explains what it is that makes a primate so different from other mammals: manual dexterity, powerful grip, stereoscopic vision, lengthy pandering to young in complex, relatively stable societies which allow a long period of learning that is crucial for animals who specialize in sophisticated reactions to immediate circumstances rather than stereotyped patterns of behaviour. He shows how within any single species, the interests of females do not coincide exactly with those of the males.

Distribution maps indicate where the various primates live today, almost all of them in tropical and subtropical forests and in savannahs of Africa and Asia - a reminder of the threat we present to their habitats when depleting these areas. Each set of conditions gives rise to different types of animals. The cautious and nocturnal loris of the South East Asian rain forest appears at first to have little in common with Africa's baboon or the scurrying marmosets of South America, yet they share certain fascinating similarities which Dr Kavanagh traces.

A complete set of full-colour photographs illustrates every genus, making this an attractive as well as a unique comprehensive record of these diverse and intriguing creatures as they exist in the world today.