Methodologies as applied to recent primate research that will provide new approaches to comparative research.

Comparative Primate Socioecology is an exciting new book drawing together recent and controversial findings from field research on a wide variety of primate species including lemurs and humans. It creates a new synthesis and provides methodologies for all those interested in human and non-human primate behaviour and evolution.

In this book, the editors present a view of the socioecology of primates and cetaceans in a comparative perspective to elucidate the social evolution of highly intellectual mammals in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Despite obvious differences in morphology and eco-physiology, there are many cases of comparable, sometimes strikingly similar patterns of sociobehavioral complexity. A number of long-term field studies have accumulated a substantial amount of data on the life history of various taxa, foraging ecology, social and sexual relationships, demography, and various patterns of behavior: from dynamic fission–fusion to long-term stable societies; from male-bonded to bisexually bonded to matrilineal groups. Primatologists and cetologists have come together to provide four evolutionary themes: (1) social complexity and behavioral plasticity, (2) life history strategies and social evolution, (3) the interface between behavior, demography, and conservation, and (4) selected topics in comparative behavior. These comparisons of taxa that are evolutionarily distant but live in comparable complex sociocognitive environments boost our appreciation of their sophisticated mammalian societies and can advance our understanding of the ecological factors that have shaped their social evolution. This knowledge also facilitates a better understanding of the day-to-day challenges these animals face in the human-dominated world and may improve the capacity and effectiveness of our conservation efforts.

Societies develop as a result of the interactions of individuals as they compete and cooperate with one another in the evolutionary struggle to survive and reproduce successfully. Gorilla society is arranged according to these different and sometimes conflicting evolutionary goals of the sexes. In seeking to understand why gorilla society exists as it does, Alexander H. Harcourt and Kelly J. Stewart bring together extensive data on wild gorillas, collected over decades by numerous researchers working in diverse habitats across Africa, to illustrate how the social system of gorillas has evolved and endured. Gorilla Society introduces recent theories explaining primate societies, describes gorilla life history, ecology, and social systems, and explores both sexes’ evolutionary strategies of survival and reproduction. With a focus on the future, Harcourt and Stewart conclude with suggestions for future research and conservation. An exemplary work of socioecology from two of the world’s best known gorilla biologists, Gorilla Society will be a landmark study on a par with the work of George Schaller—a synthesis of existing research on these remarkable animals and the societies in which they live.

Social learning commonly refers to the social transfer of information and skill among individuals. It encompasses a wide range of behaviours that include where and how to obtain food, how to interact with members of one's own social group, and to identify and respond appropriately to predators. The behaviour of experienced individuals provides natural sources of information, by which inexperienced individuals may learn about the opportunities and hazards of their environment, and develop and modify their own behaviour as a result. A wide diversity of species is discussed in this book, some of which have never been discussed in this context before, and particular reference is made to their natural life strategies. Social learning in humans is also considered by comparison with other mammals, especially in their technological and craft traditions. Moreover, a discussion is included of the social learning abilities of prehistoric hominids.

This volume brings together leading experts in comparative and evolutionary psychology. Top scholars summarize the histories and possible futures of their disciplines, and the contribution of each to illuminating the evolutionary forces that give rise to unique abilities in distantly and closely related species.

This collection of 29 papers grew out of a symposium entitled "Setting the Future Agenda for Neotropical Primates. " The symposium was held at the Department of Zoo logical Research, National Zoological Park, Washington D. C. , on February 26-27, 1994, and was sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Smith sonian Institution, and Friends of the National Zoo. We put the symposium together with two objectives: to honor Warren G. Kinzey for his contributions to the growing field of platyrrhine studies and to provide researchers who work in the Neotropics with the oppor tunity to discuss recent developments, to identify areas of research that require additional study, and especially to help guide the next generation of researchers. The symposium provided the opportunity to recognize Warren as a mentor and col laborator to the contribution of the study of platyrrhines. Contributions to the book were expanded in order to provide a more comprehensive view of platyrrhine evolution and ecology, to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of many of these studies, and to high light the central role that New World monkeys play in advancing primatology. If this vol ume were to require major revisions after just one more decade of research, that would be a fitting testament to Warren's enthusiasm and his drive to continually update the field with new ideas and methods. Tributes to Warren and a list of his publications have been published elsewhere (Norconk, 1994, 1996; Rosenberger 1994, 1995).