The field of primatology has expanded substantially in the last twenty years, particularly with regard to studies of primates in human-altered landscapes. This text aims to review the recent literature on anthropogenic (of human origin) influences on non-human primates, bringing an overview of this important area of primatology together for students. Chapters are grouped into three sections, representing the many ways anthropogenic activities affect primate populations. The first section, ‘Human Influences on Primate Habitat’, covers ways in which wild primates are affected by human actions, including forest fragmentation, climate change, and the presence of dogs. Section two, ‘Primates in Human-Dominated Landscapes’, looks at situations where non-human primates and humans share space; this includes primates in urban environments, primate tourism, and primates in agroecosystems. The final section, ‘Primates in Captivity’, looks at primate behaviour and welfare in captive situations, including zoos, the primate pet trade, and in entertainment.

The interest in primates, from lemurs to gorillas, has never been greater. Primatologists are continually finding evidence in the behavior and ecology of our closest genetic relatives that sheds light on human origins. So, just who are these 520+ species of complex and intelligent mammals inhabiting the Neotropics, Africa, Madagascar, and Asia? The Natural History of Primates provides the most current information on wild primates from experts who have studied them in their natural environments. This volume provides up-to-date facts and figures on how groups of social primates interact with each other and the plants and other animal species in their ecosystems: what they eat, which predators might eat them, how males and females seek mates, how infants are raised, and myriad other fascinating details about their visual and vocal communication, their ability to craft and use tools, and the varieties of locomotion they employ. As human populations continue to expand into the rainforests, savannas, and woodlands where nonhuman primates dwell, the preservation of these species becomes ever more important. The Natural History of Primates is unique in its emphasis on the conservation status of primate species and its ample discussions of how humans and nonhuman primates can coexist in the twenty-first century.

This book is number two in a series for Primates in Fragments. In this volume, ten years after the first http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/anthropology+%26+archaeology/book/978-0-306-47696-9, we continue to address issues regarding primates within a fractured landscape. There are seven sections based on specific categories of primates in fragments. In the Introductory section, authors discuss the issues surrounding primates in remnant habitats as well as encourage discussion about what we mean by fragmentation on a landscape scale. In the Long-Term and Regional Studies section, authors present information on changes that have occurred during longer studies as well as changes that have occurred over regions. In the Landscape, Metapopulations and the Matrix section, authors cover topics from dry to moist forests, and from metapopulations to single species use of multiple fragments locations. In Feeding and Behavioral Ecology, authors take a closer look at the flexibility and responsiveness of primates in fragments in terms of their food choices, resource use, and behavioral changes. In Endemic, Endangered, and Nocturnal Primates authors uncover details involving critical primates living in major city centers to the heights of the Himalayas. In Genetics, Disease and Parasites authors cover topics including population viability, disease and parasite transmission between primates in fragments and humans. Finally, in the Conservation and Ecology: Threats and Management section, we synthesize information in this volume and make recommendations for the future of work in this field and the survivability of primates in fragments.

This practical volume brings together a group of distinguished primate researchers to synthesise field, laboratory, and conservation management techniques for primate ecology and conservation.

This book takes a new approach to understanding primate conservation research, adding a personal perspective to allow readers to learn what motivates those doing conservation work. When entering the field over a decade ago, many young primatologists were driven by evolutionary questions centered in behavioural ecology. However, given the current environment of cascading extinctions and increasing threats to primates we now need to ensure that primates remain in viable populations in the wild before we can simply engage in research in the context of pure behavioural ecology. This has changed the primary research aims of many primatologists and shifted our focus to conservation priorities, such as understanding the impacts of human activity, habitat conversion or climate change on primates. This book presents personal narratives alongside empirical research results and discussions of strategies used to stem the tide of extinction. It is a must-have for anyone interested in conservation research.

This book argues for a contemporary primatology that recognizes humans as integral components in the ecologies of primates. This contemporary primatology uses a broadened theoretical lens and methodological toolkit to study primate behavior and ecology in increasingly anthropogenic contexts and seeks points of intersection and spaces for collaborative exchange across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The book begins by exploring the American tradition of anthropology, providing historical and disciplinary context for the emergence of field primatology and how it became a part of this tradition. It then examines how primatology transformed into a field dominated by evolutionary approaches and highlights how the increasingly anthropogenic environments in which primates live present opportunities to understand primate adaptability at work. In doing so, it explores how an extended evolutionary approach can help explain behavioral variation in these contemporary environments. Focus is then given to the ethnoprimatological approach, a contemporary approach that provides a pluralistic framework, drawing from the natural and social sciences and humanities, needed to study human-primate coexistence in the Anthropocene. Finally, the book considers how such a crossing of disciplines can inform primate conservation in the future. An important interdisciplinary reassessment, this book will be of significant interest to primatologists, biological anthropologists, and scholars of anthropology more generally, as well as evolutionary and conservation biologists.

The list of challenges facing nonhuman primates in the 21st century is a long one. The expansion of palm oil plantations to feed a growing consumer class is eating away at ape and monkey habitats in Southeast Asia and Central Africa. Lemurs are hunted for food in the poorest parts of Madagascar while monkeys are used as medicine in Brazil. Traditional cultural beliefs are maintaining demand for animal body parts in West African markets while viral YouTube videos of “cute” and “cuddly” lorises have increased their market value as pets and endangered their populations. These and other issues are addressed in this book by leading researchers in the field of ethnoprimatology, the study of human/nonhuman primate interactions that combines traditional primatological methodologies with cultural anthropology in an effort to better understand the nuances of our economic, ritualistic, and ecologic relationships.