You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Research on the mental abilities of chimpanzees and bonobos has been widely celebrated and used in reconstructions of human evolution. In contrast, less attention has been paid to the abilities of gorillas and orangutans. This 1999 volume aims to help complete the picture of hominoid cognition by bringing together the work on gorillas and orangutans and setting it in comparative perspective. The introductory chapters set the evolutionary context for comparing cognition in gorillas and orangutans to that of chimpanzees, bonobos and humans. The remaining chapters focus primarily on the kinds and levels of intelligence displayed by orangutans and gorillas compared to other great apes, including performances in the classic domains of tool use and tool making, imitation, self-awareness, social communication and symbol use. All those wanting more information on the mental abilities of these sometimes neglected, but important primates will find this book a treasure trove.
Advances in fossil studies relating to the origin of Homo sapiens have strengthened the hypothesis that our direct ancestors originated on the African continent. Most researchers also agree that the time when prehumans diverged from the last common ancestor was in the early part of the Late Miocene epoch. Focus must now shift from determining the times and places of hominid origins to clarifying hominid evolutionary problems, such as the selective factors and acquisition processes of hominid bipedalism. In March of 2003, researchers from Africa, Europe, Japan and the United States convened in Kyoto for a symposium on Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, an interdisciplinary effort to consider these evolutionary puzzles, to report current research and to exchange thoughts towards better understanding the relationship among environmental changes, adaptive mechanisms and human origins. This book is the result of that symposium, and includes a diverse and unique set of papers on topics such as hominid evolution, dispersal and morphology, and the origins of bipedalism.
"A previous edition of this book appeared under the title Magpies, Monkeys, and Morals. The new edition has been updated throughout. Substantial new material has been added to the text, including discussions of virtue ethics and Rawlsian contractarianism. The bibliography has been significantly enlarged and now includes more than five hundred entries."--BOOK JACKET.
This second edition will be an edited volume of interest to those who do research and teach about the evolution of primates. It aims to convey to primatologists, anthropologists, palaeontologists, and neuroscientists the most recent studies of primate phylogeny, the anthropoid fossil record, the evolution of the primate visual system, and the origin of the anthropoid social systems. This title includes a CD-ROM and color figures.
Can animals be regarded as part of the moral community? To what extent, if at all, do they have moral rights? Are we wrong to eat them, hunt them, or use them for scientific research? Can animal liberation be squared with the environmental movement? Taylor traces the background of these debates from Aristotle to Darwin and sets out the views of numerous contemporary philosophers—including Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Mary Anne Warren, J. Baird Callicott, and Martha Nussbaum—with ethical theories ranging from utilitarianism to eco-feminism. The new edition also includes provocative quotations from some of the major writers in the field. As the final chapter insists, animal ethics is more than just an “academic” question: it is intimately connected both to our understanding of what it means to be human and to pressing current issues such as food shortages, environmental degradation, and climate change.
This second edition will be an edited volume of interest to those who do research and teach about the evolution of primates. It aims to convey to primatologists, anthropologists, palaeontologists, and neuroscientists the most recent studies of primate phylogeny, the anthropoid fossil record, the evolution of the primate visual system, and the origin of the anthropoid social systems. This title includes a CD-ROM and color figures.
It has been twelve years since a work relating to the long-tailed African monkeys known as the guenons has been published and fifteen years have passed since the last major scientific symposium was held that was solely dedicated to current research on members of this monkey group living in the wild. Since that time, new guenon species and subspecies have been discovered, previously unstudied guenon species have become the subject of long-term research projects, and knowledge of the more well-known guenon species has greatly increased. This volume presents novel information and keen insight on research previously studied and newly discovered. A wide range of topics related to guenon biology is presented, including evolution, taxonomy, biogeography, reproductive physiology, social and positional behavior, ecology, and conservation. Composed of 26 chapters compiled by 47 authors, many of whom are young investigators in their field, The Guenons: Diversity and Adaptation in African Monkeys provides a valuable resource for researchers and scientists in the fields of anthropology, primatology, zoology, and conservation biology.
This book explores afresh the long-standing interest, and emphasis on, the `special' capacities of primates. Some of the recent discoveries of the higher cognitive abilities of other mammals and also birds challenge the concept that primates are special and even the view that the cognitive ability of apes is more advanced than that of nonprimate mammals and birds. It is therefore timely to ask whether primates are, in fact, special and to do so from a broad range of perspectives. Divided into five sections this book deals with topics about higher cognition and how it is manifested in different species, and also considers aspects of brain structure that might be associated with complex behavior.
Numerous figures, illustrations, and tables; integration of new literature and concepts into field of primatology; emphasis upon both behavioral and cognitive mechanisms.