The Functional And Evolutionary Biology Of Primates

This book is a compilation of papers from a 1970 Burg Wartenstein Symposium on the evolution of primates. The symposium was organized to discuss methods and research in the field of primatology. The book covers a wide range of topics, including paleoprimatology, cranial morphology, comparative neurobiology, post cranial morphology, and behavior and ecology. The book is valuable to specialists in the field, and will likely be used as a reference by professionals and students in the field of primatology.

These original contributions on the evolution of primates and the techniques for studying the subject cover an enormous range of material and incorporate the work of specialists from many different fields, showing the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to problems of primate morphology and phylogeny. Collectively, they demonstrate the concerns and methods of leading contemporary workers in this and related fields. Each contributor shows his way of attacking fundamental problems of evolutionary primatology. Review: -At a time when scientists are becoming increasingly defensive, it is refreshing to find authors so willing to speculate and offer hypotheses in areas where detailed information is often limited. The broad scope of the book renders it a useful reference for research workers in widely differing fields of primate studies... The main themes of the book are methodology, lines for future research and the need for more detailed study on all aspects of the morphology and behaviour of extant primates if inferences drawn from prehistoric forms are to be meaningful.- --John MacKinnon, Journal of Animal Ecology -This excellent volume is based on a 1970 Burg Wartenstein Symposium of the same title. Its expressed purpose is to establish broader perspectives on experimental design and inference from fossil data... [A]n excellent resource for advanced students.- --Claud A. Bramblett, American Anthropologist -The book, The Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates, edited by Russell Tuttle, is a collection of revised versions of papers given at the Berg Wartenstein Symposium No. 48... [A]n exciting and stimulating book.- --Dwight W. Read, Evolution -This is a book for specialists, each of whom will find something of importance.- --M. H. Day, Science -The present volume is a nicely produced and carefully edited compilation of the papers presented at a symposium organized in July 1970 by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research at its Austrian Conference Centre. Its overall quality is high and the volume forms a compendium, valuable alike to experienced workers and to advanced students... Several interrelated themes run throughout this well-textured symposium.- --Eric H. Ashton, Man -This book will... assume a place on the list of well-used references for both professionals and students and could, no doubt, contribute to any course dealing with primatology, regardless of its orientation.- --Pamela Cook, American Scientist -The volume collects several working papers on the study of primate evolution in general and human evolution in particular. The topics dealt with include paleoprimatology, cranial morphology, comparative neurobiology, post cranial morphology, and behavior and ecology.- --Nicholas S. Thompson, The Quarterly Review of Biology