Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates [Hardcover]

This book presents an evolutionary perspective on feeding behaviour in human and non-human primates.Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates explores the relationships between food, behaviour and nutrition in our closest living relatives and ourselves to draw conclusions about how our own ancestors may have evolved.Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates explores the relationships between food, behaviour and nutrition in our closest living relatives and ourselves to draw conclusions about how our own ancestors may have evolved.Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates focuses on evolutionary perspectives of the complex interactions between the environment, food sources, physiology and behaviour in primates. This highly interdisciplinary volume provides a benchmark to assess dietary alterations that affected human evolution by putting the focus on the diet of hominid primates. It also offers a fresh perspective on the behavioural ecology of the last common ancestor by integrating corresponding information from both human and non-human primates. The potential of innovations of applied biotechnology are also explored to set new standards for future research on feeding ecology, and new information on feeding ecology in humans, apes and other primates is synthesized to help refine or modify current models of socioecology. By taking a comparative view, this book will be interesting to primatologists, anthropologists, behavioural ecologists and evolutionary biologists who want to understand better non-human primates, and the primate that is us.Preface; Introduction: Primate feeding ecology: an integrative approach Martha M. Robbins and Gottfried Hohmann; Part I. Field Studies: Introduction Peter S. Rodman; 1. Variability of the feeding ecology of eastern gorillas Martha M. Robbins, John Bosco Nkurunungi and Alastair McNeilage; 2. Sympatric western gorilla and mangabey diet: reexamination of ape and monkey foraging strategies Diane M. Doran-Sheehy, Natasha F. Shah andl3$