Monkeys of the Taï Forest: An African Primate Community(Series Number 51 Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology)

A great deal has been written about primates; however few volumes have focused on an entire community of sympatric monkeys at a single site. Drawing upon diverse sets of data, the authors provide a multi-thematic case study of the entire monkey community of the Taï forest (Ivory Coast). Much of the book explores how the seven monkey species have adapted to hunting pressures from chimpanzees, leopards, crowned eagles and humans. Other themes covered include feeding ecology, social behaviour, positional behaviour and habitat use, vocal communication and conservation. Colour photographs of all species are provided, showing the major behavioural characteristics of each, as little is known about these West African monkeys. This scientifically important volume will be of interest to a broad audience including primatologists, functional anatomists, psychologists, and behavioural ecologists.

Table of Contents:
1: The monkeys of the Taï Forest: an introduction W. S. McGraw and K. Zuberbuhler, Part I. Social Behavior: 2. The social system of guenons P. Buzzard and W .Eckardt; 3: How small-scale differences in food competition lead to different social systems in three closely related sympatric colobines A. H. Korstjens, K. Bergman, C.Deffernez, M. Krebs, E. C. Nijssen, BAM van Oirschot, C Paukert, E. P. Schippers; 4. The structure of social relationships among sooty mangabeys in Taï F. Range, T. Forderer, Y. Meystre, C. Benetton, and C. Fruteau; Part II. Anti-Predation Strategies: 5. Interactions between leopard and monkeys K. Zuberbuhler and D. Jenny; 6. Interactions between red colobus and chimpanzees R. Bshary; 7. Interactions between African crowned eagles and their primate prey community S. Shultz and S. Thomsett; 8. Semantic information in alarm calls K. Zuberbuhler; Part III. Habitat Use: 9. Positional behavior and habitat use of Taï Forest monkeys W. S. McGraw; Part IV. Conservation: 10. Can monkey behavior be used as an indicator for poaching pressure? A case study of the Diana guenon (Cercopithecus diana) and the western red colobus (Procolobus badius) I. Kone and J. Refisch; 11. Vulnerability and conservation of the Taï Forest monkeys W. S. McGraw.

About the Author :
W. Scott McGraw is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at The Ohio State University and Affiliated Research Scientist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Klaus Zuberbuhler is a Reader in the School of Psychology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Ronald Noe is a Professor at the University of Louis-Pasteur and the Department of Ecology, Physiology and Ethology (IPHC-CNRS), Strasbourg, France.

Review :
"Taking a well-established evolutionary theory and applying it to an African primate community, McGraw and colleagues...present a fantastic synthesis of more than 15 years of pimatological research. This volume offers a wealth of information. Because such long-term data rarely exist on a single population of primates, let alone an entire community, the book will be a welcome addition to any primate behaviorist's library." Andrea L. Baden, Stony Brook University Evolutionary Anthropology, 2007