Primate Social Systems
Published on 25. November 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
VIII, 374 pages
978-1-4684-6696-6 (ISBN)
Description
This book grew from small beginnings as I began to find unexpected patterns emerging from the data in the literature. The more I thought about the way in which primate social systems worked, the more interesting things turned out to be. I am conscious that, at times, this has introduced a certain amount of complexity into the text. I make no apologies for that: what we are dealing with is a complex subject, the product of evolutionary forces interacting with very sophisticated minds. None the less, I have done my best to explain every thing as clearly as I can in order to make the book accessible to as wide an audience as possible. I have laid a heavy emphasis in this book on the use of simple graphical and mathematical models. Their sophistication, however, is not great and does not assume more than a knowledge of elementary probability theory. Since their role will inevitably be misunderstood, I take this opportunity to stress that their function is essentially heuristic rather than explanatory: they are designed to focus our attention on the key issues so as to point out the directions for further research. A model is only as good as the questions it prompts us to ask. For those whose natural inclination is to dismiss modelling out of hand, I can only point to the precision that their use can offer us in terms of hypothesis-testing.
More details
Series
Edition
Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1988
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
VIII, 374 p.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
581 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4684-6696-6 (9781468466966)
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4684-6694-2
Other editions
Additional editions
Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar
Primate Social Systems
Book
01/1988
Kluwer Academic Publishers
€109.13
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Content
1. Primates and their Societies.- Asking the Right Questions.- The Primate Heritage.- Primate Social Systems.- 2. Theory of Reproductive Strategies.- An Evolutionary Perspective.- Optimal Strategy Sets.- A Question of Ontogeny.- Structure and Function in Primate Society.- 3. Survival Strategies.- Nutritional Requirements.- Dietary Strategies.- Optimal Foraging.- Exploiting the Habitat.- Economics of Territoriality.- The Problem of Predation.- 4. Demographic Processes: (1) Lifehistory Variables.- Lifehistory Variables.- Variance in Birth Rates.- Mortality Rates.- 5. Demographic Processes: (2) Population Parameters.- Population Dynamics.- Migration and Fission.- Sex Ratio.- 6. Time Budgets and Other Constraints.- Time Budgets.- Demographic Constraints on Behaviour.- 7. Evolution of Grouping Patterns.- Why Form Groups?.- Costs of Group-living.- Evolution of Groups.- Evolution of Social Structure.- 8. Mating Strategies.- Reproductive Behaviour in Primates.- Gaining Access to Mates.- Male Lifetime Reproductive Success.- Alternative Strategies of Mate Acquisition.- 9. Rearing Strategies.- Primate Rearing Patterns.- Ecology of Motherhood.- Social Aspects of Rearing.- Male Parental Investment.- 10. Conflicts and Coalitions.- The Constraint-free Strategy.- Economics of Coalition Formation.- Demographic Considerations.- Acquisition of Rank.- 11. Mechanics of Exploitation.- Processes of Negotiation.- Dynamics of Social Relationships.- Role of Communication.- Exploiting Others.- Infanticide as a Reproductive Strategy.- 12. Socio-ecological Systems.- Models as Descriptive Tools.- Models as Analytical Tools.- The Problem of Monogamy.- Comment:The Function of Territoriality.- A Note on the Use of Modelling.- 13. Evolution of Social Systems.- Social Evolution in Baboons.- Social Evolution in the Great Apes.- Conclusion.- Scientific and Common Names.- References.