TREE OF ORIGIN What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution Frans B.M. de Waal, Editor Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England 2001 FROM DUST JACKET How did we become the linguistic, cultured, and hugely successful apes that we are? Our closest relatives-the other mentally complex and socially skilled primates-offer tantalizing clues. In Tree of Origin, nine of the world's top primate experts read these clues and compose the most extensive picture to date of what the behavior of monkeys and apes can tell us about out own evolution as a species. It has been nearly fifteen years since a single volume addressed the issue of human evolution from a primate perspective, and in that time we have witnessed explosive growth in research on the subject. Tree of Origin gives us the latest news about bonobos, the "make love not war" apes who behave so dramatically unlike chimpanzees. We learn about the tool traditions and social customs that set each ape community apart. We see how DNA analysis is revolutionizing out understanding of paternity, intergroup migration, and reproductive success. And we confront intriguing discoveries about primate hunting behavior, politics, cognition, diet, and the evolution of language and intelligence that challenge claims of human uniqueness in new and subtle ways. Tree of Origin provides the clearest glimpse yet of the apelike ancestor who left the forest and began the long journey toward modern humanity. TABLE OF CONTENTS Frans B. M. de Waal 1 Introduction 1. Anne E. Pusey 9 Of Genes and Apes: Chimpanzee Social Organization and Reproduction 2. Frans B. M. de Waal 39 Apes from Venus: Bonobos and Human Social Evolution 3. Karen B. Strier 69 Beyond the Apes: Reasons to Consider the Entire Primate Order 4. Craig B. Stanford 95 The Ape's Gift: Meat-eating, Meat-sharing, and Human Evolution 5. Richard W. Wrangham 119 Out of the Pan, Into the Fire: How Our Ancestors' Evolution Depended on What They Ate 6. Richard W. Byrne 145 Social and Technical Forms of Primate Intelligence 7. Robin I. M. Dunbar 173 Brains on Two Legs: Group Size and the Evolution of Intelligence 8. Charles T. Snowdon 193 From Primate Communication to Human Language 9. William C. McGrew The Nature of Culture: Prospects and Pitfalls of Cultural Primatology Notes 257 Bibliography 277 Contributors 301 Index 303 CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD W. BYRNE School of Psychology, University of Saint Andrews, Saint Andrews, United Kingdom ROBIN I. M. DUNBAR School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom WILLIAM C. McGREW Department of Sociology, Gerontology, and Anthropology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio ANNE E. PUSEY Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota CHARLES T. SNOWDON Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin CRAIG B. STANFORD Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California KAREN B. STRIER Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin FRANS B. M. DE WAAL Living Links, Yerkes Primate Center, and Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia RICHARD W. WRANGHAM Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Frans B. M. de Waal is C.H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Psychology Department, and Director of Living Links, part of the Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University. His many books include Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals and Peacemaking among Primates (both from Harvard). WHERE TO ORDER: Harvard University Press Customer Service Department 79 Garden Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Phone: 800-448-2242 Fax: 800-962-4983 Website: www.hup.harvard.edu Cost: $29.95 Hardcover (ISBN: 0674004604)
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