The Gibbons of Khao Yai: Seasonal Variation in Behavior and Ecology (Primate Field Studies) - Softcover

Bartlett, Thad Q.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131915045 ISBN 13: 9780131915046

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Primatologists have long viewed small fruiting trees, like figs, as the reason for gibbons’ territorial and monogamous behavior.  However, at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand where gibbons are prevalent, figs are one of the largest trees in the forest.  In this long-term field study, Bartlett takes up this apparent contradiction, and follows gibbons as their major food sources wax and wane over time.This is an important reference on gibbons and the study of small apes which provides a thorough, expansive coverage of the relationship between fruit abundance and diet, range use, and intergroup interactions in Gibbon apes. The Gibbons of Khao Yai: Seasonal Variation in Behavior and Ecology provides an essential resource for students conducting research in this field.

About this title

Review:

This series is a venue for the publication of PhD-level field studies of wild nonhuman primates in a format that is broadly accessible and more cohesive than the usual and sometimes artificial splicing of field study data into separately published peer-reviewed journal articles. As with other contributions to this series, both books represent a large body of data on wild primates, collected over a period of at least a year. Each monograph begins with an introductory chapter providing background material on the theoretical perspective and history of the topic, followed by information pertaining to the study population(s) and data collection methods. These introductory chapters are then followed by a series of "data chapters" that explore various aspects of the analyses--overall, a format very similar to (but more concise than) that of a PhD dissertation.

 

Bartlett (Univ. of Texas, San Antonio), focuses on a species in which male-female relationships are far more important than those among females. His study deals with two social groups of white-handed gibbons in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. This monograph is a more traditional, "classic" field study focusing on various aspects of behavioral ecology of the study subjects, including activity budgets, diet, feeding behavior, ranging behavior, intergroup encounters, and territoriality. Bartlett ends the work by drawing conclusions about socioecology and seasonality in white-handed gibbons as well as the ecology and evolution of pair bonding and monogamy in gibbons.

 

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. -- L. Swedell, CUNY Queens College

From the Back Cover:

Primatologists have long viewed small fruiting trees, like figs, as the reason for gibbons' territorial and monogamous behavior. However, at Khao Yai National Park in Thailand where gibbons are prevalent, figs are one of the largest trees in the forest. In this long-term field study, Bartlett addresses this apparent contradiction and follows gibbons as their major food sources fluctuate over time. The titles in the Primate Field Studies series impart the comprehensive results of long-term field studies to a broad audience at a critical time. Long-term field studies often have a cohesive story to tell which encompasses many different topics, from group size and food distribution, to social behavior, reproduction, and demography. The comprehensive and accessible monographs can supplement textbooks, or may be used as a stand-alone text in upper-level primatology courses.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0131915045
• ISBN 13: 9780131915046
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192