Content area
Int J Primatol (2008) 29:13891390
DOI 10.1007/s10764-008-9307-0
BOOK REVIEW
Jill D. E. Pruetz (ed): The Socioecology of Adult Female Patas Monkeys and Vervets in Kenya
2009, 163 pp., Pearson PrenticeHall: Upper Saddle River, NJ ($21.33)
Mary E. Glenn
Received: 23 September 2008 /Accepted: 23 September 2008 / Published online: 4 October 2008# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008
The Socioecology of Adult Female Patas Monkeys and Vervets in Kenya is an exhaustive and straight forward account of a well designed field study examining specific theoretical models of ecological influences on female non-human primate social behavior. It is an excellent example of why the Primate Field Studies monograph series was created. A true appreciation of Pruetzs careful study design, unique study site, observation methodology and detailed analysis would have been impossible if it had been parsed into separated pieces or greatly summarized for a typical scientific journal length article. Only through the freedom allowed by a monograph length treatise does the value of Pruetzs study become fully apparent.
Pruetz sought to test the applicability and predictive power of theoretical models put forward by Wrangham (1980), van Schaik (1989), Sterck et al. (1997), and Isbell (1991). Pruetz conducted the 2-year study at the Segera Ranch in central Kenya in the mid 1990s. The relatively simple floristic ecosystem there allowed for many typically complicating ecological variables to be eliminated. The presence of 2 similar species living at the same location also added to the power of study. The importance of these 2 features of the study is repeatedly examined throughout the monograph.
The monographs structure generally follows the classic introduction, methods, results and discussion format even though the sections are not labeled explicitly as such. However, The Socioecology of Adult Female Patas Monkeys and Vervets in Kenya is greatly enhanced by the constant comparative discussion woven throughout each chapter. This approach allows one to fully understand past attempts to address female socioecology in other primates, place all aspects of the current study in the proper context and appreciate the effort put into the design of the study and the final analysis.
In the first chapter, Pruetz describes the hypotheses that were tested and discusses their general merits, as would be expected. The second describes the observational methodology used and discusses the advantages of the design as compared to others
M. E. Glenn (*)
Department of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA e-mail: [email protected]
1390 M.E. Glenn
used previously. The pattern continues in the third chapter wherein she describes the study areas environment and what, where and how the female monkeys ate, all while discussing the results in light of similar past ecological studies. The fourth chapter is on agonistic interactions between individuals as they relate to the ecological conditions at the time and place of the interactions; again, this is interwoven with a thorough comparative analysis of the results. The fifth chapter is on food availability and its importance in driving competition and subsequently dominance hierarchies in the vervets. This is an area of research that has been well trodden, but Pruetz provides a new, detailed perspective throughout her careful analysis. The meticulous approach and attention to detail in her study are amply demonstrated in chapter 5, where it becomes apparent that the past theoretical models do not predict how the female vervets interact. The sixth chapter is a comparison of female vervet social behavior with that of the patas monkeys to gain further insight into the vervets apparent break with predicted behavior, primarily being that food availability does not explain the vervets rigid linear hierarchy. Finally, in the sixth chapter, Pruetz argues that sociecological models need to be more narrowly detailed and more complex to adequately describe natural patterns.
Models describing why primates, and animals in general, behave in certain ways under natural conditions are often voiced but are rarely thoroughly tested. It is very difficult to design and to conduct defensible field studies that address ecological models. Pruetzs attempt was high quality science, which is ably communicated in The Socioecology of Adult Female Patas Monkeys and Vervets in Kenya.
References
Isbell, L. A. (1991). Contest and scramble competition. Patterns of female aggressions and ranging behavior among primates. Behavioral Ecology, 2, 143155.
Sterck, E. H. M., Watts, D. P., & van Schaik, C. P. (1997). The evolution of female social relationships in nonhuman primates. Behavioral Ecololgy and Sociobiology, 41, 291309.
van Schaik, C. P. (1989). The ecology of social relationships among female primates. In V. Standen, & R. A. Foley (Eds.), Comparative socioecology. The behavioural ecology of humans and other mammals (pp. 315). Oxford: Blackwell.
Wrangham, R. W. (1980). An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups. Behaviour, 75, 262299.
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008