The social life of monkeys and apes by S. Zuckerman Harcourt, Brace Co., New York, 1922. 356 pp.,24 Plate
✍ Scribed by Hartman, Carl G.
- Book ID
- 101598191
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1932
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 286 KB
- Volume
- 54
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0003-276X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The author of this volume is anatomist to the Zoological Society of London and lecturer in physical anthropology in University College. Like his predecessor Sonntag, he has made intelligent use of the wealth of Primate material of the London Zoological Garden. Moreover, in keeping with the times, he has shown wider interests, having added physiology and psychology t o his fields of investigation, and has considered the anthropological and the sociological implications of his findings and those of others. He has also studied, even though only for a brief period, one species of baboon, the Chacma of South Africa, in its native habitat and is, therefore, in a position to compare their behavior with that of the Hamadryas baboon of 'Monkey Hill' in the London Zoological Garden. The monkey is found to behave in captivity essentially as it does in the wild, but enforced leisiire and the restricted quarters of captivity lead to more fighting which results in a high mortality, especially among the females over which most of the fighting takes place.
The more recent literature on the reproductive habits and social life of monkeys and apes in the wild, mostly the testimony of travelers, is reviewed in a useful way. Toward these data the author keeps an open mind while emphasizing the need of the greatest caution. His breadth of sympathy is, however, illustrated by his interest in the "trail of fantasy left by apes and monkeys in the old stories of explorers" as literature, entirely aside from what little of scientific value lies buried in them.
For the orientation of the general reader three chapters are devoted to the physiology of reproduction, in which field the author, partly in cooperation with A. S. Parkes, has made important contributions. The sexual cycle of mammals in general is presented briefly but accurately, the menstrual cycle in greater detail. First hand corroborative observations are made on a large number of monkey species, so that it is now safe to generalize and assume a cycle of about a calendar month for all Old World monkeys and apes.
The American workers, Corner and E. Allen, will be amused to learn that "the baboon is the only sub-human primate whose ovarian