The Missing Lemur Link
An Ancestral Step in the Evolution of Human Behaviour

A comparative study of lemurs in the context of shared ancestral links with both humans and primates.

Ivan Norscia (Author), Elisabetta Palagi (Author), Alison Jolly (Foreword by), Ian Tatterall (Foreword by), Michael Huffman (Afterword by)

9781107016088, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2016

300 pages, 79 b/w illus. 1 table
25.3 x 18 x 2 cm, 0.8 kg

Lemurs share a common distant ancestor with humans. Following their own evolutionary pathway, lemurs provide the ideal model to shed light on the behavioural traits of primates including conflict management, communication strategies and society building and how these aspects of social living relate to those found in the anthropoid primates. Adopting a comparative approach throughout, lemur behaviour is cross-examined with that of monkeys, apes and humans. This book reviews and expands upon the newest fields of research in lemur behavioural biology, including recent analytical approaches that have so far been limited to studies of haplorrhine primates. Different methodological approaches are harmonised in this volume to break conceptual walls between both primate taxa and different disciplines. Through a focus on the methodologies behind lemur behaviour and social interactions, future primate researchers will be encouraged to produce directly comparable results.

An opening message Jane Goodall
Foreword Alison Jolly and Ian Tatterall
Preface
Part I. Communication: From Sociality to Society: 1. Who are you? How lemurs recognize each other in a small centred world
2. What do you mean? Multimodal communication for a better signal transmission
3. Vertical living: sexual selection strategies and upright locomotion
Part II. How Conflicts Shape Societies: 4. Bossing around the forest: power asymmetry and hierarchy
5. Something to make peace for: conflict management and resolution
6. Anxiety...from scratch: emotional response to tense situations
Part III. Why Lemurs Keep in Touch: 7. Playing lemurs: why primates have been playing for a long time
8. Sex is not on discount: mating market and lemurs
9. Understanding lemurs: future directions in lemur cognition
Afterword Michael Huffman
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ], Life sciences: general issues [PSA], Biology, life sciences [PS], Mathematics & science [P], Anthropology [JHM]