Review Of "Understanding Chimpanzees" Edited By P. G. Heltne And L. A. Marquardt

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

5-1-1990

Published In

Choice

Abstract

This unusual book is an overview of the present state of research on chimpanzees, covering both the chimpanzee and the pigmy chimpanzee, and including both laboratory and field studies. The animals' ecology, social and sexual behavior, development, intelligence and language learning, and capacity for cognition are discussed. The last section, on the conservation of the animals, suggests that this book is a festschrift for two vanishing species. Some reports are scholarly contributions; others are one-page summaries of research in progress. Most, if not all, the major workers in the field are represented, even if only briefly. Almost all of the volume is written in nontechnical language and is accessible to advanced high school readers. The well-produced volume has several good photographs in black and white, clear tables and graphs, good reference sections, and useful author and subject indexes. This a useful addition to both undergraduate and graduate libraries that already have Jane Goodall's Chimpanzees of Gombe (Ch, Dec'86) and standard texts such as Alison Jolly's The Evolution of Primate Behavior (2nd ed., 1985).

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

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