Product Description

"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa.

An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti -- for man and beast alike. Over two decades, Sapolsky survives culinary atrocities, gunpoint encounters, and a surreal kidnapping, while witnessing the encroachment of the tourist mentality on the farthest vestiges of unspoiled Africa. As he conducts unprecedented physiological research on wild primates, he becomes evermore enamored of his subjects -- unique and compelling characters in their own right -- and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevents him.

By turns hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a magnum opus from one of our foremost science writers.Amazon.com Review
Robert Sapolsky, the author of Why Zebras Don't GetUlcers and other popular books on animal and human behavior,decided early in life to become a primatologist, volunteering at theAmerican Museum of Natural History and badgering his high school principalto let him study Swahili to prepare for travel in Africa. When he set out to conduct fieldwork as a young graduate student, though, Sapolsky found that life among a Kenyan baboon troop was markedly different from his earlier bookish studies. Among other things, he confesses, he had to become a master of shooting anesthetic darts into his subjects with a blowgun to take blood samples, a mastery that required him to become "a leering slinky silent quicksilver baboon terror." He also had to learn how to negotiate the complexities of baboon politics, endure the difficulties of life in the bush, and subsist on cases of canned mackerel and beans.

His memoir is, in the main, quite humorous, although Sapolsky flings a fewdarts along the way at the late activist Dian Fossey--who, he hints, mayhave indirectly caused the deaths of her beloved mountain gorillas by herunstable, irrational dealings with local people--and at local bureaucratswhose interests did not often coincide with those of Sapolsky's wildcharges. It is also full of good information on primates and primatology, asubject whose practitioners, it seems, are constantly fighting to savespecies and ecosystems. "Every primatologist I know is losing that battle,"he writes. "They make me think of someone whose unlikely job would be tocollect snowflakes, to rush into a warm room and observe the uniquepattern under a microscope before it melts and is never seen again."--Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

On Tourists and Baboons...
"A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons" is a series of chronological essays about Dr. Sapolsky's research in Africa. While I don't expect you to start darting tourists in museums to take their blood and analyze their stress hormone levels after reading this book, if you're entertaining such thoughts, it shows your true potential in usability research! [...]

Not What I Expected, But In A Good Way
Though the title clearly states "memoir", I still thought this book would mostly be about baboons and their lives. However, that is actually only a component of the book, and a somewhat small component at that.

The book opens typically, with background info on the author, and how he got to where he went, what he was doing there, etc. Scattered throughout the chapters are stories of baboons, but the book was largely about Saplosky's adventures in Africa.

Stories of desert crossings, gorilla pilgramages to the mountains, encounters with "wild" bushman, etc etc. It was a real slice of life type book, covering not only the happy, successful aspects of fieldwork, but also the down and dirty, unhappy times. This was truly an adventure book, with chapters that were at times so exciting I literally had to keep reading to see how he'd get himself out of some given situation.

Though I bought it to learn about primates (baboons specifically), it did let me down in that regard. However, as a whole, the book might have taught me even more. Plus it made me laugh out loud, and any book that can make me laugh (not smile, not smirk, not giggle) is always worth a read.

At it's core - an alarming book.
A friend gave me this book to read. I'm convinced that is the best way to get a book recommendation. Your friends know you best. I loved this book. It's funny. It's sad and you learn so much about a country and its people and animals to which most of us will never be exposed.

A True Hero
Sapolsky is a hero: courageous, conscientious, well intentioned, adaptable, sensitive, hardworking.He enjoys both people and nature.As a younger man (memoir spans many years), he is too adventurous:I was almost offended by his hitchhiking adventures, in which his naiveté could easily have gotten him killed.

This is a fascinating memoir, written in a light,wry style. The picture Sapolsky paints ofEast African life is filled with many good people, but endemic corruption, and at the end Sapolsky allows his anger to show.Many elements of Massai tradition are difficult for a Western liberal to accept.

The most significant aspect of baboon behavior, for me, is that there is room for marked difference in individual personality unrelated to status or circumstance. Sapolsky is a little understated about the dangers baboons face (cf. Cheney, Dorothy L. and Robert M. Seyfarth:Baboon Metaphysics), but perhaps this varies by location - Sapolsky's troop did not have to worry about crocodiles for example; and Sapolsky is understated about the dangers he himself faced.

Should have stuck to the baboons.
This book isn't about baboons, it's about Sapolsky and happens to contain baboons in it. I like Sapolsky's style of writing about the baboons, but the amount of pages on them are really not very much. Sapolsky applaudably abandons the rigid, old-style scientific "objectivity" in describing the stories of the baboons and tells them as they should be told. I liked how he spoke of who and what actions he liked and disliked (even what baboons he fancied). However he shows no remorse or acknowledgement of issues with darting and anesthetizing the baboons.

Even in the non-baboon chapters, Sapolsky seems intent on telling us how this or that made him feel and interestingly seems to have remarkable (and questionable) insight into how others are feeling or thinking. With such subjective banter one might very well wonder if it doesn't also reflect into the chapters on the baboons. But much of it is just I went here and there etc.

I suppose those parts can be good if you're into the "adventure in the savannas and other strange lands of Africa" type of book, and the rest if you can take Sapolsky's word on some things. But if you wanted to get a book to read about baboons, be warned that they're only a part of this one. And it's a shame because he does write very well on them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Essential tool for the Anatomist and student
By far this is Swindler's best work (see also his "Dentition of Living Primates') - the way this book is set-up makes it incredibly easy to use and visually pleasing as well.This oversized volume follows the regional dissection (wonderfully rendered in black and white by Charles Wood) of Papio anubis and Pan troglodytes on one side and Homo sapiens and the accompanying text on the other.When performing multiple primate dissections or comparing structures this is a definite bonus. This is the only volume that I know of that approaches primate anatomy in this way - W.K. Gregory's "Anatomy of the Gorilla" comes close (esp. with the oversized fold-outs of the upper & lower limb done life size) - but doesn't provide the comparitive detail that Swindler & Wood do.

I have used this text many times both in the lab and in the classroom and heartily endorse it for anyone working in anatomy, animal sciences, primatology, and physical anthropology.This book is worth its weight in gold and you will find yourself constantly referring to it.

Also useful in this text are the charts at the end of the book covering the musculature and innervation in each genus - priceless in itself.In fact I do not know of another comparitive source for that information - I would often use these charts as handouts in classes.This is a volume that you'll never regret having - you will find yourself using it more often than you thought.

Primate Gross Anatomy
27 years after it was first published an "Atlas of Primate Gross Anatomy" remains the definitive text on catarrhine anatomy.The primary focus of the atlas is the regional anatomy of the baboon withcomparative references to Pan and Man (Homo sapiens sapiens). All regionsare covered with special emphasis placed on the limbs.The text is clearlywritten and well referenced by Dr. Swindler and beautifully illustrated inboth carbon dust and pen and ink techniques by Charles Wood.This is amandatory reference book for primate anatomists and veterinarians and ishighly recommended for many specialty courses in primatology and humanevolutionary anatomy. ... Read more

Product Description
In this long-awaited book, Stuart A. Altmann presents the results of one of the most intensive investigations ever carried out on foraging behavior and its consequences for survival and reproduction. Basing his study on field observations of eleven yearling baboons, Altmann includes detailed data on what types of food and how much each baboon ate, as well as chemical analyses of these foods to identify differences in nutrient intake. He then statistically compares these actual data with ideal figures determined by a general model of optimal diets.

Perhaps the most striking result of Altmann's study is that the baboons' subsequent survival and reproductive success could be accurately predicted from what they had eaten as yearlings. Those that had energy intakes closest to the optimum and protein intakes furthest above their requirements were most likely to survive to adulthood and to successfully produce offspring.

The result of decades of research, Foraging for Survival will be an essential reference for primatologists, behavioral ecologists, mammalogists, and nutritionists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This is a great book intended to ecology specialists
A review of this book has been published in the following journal:

Houle, A. (1999). Book-Review: Foraging for survival: Yearling baboons in Africa. Behavioural Processes. (in press)

This book is destined to become a classic in primatology.
This is a story of how eleven juvenile baboons feed themselves.The setting: Amboseli National Park, Kenya.This is, however, much more than a simple story.Throughout, Altmann engages the reader with his elegantanalysis - rich with ecological detail - of the costs and benefits primatesmust negotiate in their daily pursuit of requisite nutrients and energy. Baboons are exemplary eclectic omnivores;still, as Altmann quotes, "thereis no such thing as a free lunch."Bearing this in mind, he sets out toevaluate the balancing act baboons must achieve in maximizing nutrientintake, while at the same time minimizing toxic accumulation of plantsecondary metabolites.

At the outset, Altmann describes what thebaboons ate, how they ate it, and what foods they avoided altogether duringthe study period (1975-1976).He then identifies what baboons should eat. A foraging strategy is an ultimate endpoint, achieved via an array ofpotential tactical routes.Altmann evaluates both the feeding tactics andthe eclectic foraging strategy of his young baboons by identifying thedegree to which they deviate from an optimum model of adaptive feedingtraits. The baboons' actual dietary intake is compared to thespecifications of adequate and optimal diets; this is done for both anaverage yearling's diet, as well as on individual variance from thepredicted diets.

Deviations from the optimum are viewed as indicatorsof potential differences in reproductive fitness.Although the feedingdata stem from research undertaken in the mid-1970s, Altmann takesadvantage of the two succeeding decades to relate differences in juvenilediets to longevity and fitness outcomes later in life.This historicaldepth is particularly valuable because it tests the model by evaluatingwhether those baboons that come closer to the optimum as juveniles havehigher fitness as adults.

Altmann expands on the extreme selectivityexhibited by baboons, providing details on the toxic load, protein,carbohydrate, water content, and load of various plant species and themanner in which baboons maximize (or minimize) their intake of these foodcomponents.Finally, he assesses the anatomical and behavioral attributesthat may contribute to making baboons one of the most successful andbroadly distributed primate species.To complement the main body of thetext, Altmann includes a series of appendices and tables in which heevaluates various methodological and definitional issues relating tocalculating feeding bouts and dietary intake.Here, he presents additionaldetail on diet composition and the nutritional and toxic attributes ofplant foods.

The work's emphasis on juvenile feeding behavior is anunusual yet valuable feature.This developmental stage is often overlookedin studies of non-human primate behavior and ecology, despite the fact thatthis period, and the transition from a milk diet to an adult diet, areundoubtedly critical to our understanding of adult fitness and life historypatterns.

However, some caution is warranted: This book was not intendedfor the casual student of animal feeding behavior, nor for those new tooptimal foraging theory.Altmann's models, food intake calculations, andfeeding bout formulae are exacting, and quite abstracted from theexperience of observing feeding behavior.Before embarking into thisvolume, non-modelers will have to review the technical terminology thatnecessarily accompanies Optimization Theory.In addition, I do not viewthe generalizations (outlined in Chapter Two) based on the relationshipsamong body size, patch size, and dietary selectivity to be particularlyilluminating.Too many exceptions to his proposed relationships can befound for such generalizations to be of much explanatory utility.

Nonetheless, this book is destined to become a classic in primatefeeding behavior.It is exhaustive in its breadth, a pleasure to read, andsets the standard for amalgamation of modeling theory and ecologicalobservation. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Archaeological Science, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Recently, Lam et al. (J. Archaeol. Sci. (2003) in press) reviewed zooarchaeological studies of bulk bone mineral density (bulk BMD), demonstrating the degree to which several studies accurately assessed volumes at regions of interest (ROIs) on bones. It has been suggested that bulk BMD measurements obtained with a clinical computed tomography (CT) technology are preferable to those obtained with a photon densitometry (PD) technology. The basis for this suggestion comes from the unavoidable fact that (non-destructive) PD-based studies have been less precise in estimating area bounded by the periosteal envelope and entirely unable to subtract area bounded by the endosteal envelope. Here we present a new technique for shape-adjusting ROI volumes in the context of re-evaluating baboon bulk BMD data that were published in an earlier study and incorporated no shape-adjustment (J. Archaeol. Sci. 29 (2002) 883). We suggest that this new shape-adjustment method, similar to that of Stahl (J. Archaeol. Sci. 26 (1999) 1347), improves accuracy of volumetric density measurements by producing ROI volumes that are quantified similarly to CT generated ROI volumes (i.e., using a highly automated direct measurement). Correlation coefficients are higher using the shape-adjusted data probably because ROI volumes more accurately reflect the amount of bone by minimizing external air in bulk BMD calculations. While revised bulk BMD values are consistently higher than values without shape-adjustment, once shape-adjustment is incorporated, the rank order of revised baboon bulk BMD values is correlated significantly with the rank order of bovid (i.e., sheep) ROIs. Thus, intertaxonomic differences in the patterns of baboons and similarly sized bovid skeletal element representation are unlikely to be attributable to density-mediated destructive processes, since these processes would be expected to remove skeletal parts of each taxon similarly. For baboon ROIs, rank ordered bulk BMD was not correlated significantly with any of the rank ordered skeletal part frequencies in primate fossil assemblages from Swartkrans Cave (South Africa) investigated previously. Thus, intrataxonomic patterns of primate skeletal part frequency in these fossil assemblages also are not attributable to a density-mediated destructive process. We recommend that bovid bulk BMD values not be used to assess density-mediated processes in a primate assemblage, or vice versa, since correlation coefficients were not 1.0. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

Almost Human - 2001 book by Dr. Shirley Strum
Almost Human: A Journey into the World of Baboons (Purchased on 12/19/2008)
by Shirley C. Strum

Super book ............fun and revealing read; an example of focused scientific study over a 30 year period.........

Even today, they deserve a safe life
"Almost Human: A Journey into the World of Baboons". Strum, Shirley C. 026777561

Because I will be volunteering at the C.A.R.E. Center for baboons in Phalaborwa, South Africa, I chose "Almost Human" to provide me with some background on baboon behavior and their history in S.A.Shirley Strum's account of her years with these intelligent, 'almost human' animals leaves the reader feeling that they, also, are part of this experience.

YOU NEED THIS BOOK!
This is an engaging, honest and intriguing story documenting a scientist doing fieldwork/research on a baboon troop.Although vastly informative and fact-filled, it is written for a general reader and refreshingly free of jargon.Ms. Strum also allows feelings - her own and the baboons' - toenter into the picture, as George Schaller did in "Year of the Gorilla," although Ms. Strum writes with much more humor than Dr. Schaller.Her observations and theories about baboon behavior - especially the male/female relationships - are extraordinary and compelling.I've re-read this book twice, just for the pleasure it gives me, and I highly recommend it to anyone who finds this type of research fascinating.And a terrific companion piece is "A Primate's Memoir," by Robert Sapolsky, also a researcher among the baboons...

A SCIENTIST BECOMES A SAVIOUR
This book could not have come into my life at a more opportune time.As a Volunteer Wildlife Police Officer I am involved inter alia in investigation of illegal possession of all wild species. However I had developed a particular interest in and love for primates - notably here vervet monkeys and baboons which are the most commonly "kept" here.I had made it my goal to remove as many of these from private possession as humanly possible. In all cases we find these intensely sociable animals being kept on their own, and with their movements restricted to no more than a few feet.After confiscation I start the rehabilitation process myself and then pass them on to a large sanctuary in Lusaka where they are integrated into troops and start their new lives.However my ultimate goal was to return them to a totally free life in the wild.Shirley Strum's seminal and successful translocation of the "Pumphouse Gang" in Kenya therefore convinced me that we had a chance of doing the same with our individuals/troops.The difference being that the "Pumphouse Gang" had always lived free and ours not.Shirley Strum's greatest accolade should be that she went beyond being the objective observer to caring participant.If Strum had only been involved with the baboons as subjects of an intellectual exercise, she would have been no different to many other scientists many of whom are responsible for hideous acts of cruelty to our non-human relatives.Thankfully, when the "Pumphouse Gang" was at risk of destruction, she allowed her humanity to guide her and so committed herself to finding a solution to their plight which was successful.I must admit that as a layman, some of the anthropological observations went over my head!I do feel that this is an extremely important study for anyone involved with primates, and those involved in the anti-vivesection movement (certainly in Africa where baboons are used as laboratory animals) since as the title states - they are "almost human".

An important book of science and meta-science
Strum's account of her fieldwork is intensely interesting, as she looked past the "received wisdom" about baboon hierarchies and saw what was really going on.Of course baboons are not identical to humans - but the fundamental impulses of baboon behavior and their strategies for dealing with the their society and the world around them are similar to many things humans do; Strum claims no more than that.

Just as fascinating as her discoveries about baboons, however, is her account of the effort to get her field results heard within the closed shop of baboon studies.She ran into a problem that damages almost all the sciences:The experts who get to decide whether the results of your research get published in scientific journals are usually the very same people whose triumphant discoveries of twenty years ago your research is about to supercede or even contradict.Naturally they think your work is nonsense and do all they can to keep it from getting published - because if you are right, and prevail, then their great work is erased.This struggle has been faced by so many scientists that it's a wonder we ever advance human learning at all.The only things that get published quickly and easily are the results that confirm our preexisting views.Indeed, one sees quite a bit of baboon behavior among scientists - as among all other humans....

This was an important book for me, with insights that I have used in my own writing for years.I'm glad it's coming back into print in a new paperback edition.It's about time! ... Read more

Product Description

This book is an essential, up-to-date reference on the behavior, ecology, and reproduction of wild hamadryas baboons. This book rectifies the male-biased view of hamadryas baboon behavior that has persisted over the decades, suggesting that female behavior contributes more to hamadryas social organization than has previously been assumed, and that females may, in fact, be acting in their own best interests after all. Those potentially conducting research on hamadryas baboons, baboons in general, or primates in general include university faculty, researchers at other institutions, and undergraduate and graduate students world-wide.

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic baboon field study with new perspective
The volume details hamadryas behavior within a theoretical framework of primate behavioral ecology and evolution. Written in monograph form, books in this series (Primate Field Studies) aim to present an entire picture of primate social behavior that might be obscured if the data and results were presented separately in various peer-reviewed science journals. In particular, this book focuses on female reproductive strategies and how they contribute to the unusual social organization and behavioral patterns unique to hamadryas. This is important because previous work has often focused on aspects of the one-male groups (the smallest identifiable social unit in a group of hamadryas baboons) that consider the male perspective, and assume that this view is most important when investigating hamadryas social organization and behavior.

This monograph is an excellent scholarly work on hamadryas baboon social organization and reproductive strategies. The author is an expert who has worked extensively with hamadryas baboons in the field. The writing is clear and understandable, although a reader not prepared for serious treatment of a particular primate's behavior, ecology, and evolution, may not consider the book an "easy read". It is likely written for students or researchers in socioecology, animal behavior, and primatology, but could appeal to a more general reader with a serious interest.

Most importantly, no scholarly monograph in the past 20 years focuses on hamadryas baboons, and as a result this volume incorporates recent evidence and ideas while treating the topic from a novel perspective. This book is a "must have" for anyone studying baboon behavior or social evolution, and highly recommended to any serious field primatologist or behavioral ecologist. In addition, it is an accessible and reliable source for those members of the general public interested in primate behavior.
... Read more

Product Description
In a tale that begins at a zoo in Zurich and takes us across the deserts of Ethiopia to the Asir Mountains in Saudi Arabia, Hans Kummer recreates the adventure and intellectual thrill of the early days of field research on primates. Just as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey introduced readers to the fascinating lives of chimpanzees and gorillas, Kummer brings us face to face with the Hamadryas baboon.

With their furry white mantles and gleaming red hindquarters, the Hamadryas appear frequently in the art of the ancient Egyptians--who may have interpreted the baboons' early morning grooming rituals as sun-worshiping rites. Back then, Hamadryas were thought to be incarnates of Thoth, the god of wisdom; today they are considered to have one of the most highly structured social systems among primates, very close, in some respects, to that of humans. In the 1960s, Kummer, after conflicts with nomadic warriors, managed to track down these elusive baboons near the Danakil Desert, and then followed them from dawn to dusk on their treks from one feeding place to another. His scientific account of this period reads like a travel memoir as he describes his encounters with the Hamadryas and the people with whom they share the desert.

Winding his way through cliffs and stubble, Kummer records the baboons' social life, from the development of pair relationships to the way an entire group decides where to march each day. Much like the human nomads who cope with the harsh demands of the desert environment, the Hamadryas maintain a society that is strict and patriarchal in its details but multilayered and flexible in its largest units. We learn, for example, of the Hamadryas' respect for possession that protects family structure and of the cohesion among family leaders that lessens the threat of battle. At the same time, clear-cut personalities emerge from Kummer's account, drawing us into the life stories and power struggles of individual baboons. Whereas this rich detail holds many implications for natural scientists, the colorful way it comes to life makes for a compelling book bound to entertain and educate all readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Science writing at its best
This is popular science writing at its best.Hans Kummer summarizes a lifetime's work with one of the most fascinating primate species there is.He is an eloquent writer and a superb scientist who really knows his subject.I assign this book to my primatology classes because he explains difficult concepts well and because he clearly outlines his thought processes as his research program unfolded in a way that helps students learn how to think scientifically.Hans Kummer is one of very few scientists who has used experimental approaches to analyze social dynamics in the field, and his experiments are eye-openers.His accounts of life in the field nicely supplement his detailed accounts of the animals' lives.Anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of social relationships will love this book.It is a must read for all primatologists, but it should be of interest to anyone who is interested in social relationships or the evolution of social behavior.The writing is definitely engaging enough to hold the attention of non-professionals. ... Read more