Title:
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The ecology and behaviour of the blue monkey, Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni
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Serious primate field work, as distinct from the
incidental and often anecdotal observations of early
travellers, began with Carpenter's pioneering
investigations of howler monkeys, red spider monkeys,
and gibbons in the forests of Central America and the
Far Fast (Carpenter 1934,1935,1940). The subject
did not develop further until the early 1950's, with
the establishment of long term studies on the
Japanese macaque (e. g. Itani 1954, and many subsequent
papers) and the work of Washburn, Hall and DeVore on
savanna baboons in Africa (summarised in Hall and
DeVore 1965, DeVore and Hall 1963). The last decade
has seen a great expansion of interest in primate
field studies, but research has not been spread
evenly throughout the order. Most of the attention
has been focused on savanna and open country animals
rather than on the more numerous forest species.
Some taxa such as the baboon-macaque group and the
apes have been investigated fairly thoroughly, while
others have been largely neglected,
The reasons for the initial concentration of
research on terrestrial species are clear. Open country animals are far easier to study than those
living in dense vegetation. Once their confidence
has been gained they can be followed throughout the
day and long periods of concentrated observation are
possible. Favourable conditions of observation
permit the recognition of individual animals and
hence detailed investigation of the relations between
members of a troop. In contrast forest primates are
difficult even to see, and even more difficult to
follow. The return on time, energy, and money
expended is correspondingly loner.
In addition, much of the earlier work on primates
in the 1950's was carried out by people whose prime
interest was in the making of inferences to the social
evolution of man. It was thought that animals living
in a habitat supposedly comparable to that of early
man would provide the greatest insight into the
problems faced by our simian forbears. Under the
circumstances, concentration of research on open
country primates was a perfectly reasonable strategy.
It has, however, had certain unfortunate
consequences. In the early stages of the development
of primatology the great diversity of social
organisation to be found within the order was not
suspected. For instance in 1961 Washburn and DeVore wrote of baboons: 'Although monkeys and apes
certainly differ in their behaviour from one species
to the next, we believe that the main points ...
Mould not be greatly changed by substituting other
nonhuman primate species for baboons'. (Washburn
and DeVore 1961).
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