Apes of the World

Book reviews

Journal of Human Evolution (1991) 20, 185-190

Apes of the World By Russell

H. Tuttle

(1986).

Noyes Publications,

New Jersey

xv + 421 pp. $55. ISBN

O-8155-1 104-3. Studies over the last 20 years, both in the field and in the laboratory, our knowledge

of the living apes. A synthesis

of the extensive

have extended greatly

new data on behavior

and

ecology of the extant apes, comparable to those of Yerkes & Yerkes (1929) and Reynolds (1967) has yet to appear. While a number of books have been written on chimpanzees, gorillas,

orang-utans

overdue.

Tuttle

and lesser

apes,

a modern

thus sets out to accomplish

the The Great Apes by Robert

synthesis

an important

and Ada Yerkes.

of the Hominoidea

is long

goal when he aspired to update

The author notes in the preface to Apes of the

World that he has “. . . tried to touch base with the Yerkes’ wherever it was practicable (xii). At first glance it would seem appropriate classic volume, psychobiologists

but primatology

known of free-ranging behavior,

has come a long way since 1929. While the Yerkes

whose own studies were conducted apes, today primatologists

wild with an evolutionary ecological

practice

their trade in great part in the

on social organization,

between

optimization

ecology

modeling

optimal provide

foraging theory) and others. Sociobiology, genetics, and population the paradigms in which hypotheses are formulated and tested. The

attempt

to “touch base” with the Yerkes

the modernity Unfortunately,

of evolutionary

accounts

review of the literature

Apes of the World addresses

and

(such as biology author’s

in large part for his failure to recognize

primatology.

Apes of the World does not achieve any synthetic

rather unimaginative

were

in the “lab”, at a time when little was

bent and an eye to the relationships

influences

.”

to model a modern synthesis on the Yerkes

some interesting

goals in its lengthy, and

on lesser and great apes. The fact is that while subjects

and has an extensive bibliography,

the

book is virtually without a thesis or a point of view. The author fails to impress the reader with

the significance

of such

topics as “Terminology, Taxonomy, Distribution, and 1); ape “Positional Behavior” (Chapter 2); “Feeding Behavior” Sites and Nesting” (Chapter 4); “Tool Behavior” (Chapter 5); “Brains and Mentality” (Chapter 6); “Communication” (Chapter 7); “Sociality and Sociobiology” (Chapter 8); and a “Synoptic Comparison of Apes” (Chapter 9). For Phylogeny” (Chapter (Chapter 3); “Lodge

example, a more meaningful approach to some of these topics might have considered phylogeny (Chapter 1) in the context of recent suggestions that there is an orang-utan0047-2484/91/020185

+ 06 $03.00/O

@ 1991 Academic

Press Limited

186

BOOK REVIEWS

human clade (Schwartz,

1984) or, alternatively,

(see Marks, 1988). Tool-behavior adaptive contexts, nor is Tuttle’s notions about foraging strategy, a far more

interesting

that there is an African ape-human

clade

(Chapter 5) is not considered in either ecological or chapter on “Brains and Mentality” related to current

diet, and metabolic

and significant

subject

scaling. Finally,

than

positional

this volume

would

behavior is

suggest

when

locomotion and posture are understood in terms of a species’ ecology, ranging behavior, resource distribution and other factors. Until the final chapter, the book reads more like a topical dictionary

of ape natural

history

than a scholarly

text.

Today most primatologists work in an evolutionary framework. Primate behaviorists study the evolution of behavior, the adaptive value of diet and foraging strategy, determinants influences

of food

choice,

factors

on social organization,

influencing

ecological

reproductive

and behavioral

behavior,

factors

ecological

influencing

ranging

behavior (including locomotion) and others. Syntheses of behavioral-ecological data have demonstrated behavioral-ecological, and ecological-allometric relationships (e.g., Glutton-Brock Wrangham,

& Harvey,

1977; Crook & Gartlan,

1988; Rodman,

1984, and others).

body size (or group

body mass)

behavior

structure

and habitat

comparative locomotor

primatology anatomy,

and ranging

dental

This book is a throwback us selected rendering clubbing,

of the literature

ends abruptly

of termite fishing, remained

Modern

(together)

cultural

chimpanzees

of original

is non-committal of culture”.

anatomists

study

to relate

these

to naturalistic

improve our ability to interpret

with the observation

behavior

then printed out for Even the author’s

for the most part. For example, of chimpanzee

This discussion,

the discussion

nut cracking,

throwing,

after listing many examples ofape

that one field worker, “even after months (sic) ape.” The author does not tell us Notwithstanding

are interested

to be the hallmark

has shown that tool behavior

l-8),

ideas or syntheses.

inept as a young juvenile

has been considered

Cultural or pre-cultural

primate

value of body size, brain size,

on a variety of topics (Chapters

the addition

of reasons why primatologists

behavior

between

to the old days. Apes of the World reads as though the author

why he has taken the time to update us on tool behavior. are a number

1977; White &

relationships

diet and body size, positional

and attempt

covers 23 pages on the subject

and the “question

tool behavior

pattern,

have been elucidated.

specializations

literature

facts without

of tool behavior

important

and such things as the adaptive

behavior. In turn, behaviorists and anatomists the fossil record of primate evolution. surveyed the available

1966; Gaulin & Konner, Many

the above, there

in tool behavior. of humankind.

Historically, Fieldwork

on

is not the exclusive domain of our own lineage.

(depending

on your definition)

observed in apes provides

a unique perspective on what the initial steps along the path towards culture might have offered tool-users in the way of access to resources, as aids in agonistic displays, or, perhaps less probably,

in protection

from predators.

Sometimes

Tuttle’s

reading of the literature

is

puzzling. Again, in the chapter on tool behavior he notes that Boesch & Boesch (1981, et seq.) “made the remarkable discovery that in 2 or 3 methods for harvesting kernels of Coala and Panda, adult females are generally more adept and efficient than adult males are.” Why is this remarkable? We have known for many years that when eastern, longhaired chimpanzees go termite fishing, the fisher is most likely to be a female. I do not think it would surprise any field primatologist (or anthropologist who studies tribal people) to learn that females engage in tool behavior with a facility greater than that of males. At a time when ape phylogeny is a hot topic and debate centers on the question of an African ape or alternatively chimpanzee-human clade, Apes of the World avoids these issues

187

BOOK REVIEWS

and again refrains from offering a point ofview. Despite six pages devoted to fossil apes and the increasingly

The

author

hylobatid gibbons

well understood

phylogeny

of Pongo, no new interpretation

is expressed.

Miocene is in the author opines that the “alpha taxonomy of European he does nothing to remedy the situation or to identify reasons for the confusion.

Although disarray,”

presents

precursor

the opinions

of Fleagle

and that Dendropithecus

(more recently

Fleagle

and Simons

how the author feels about the relationships apes. With

regard

that Pliopithecus

is an early

macinnesi is the likely ancestor

and Simons

of modern

abandoned

this view). But we have no idea

between fossil and living hylobatids

to the great apes there are many fascinating

phylogenetic

or other questions

facing systematists, including which living great ape is closest to our own species. Others concern the interesting incongruities found in living orang-mans with regard to their large body size, arboreality,

social organization

despite many new and well-published

and geography.

None of these issues is addressed

fossils such as the GSP-15000

skull, and new limb

bones such as GSP- 17 154 and others that tell us much about the antiquity the orang-utan In addition

to the thematic

there are a numerous

and philosophical to excuse

is the book’s essence,

(1933)

I have with Apes of the World,

are misconstrued

that has already

certain

errors.

But since factual

I note just a few of the problems.

there is little or no sexual dimorphism however,

differences

errors of fact. If the factual content of the book were not its only suit,

one would be more inclined literature

and evolution of

clade.

review of the

The author states that

in body weight in Hylobates concolor. The data he cites,

and the author perpetuates

been corrected

a long-standing

in the literature.

There

error by Schultz

are, in fact, no wild-shot

body weights for H. concolor. The data referred to by Schultz for H. concolor are actually from gibbons collected in Borneo and, therefore, belong to H. mulleri, not to H. concolor (H. concolor is found in China, Laos, Kampuchea, and Vietnam). Similar errors are found with regard Other

to body weight attributed

problems

individuals),

(and Schultz

are found in the data on H. ugilis (data reported

and in the discussion

1975, include

by the author

earlier)

to H. moloch.

are based on 23 not 13

of body weights of Pongo (the data cited from Eckhardt,

subadults).

The above and other problems

are the result of a lack offirst-hand

of the author either with the museum collections

experience

on the part

or in the field. Only a person who has not

seen apes in their natural habitat could remark that “the drama of pongid field studies is winding down . . .‘>, and that a “resurgence of noninvasive comparative psychological studies will culminate laboratory

in a deeper understanding

studies are as important

of field studies is as compelling

ofape mentalities”

(p. 196). Comparative

now as ever, but I can assure the reader that the drama

as ever. There are more active projects on free-ranging

apes

now than at any other time, and we continue to marvel at each new discovery that expands the known behavioral central

repertoire

Africa are extending

of our closest relatives.

our knowledge (Tuttle

New studies of gorillas in west and

of this species. New discoveries

of gorillas in

Nigeria are spectacular

and dramatic

suggests that gorillas in Nigeria are extinct).

Studies of chimpanzees

in west Africa will no doubt also expand the present limits of our

knowledge of these apes. Two new field studies of pygmy chimpanzees in the past 2 years.

have begun in Zaire

Apes of the World contains the usual mechanical errors and some prominent omissions, particularly with reference to graphic materials. Some photographs are badly out of focus (e.g., Figure 26) or poorly reproduced (Figure 10). There are four maps presented and two are out of date (Hill, 1969 and Groves, 1970). The reproduction quality of the maps in my

188

BOOK REVIEWS

copy was poor. To simply re-issue old maps ignores two decades

of extensive

field work,

including numerous surveys, and leads to serious omissions. A much better assessment of the actual distribution of living apes could be gleaned from recent journal publications and maps in Primate Newsletter, International Journal

of Primatology and others. For example,

there

are no data to support the author’s assertion of Lower Guinean chimpanzees (P. t. troglodytes) south of the Zaire River. The author notes that Upper Guinean chimpanzees also

true

(P. t. verus) have flesh colored faces that darken with age. This,

of the

“koolakamba”

Lower

Guinean

subspecies

myth since the koolakamba

only aged (dark-faced)

and

of northern

P. t. troglodytes. There

River. This writer observed

Ubangi

Congo

likely

Republic

however,

source

(Brazzaville)

reports

by local Africans

and .gorillas live in the sparsely

populated

is

of the

are probably

Tuttle’s

claim that

of the Congo as the Sangha

the spoor of P. t. troglodytes and gorilla in the Mambili

and there are extensive

chimpanzees

most

are no data to support

P. t. troglodytes ranges only as far east in the People’s Congo

is the

and foreign visitors forests between

area of

that both

the Sangha

and

Rivers.

It is unfortunate Pan paniscus numbers I.U.C.N. elsewhere

The

former

implies

that

there

Red Data (Susman,

fun as foreplay”

Book).

The term bonobo

is of questionable

1984). Apes of the World contains

chimpanzees”

are large

of these animals in the wild (in fact they are on the endangered

sexual behavior Overall,

that the author refers to Pan troglodytes as “common

as the bonobo.

a number

and

and widespread species list in the

origin as I have noted of peculiar

references

and I, for one, did not concur with the author that “word-play

to

is as much

(xiii).

I find little to recommend

this book save for its extensive

bibliography.

Even at

that, if one were interested in any of the topics covered in Apes of the World, one could conduct a computer search at the local library for a lot less than the price of this volume. RANDALL

L. SUSMAN

Department of Anatomical

Sciences,

School of Medicine, S. U.N. Y. Stony Brook, Stoq

Brook, NY 11794-8081, U.S.A.

References Boesch, C. & Boesch, H. (1981). Sex differences in the use of natural hammers by wild chimpanzees: A preliminary report. J. hum. Enol. 10,585-593. Clutton-Brock, T. H. & Harvey, P. H. (1977). Primate ecology and social organization.J. Zool. Lond. 183, l-39. Crook, J. H. & Gartlan, J. S. (1966). Evolution of primate societies. Nature 210,1200-1203. Eckhardt, R. B. (1975). The relative body weights ofBornean and Sumatran orangutans. Am. J. phys. Anthrop., 42, 349-350. Gaulin, S. J. C. & Konner, M. (1977). On the natural diets ofprimates, including humans. In (R. J. Wurtman & J. J. Wurtman, Eds) Nutrition and the Brain, Vol. I, pp. I-86. New York: Raven Press. Groves, C. P. (1970). Gorillas. New York: Arco Pub. Co., Inc. Hill, W. C. 0. (1969). The nomenclature, taxonomy and distribution ofchimpanzees. In (G. H. Bourne, Ed.) Tlze Chimpanzee, Vol. I, pp. 22-49. Basel: S. Karger. Marks, J. (1988). The phylogenetic status of orang-mans from a genetic perspective. In u. H. Schwartz, Ed.] Orang-utan Biolou, pp. 5367. New York: Oxford University Press. Reynolds, V. (1967). The Apes. Dutton, London. Rodman, P. S. (1984). Foraging and social systems of orang-mans and chimpanzees. In (P. S. Rodman & J. G. H. Cant, Eds) Adaptations for Foraging in Nonhuman Primates. New York: Oxford University Press.

BOOK

189

REVIEWS

Schultz, A. H. (1933). Observationson the growth,classification,and evolutionaryspecializationof gibbons and siamangs. Hum. Biol. 5, 202-255. Schwartz,J. H. (1984). The evolutionaryrelationshipsof man and orang-utans. Nature308, 501-505. Susman, R. L. (1984). The Pygmy Chimpanree: Evolutionq~ Biology and Behavior. New York: Plenum Press. White, F. J. & Wrangham, R. W. (1988). Feeding competition and patch size in the chimpanzee species Pan paniscus and Pan troglo&es. Behavior105, 148-154. Yerkes, R. & Yerkes, A. W. (1929). The Great Apes. Yale University Press, New Haven, Ct.

Neogene

of the Mediterranean Tethys and Partethys: Stratigraphic Correlation Tables and Sediment Distribution Maps, Volumes 1 and 2

By F. F. Steininger, University

J. Senes, K. Kleemann,

ofvienna

and F. Rijgl (1985).

Institute

Press. xiv + 189 pp.; xxv + 536 pp. Approximately

of Paleontology, $150.00.

ISBN

3-

900545-00-6. This is a comprehensive Neogene.

and important

modern stratigraphic

The area covered includes the Iberian

the southern (UdSSR)

approximately

56” North Latitude,

out by 232 authors

as part of the International

Number 25, between date inventory

areas.

the organizational such an ambitious

The

Geological

on the Neogene

two resulting

distribution

volumes,

Basins

by Jan

Europe

to

and from Kazan Red Sea and back Senes, and carried

Correlation

Program

Project

is to give an up-to-

of the wider

including

maps and 524 correlation

of the Old World

Mediterranean

80 figures,

10 beautifully

tables, stand as a testament

skills of the editors and the tenacity of all the participants

to

in completing

undertaking.

1 is organized

(3) Mediterranean

to the Northern

This work was organized

1974 and 1983. The stated goal ofthis undertaking

of our knowledge

colored sedimentary

Volume

margin.

in the east,

southward

African

synthesis

in the west through

Urals-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmeniya

across the northern

sedimentation

Peninsula

into eight distinct sections:

Tethys and Paratethys

where eight different

(1) and (2) Preface and Introduction;

Neogene Stages and their Current

figures are used to show various

correlation

schemes

Correlations, of lithologic,

biostratigraphic and geochronologic data; (4) Stratigraphic Correlation Tables, where a short description of sedimentary basins/realms, their structural history and bases for chronostratigraphic Sediment

correlations

Distribution

given for nine such intervals 11, 6.5-6

and 3.5-2.5

columns

(epochs,

regional

biozones,

Ma,

is given-this

section

is rich in primary

Maps for Selected Time Intervals, Ma);

(5)

(24-22, 20-18, 17.5-16.5, 16.5-15.5, 15-14.5, 14.5-13.5, 12(6) M e d i t erranean Correlation Tables divided into twelve

standard

volcanism,

references;

for which there are explanations

stages,

tectonic

lithology,

movements,

thickness, references

facies,

lithostratigraphy,

[by age of sequence]

and

regional stages); (7) References, of which there are 49 double column pages (more than 1500 entries); (8) 10 color maps, the first one being a reconstruction of sedimentation areas indexed

by numbers,

and including

primary data base for these volumes: mentioned under (6) above.

Deep Sea Drilling the area correlation

The entire volume is well cross-indexed,

Sites.

Volume

2 represents

the

tables with the six parameters

making it easy to move from one medium

of

explanation to the next. I was also very impressed with the comprehensive bibliography offered by the contributors. The only area I felt was below the high standard of the volume was the treatment of the Indian Subcontinent. However, most of the intensive activity there during the last years has been published since this work was done, and interested investigators can easily augment this section of the book for themselves.