Primate Adaptation and Evolution [Hardcover]

Author Unknown (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0122603400 | ISBN-13: 978-0122603402 | Publication Date: September 11, 1988

Primate Adaptation and Evolutionis the only recent text published in this rapidly progressing field. It provides you with an extensive, current survey of the order Primates, both living and fossil. By combining information on primate anatomy, ecology, and behavior with the primate fossil record, this book enables students to study primates from all epochs as a single, viable group. It surveys major primate radiations throughout 65 million years, and provides equal treatment of both living and extinct species.

ï Presents a summary of the primate fossils
ï Reviews primate evolution
ï Provides an introduction to the primate anatomy
ï Discusses the features that distinguish the living groups of primates
ï Summarizes recent work on primate ecology

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fleagle has succeeded admirably in synthesizing a tremendous volume of information, while keeping the discussion clear enough to be comprehensible to students...Primate Adaptation and Evolution fills a vacuum for current textbooks in primate evolutionary studies."
--INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
"In his own research on primates, John Fleagle has undertaken studies of both the natural behavior of extant species and the paleobiology of extinct ones and in this textbook he has effectively combined his two concerns into a well balanced treatment of the evolution of the order...It is comprehensive and up to date and there is clearly a need or a basic text for courses on primate evolution and ecology."
--JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
"...Fleagle's book...is a tour de force as well as a tour d'horizon of the primate order....Fleagle's book fills a long-standing need for a comprehensive and up-to-date introductory text in its field."
--Ian Tattersall, NATURE
"This book will be welcomed with a sigh of relief in departments of anatomy and biological anthropology worldwide. Here at last is an up-to-date, comprehensive and reliable testbook for courses in primate and human evolution....It will, and should, stand as a major teaching resource for primate evolution for some years to come. It is an excellent text and a reflection of Fleagle's major contributions to our field."
--Robin Crompton, PRIMATE EYE
"No other single work can match the range of its topics, which matches the interests of its author, one of the leading students in primate paleontology, behavior, morphology, and evolution.... Highly recommended for all university libraries and required for science collections."
--E. Delson,
HERBERT H. LEHMAN COLLEGE, CUNY
"The text is clearly written and interesting, with many of the current questions and controversies nicely presented, giving various sides of the issues. The bibliographies for each chapter are well chosen, quite comprehensive, and up to date. The illustrations are marvelous....One might say this is a textbook with out an audience that everyone should read."
--AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
"The writing style is didactic, definite and clear. The student is left in no doubt what is in the mind of the author nor of his mastery of his subject....An Admirable book that deserves the success that it will undoubtedly achieve."
--BIOLOGY AND SOCIETY

From the Back Cover

* Features up-to-date information about many aspects of primate biology and evolution
* Contains a completely new chapter on primate communities
* Presents totally revised chapters on primate origins, early anthropoids, and fossil platyrrhines
* Includes an updated glossary, illustrations, and * Classification of Order Primates
* Succeeds as the best introductory text on primate evolution because it synthesizes and allows access to primary literature --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 540 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press (September 11, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0122603400
• ISBN-13: 978-0122603402
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,173,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unquestionably the best undergrad textbook, May 19, 2003

By 

prime8 "Naked Ape" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Second Edition (Hardcover)

Anyone who teaches an intro to primates course will wish to assign this book to their students. There are a variety of textbooks on the subject available, and some of them are excellent. Fleagle's volume, however, is the only one that provides such a complete review of the fossil record and anatomical variation, as well as behavioral variation. It is concise, thorough, and complete, and the best of the choices available to an instructor in this subject.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must-have, May 18, 2001

By 

Summer B. Frace (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Second Edition (Hardcover)

Can you study physical anthropology and not have this book? Probably not. If it hasn't been assigned to you as part of your education and you are serious about physical anthropology, you should buy this book right now. This book outlines the living primates as well as the extinct species in an easy to understand, easy to learn format. It has all the information you could ever need to know about living and extinct primates.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, December 6, 2007

By 

Rabid Reader (Near Niagara Falls, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Second Edition (Hardcover)

I'm not even a student & haven't been for decades, but I sat down to read this text and really didn't want to put it down! My family had to make their own dinners the night it appeared on the front step.
It covers everything, just everything you always wanted to know about any primate on the planet: how we are all constructed and why. Most of the illustrations are line-drawings in my edition, but there are lots and lots of them. You cannot go wrong with this book.