Chimpanzees of the lakeshore : natural history and culture at Mahale /

Two foundational long-term studies of chimpanzees began on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the 1960s: that of Jane Goodall at Gombe and that of Toshisada Nishida at Mahale. Few realize that Nishida's study provided many of the early insights into chimpanzee social structure, intergroup relations, and foraging behaviors. This book is a compendium of 45 years of chimpanzee research, given in the words of probably the most experienced field researcher the species has known. It is based on the work of Nishida (Japan Monkey Centre) and his Mahale collaborators, but includes a wealth of comparative information from other field sites. Chapter topics include feeding, development, play, communication, life histories of females, sexual strategies, male politics, culture, and conservation. As at Gombe, the Mahale studies are based on following the life stories of known individuals and the insights gained from these intensive observations; sample sizes are consequently often small. As Nishida commented in the postscript, for a species that can live over 50 years, "45 years of research is hardly enough." It is an impressive body of work, nonetheless, and this book was his last: Nishida died in 2011. Summing Up: Essential. Academic and professional audiences, all levels. J. E. Grinnell Gustavus Adolphus College