The Arashiyama group of Japanese macaques holds a distinguished place in primatology as one of the longest continuously studied non-human primate populations in the world. The resulting long-term data provide a unique resource for researchers, allowing them to move beyond cross-sectional studies to tackle larger issues involving individual, matrilineal and group histories. This book presents an overview of the scope and magnitude of research topics and management efforts that have been conducted on this population for several decades, covering not only the original troop living around Kyoto, Japan, but also the two subgroups that were translocated to Texas, USA and Montreal, Canada. The chapters encompass topics including life history, sexual, social and cultural behaviour and ecology, giving an insight into the range of current primatological research. The contributors underscore the historic value of the Arashiyama macaques and showcase new and significant research findings that highlight their continuing importance to primatology.

Reviews the most important topics in current primatology using research on the long-studied Arashiyama population of Japanese macaques.

About the Author
Jean-Baptiste Leca is a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer in the Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Canada. His research explores the determinants of behavioural innovations and traditions, and the evolution of non-conceptive sexuality, including the motivational mechanisms underlying female-to-male mounting in Arashiyama Japanese macaques. Michael A. Huffman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Behaviour and Ecology at the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. His research on free-ranging and captive Japanese macaques encompasses sexual behaviour, reproductive physiology and energetics, enrichment, social learning, cultural behaviour, self-medication and parasite ecology. Paul L. Vasey is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge. His research focuses on the development and evolution of non-conceptive sexuality from a cross-species and cross-cultural perspective. He has conducted research on sexual behaviour in free-ranging Japanese macaques at Arashiyama and on the captive subgroup in Montreal.

Reviews
'Many of us who have worked with completely wild, nonprovisioned study populations like to think our data more closely reflect the natural ecology of our study animals, but the detail and depth of the studies carried out at the Arashiyama sites remain unmatched by those from more naturalistic sites. This volume shows how the Arashiyama monkeys have inspired and continue to enhance field research by primatologists around the world.' David S. Sprague, The Quarterly Review of Biology



Book Information
ISBN 9780521761857
Author Jean-Baptiste Leca
Format Hardback
Page Count 516
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 940g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 158mm * 28mm