Gorilla Society

Conflict, Compromise, and Cooperation Between the Sexes

Alexander H. Harcourt, Kelly J. Stewart

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780226316048
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

Societies develop as a result of the interactions of individuals as they compete and cooperate with one another in the evolutionary struggle to survive and reproduce successfully. Gorilla society is arranged according to these different and sometimes conflicting evolutionary goals of the sexes. In seeking to understand why gorilla society exists as it does, Alexander H. Harcourt and Kelly J. Stewart bring together extensive data on wild gorillas, collected over decades by numerous researchers working in diverse habitats across Africa, to illustrate how the social system of gorillas has evolved and endured. Gorilla Society introduces recent theories explaining primate societies, describes gorilla life history, ecology, and social systems, and explores both sexes' evolutionary strategies of survival and reproduction. Witha focus onthe future, Harcourt and Stewart conclude with suggestions for future research and conservation. An exemplary work of socioecology from two of the world's best known gorilla biologists, Gorilla Society will be a landmark study on a par with the work of George Schaller—a synthesis of existing research on these remarkable animals and the societies in which they live.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• PART 1. INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 2. PRIMATE SOCIOECOLOGY: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
• PART 2. GORILLAS, ECOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
• CHAPTER 3. INTRODUCING GORILLAS: SOME BACKGROUND
• CHAPTER 4. GORILLA ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY: A BRIEF DESCRIPTION
• PART 3. FEMALE STRATEGIES AND GORILLA SOCIETY
• CHAPTER 5. FEMALE STRATEGIES AND SOCIETY: FOOD AND GROUPING
• CHAPTER 6. FEMALE STRATEGIES: MALE INFLUENCES ON FEMALES’COMPETITION, COOPERATION, AND GROUPING
• CHAPTER 7. FEMALE STRATEGIES: MALE INFLUENCES; JOINING A PROTECTIVE MALE
• CHAPTER 8. FEMALE STRATEGIES: MALE INFLUENCES; EMIGRATION AND CHOICE OF MALES
• CHAPTER 9. FEMALE STRATEGIES: CONFLICT, COMPROMISE, AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE SEXES
• PART 4. MALE STRATEGIES AND GORILLA SOCIETY
• CHAPTER 10. MALE STRATEGIES AND SOCIETY: INFLUENCES OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND OF FEMALES
• CHAPTER 11. MALE MATING STRATEGIES AND GORILLA SOCIETY
• CHAPTER 12. MALE STRATEGIES AND THE NATURE OF SOCIETY: CONFLICT, COMPROMISE, AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE SEXES
• PART 5. GORILLA SOCIETY: THE FUTURE
• CHAPTER 13. GORILLA AND PRIMATE SOCIOECOLOGY: THE FUTURE
• CHAPTER 14. SOCIOECOLOGY AND GORILLA CONSERVATION
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index