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The study of the chimpanzee, the human’s closest relative, has led scientists to exciting discoveries about evolution, behavior, and cognition over the past half century. In this book, both young and veteran scholars take a fascinating comparative approach to the culture, behavior, and cognition of both wild and captive chimpanzees. By seeking new perspectives in how the chimpanzee compares to other species, the scientists featured in this book offer a richer understanding of the ways in which chimpanzees’ unique experiences shape their behavior. They also demonstrate how different methodologies provide different insights, how various cultural experiences influence our perspectives of chimpanzees, and how different ecologies in which chimpanzees live affect how they express themselves. The book examines chimp life histories and developmental milestones, behavior, methods of study, animal communication, cooperation and communication, tool use, chimpanzee care, and chimpanzee conservation. Collectively, these chapters remind us of the importance of considering the social, ecological, and cognitive context of chimpanzee behavior, and how these contexts shape our interpretation of our understanding of chimpanzees.

With over two-hundred species distributed across most of mainland Mexico, Central and South America, and islands in the Caribbean Sea, the Phyllostomidae bat family (American leaf-nosed bats) is one of the world’s most diverse mammalian families in terms of its trophic, or feeding, diversity. From an insectivorous ancestry, extant species have evolved into several dietary classes, including blood-feeding, vertebrate carnivory, and the consumption of nectar, pollen, and fruit, in a period of about 30 million years. Phyllostomid plant-visiting species are responsible for pollinating over five-hundred species of neotropical shrubs, trees, vines, and epiphytes—many of which are economically and ecologically important—and they also disperse the seeds of at least another five-hundred plant species. Fruit-eating and seed-dispersing members of this family thus play a crucial role in the regeneration of neotropical forests, and the fruit eaters are among the most abundant mammals in these habitats. Coauthored by leading experts in the field and synthesizing the latest advances in molecular biology and ecological methods, Phyllostomid Bats is the first overview in more than forty years of the evolution of the many morphological, behavioral, physiological, and ecological adaptations in this family. Featuring abundant illustrations as well as details on the current classification and conservation status of phyllostomid species, it is both a comprehensive reference for these ecologically vital mammals and a fascinating exploration of the evolutionary process of adaptive radiation.

Spider silk proteins almost all evolved from a single ancestral “spidroin” gene that later multiplied in diverse forms. The strongest spider silk combines extraordinary extensibility and toughness, and the viscoelastic nature of draglines allows a web to absorb sudden stresses from prey without breaking or allowing the prey to bounce off the web. Behavioral mechanisms (some as yet poorly understood) are described for the initiation and termination of lines, including conversion of silk from an aqueous liquid, how some lines are made adhesive, and how the spiders themselves nevertheless avoid adhering to their own webs. There is previously unsuspected diversity in the chemical and mechanical properties of lines in different species, different glands, and even the silk from a given gland in a given individual spider. Detailed studies reveal that previous simplistic accounts were inadequate; inter- and intra-specific diversity abounds in the silk glands, the droplets of glue on sticky lines, the attachment discs fastening lines to each other, and the chemical and mechanical properties of the lines themselves. Multiple morphological and behavioral traits are crucial for building webs, including spinneret muscles, positions of silk gland spigots, and behavioral and morphological traits that reduce adhesion to their own webs.