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Evidence for Early Anthropoid Social Behavior

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Book cover Anthropoid Origins

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

Recent discoveries of early anthropoid primate fossils from Africa and Asia have generated a tremendous amount of new information about the origins of modern anthropoid primates (e.g., Beard et al., 1994, 1996; Jaeger et al., 1999; Simons, 1989, 1997). With these new discoveries has come an intensified interest in understanding the adaptive shifts involved in the evolution of the earliest anthropoids (Kay et al., 1997; Ross, 1996, 2000). This essay focuses on morphological evidence for some aspects of social behavior in the earliest anthropoids—specifically gregariousness, broad patterns of mating system, and intrasexual competition. This topic is difficult to address, but it is of considerable interest by virtue of the role it plays in recent hypotheses about anthropoid origins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, 330 Old Main, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, Arkansas

    J. Michael Plavcan

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  1. J. Michael Plavcan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    Callum F. Ross

  2. Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Richard F. Kay

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Plavcan, J.M. (2004). Evidence for Early Anthropoid Social Behavior. In: Ross, C.F., Kay, R.F. (eds) Anthropoid Origins. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8873-7_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8873-7_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

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