Vertebrate ecology and ethology

Primate Behavioral Ecology: From Ethnography to Ethology and Back

Nonhuman primates occupy a special niche in anthropology because of the comparative insights into humans they provide. Initial anthropological interest in primates targeted the apes for their close phylogenetic relationships with humans, and the semiterrestrial Old World monkeys for their ecological similarities with hominids adapting to life on the ground. From the earliest anecdotal reports o...

Ecology of Vertebrate Nutrition

All vertebrates require certain amounts of energy, protein and ‘essential’ nutrients. Dietary sources of energy include carbohydrates, protein and fat. Dietary protein is necessary for satisfying an animal’s protein requirements. Certain dietary nutrients are classified as ‘essential’ because they are required for synthesis or functioning of crucial chemical compounds, yet they cannot be synthe...

Ethology and Stress Diseases

Many of us have been surprised at the unconventional decision of the Nobel Foundation to award this year’s prize ‘for Physiology or Medicine’ to three men who had until recently been regarded as ‘mere animal watchers’. Since at least Konrad Lorenz and I could not really be described as physiologists, we must conclude that our scientia amabilis is now being acknowledged as an integral part of th...

The Evolution of Shelter: Ecology and Ethology of Chimpanzee Nest Building

The ecology of vertebrate pests and integrated pest management (IPM)