Peter M. Kappeler is head of the Department of Behavior and Ecology at the German Primate Center in Gottingen. He is editor of Primate Males: Causes and Consequences of Variation in Group Composition and coeditor of Lemur Social Systems and Their Ecological Basis.

Michael E. Pereira is a research associate at the Lincoln Park Zoo and a science teacher at The Latin School of Chicago. He is coeditor of Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

We know a great deal about the role the environment plays in organizing primate social systems and in shaping reproductive success and survival. But how do primate life histories affect social systems and behaviour? Does the baboon's reproductive pattern, for example, play a role in the organization of baboon troops? Does chimpanzee maturation factor into the formation of bands and marauding males? Exploring these issues and many others, the contributors to "Primate Life Histories" provide the first systematic attempt to understand how primate life histories influence behaviour and vice versa. Topics covered include how primate life histories interact with diverse social structures; how the slow maturation of primates affects the behaviour of both the young and their adult caregivers; and the reciprocal relationships between large brains and increased social and behavioural complexity. The first collection of its kind, this book should interest a wide range of researchers, from anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to psychologists and ecologists.