![Ecology and Behaviour of the African Buffalo]( "Ecology and Behaviour of the African Buffalo")
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Contents
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About this book
What are the benefits that animals gain from living in a social group? More than just an up-to-date review of current knowledge on the behaviour and ecology of the African buffalo this book illustrates more general principles in exploring why individuals within a population behave as they do and the ecological and conservation consequences of this. Using his detailed studies of the African buffalo with its high intraspecific diversity of social organisation, Prins also explores the impact that this study has on the study of social structure and organization in other species. Contents: Social organisation in Bovidae. Distribution of resources in time and space. Phenological ecology: the yearly cycle of condition. Social organisation of cows: the herd. Social organisation of bulls. The effect of ecology on social organisation. Catastrophes and stability. Habitat selection, predation and competing for food. Patches visited and revisited. Selecting grazing grounds: a case of voting? Synthesis: individuals in a community or a community of individuals?
Contents
Distribution of resources in time and space; food for the buffalo; social organization of buffalo cows; social organization of buffalo bulls; population dynamics, catastrophes and stability; competition for food; patch selection - predators and grazing by "rule of thumb"; selecting grazing grounds - a case of voting; the effects of ecology on social organization; appendix - protein and energy requirements.
Customer Reviews
By: HHT Prins
320 pages, 16 col plates, figs, tabs
This book will come to be seen as a milestone in the development and testing of ideas in behavioural ecology...This is a brilliant book. - Mammal News; In all, this is a highly informative and easily readable text which makes an excellent companion to, and extension of, the earlier work of Grimsdell (1969) and Sinclair (1977), and helps dispel many of the old myths propagated by white hunters about this animal. - Journal of Animal Ecology; ...of great interest and value to people working on related species in wild, domestic or feral conditions...Specialists in African ungulates will appreciate the generous provision of detail...excellent photographs... - Animal Behaviour; After many years of original and innovative research on the African buffalo, particulary at Lake Manyara in northern Tanzania, Herbert Prins has now summarized the results of much of this widely-respected work in this fascinating book. Such a case-study has wide implications for research on social structure and organization in other species, and these are explored within the book - Ethology Ecology & Evolution; This book is a landmark in socio-ecological studies of ungulates...no other work that I can recall has gone into such detail and sifted through the data so thoroughly...Ecology and Behavior of the African Buffalo is an exceptional interesting study, one that sets a new and higher standard for future studies. -African Worldlife Update
