Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals

by Robert W. Shumaker, Kristina R. Walkup, Benjamin B. Beck, Gordon M. Burghardt (Foreword by)

Overview

When published in 1980, Benjamin B. Beck’s Animal Tool Behavior was the first volume to catalog and analyze the complete literature on tool use and manufacture in non-human animals. Beck showed that animals—from insects to primates—employed different types of tools to solve numerous problems. His work inspired and energized legions of researchers to study the use of tools by a wide variety of species.

In this revised and updated edition of the landmark publication, Robert W. Shumaker and Kristina R. Walkup join Beck to reveal the current state of knowledge regarding animal tool behavior. Through a comprehensive synthesis of the studies produced through 2010, the authors provide an updated and exact definition of tool use, identify new modes of use that have emerged in the literature, examine all forms of tool manufacture, and address common myths about non-human tool use. Specific examples involving invertebrates, birds, fish, and mammals describe the differing levels of sophistication of tool use exhibited by animals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801898532
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/02/2011
Edition description:	revised and updated edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	875,721
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert W. Shumaker is the president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, the author of Orangutans and the editor of Saving Endangered Species: Lessons in Wildlife Conservation from Indianapolis Prize Winners.

Kristina R. Walkup is a professor at Des Moines Area Community College.

Benjamin Beck is a scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and a founding member of the board of Save the Golden Lion Tamarin. He is the author of Unwitting Travelers: A History of Primate Reintroduction, and the first edition of Animal Tool Behavior. Shumaker and Beck are coauthors of Primates in Question.

Gordon M. Burghardt is an Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. He is the author of The Genesis of Animal Play: Testing the Limits.

Table of Contents

Foreword Gordon M. Burghardt ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter.1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Invertebrates 23

Chapter 3 Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds 35

Chapter 4 Non-Primate Mammals 59

Chapter 5 Prosimians and Monkeys 73

Chapter 6 Apes 108

Chapter 7 Seven Myths 204

References 227

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

Animal Tool Behavior is a read for a wide audience of individuals interested in understanding not only the range of behaviors of which non-human animals are capable, but also cognition, conceptualized both as a set of abilities and as an array of mental operations.
—Maura Pilotti, Metapsychology

Reading about how busy all these tool-users are is a delight, an introduction to a unique way of regarding a fascinating aspect of animal behavior.
—Rob Hardy, The Dispatch

Recommended.
—Choice

A true encyclopedia of animal tool use and as such I highly recommend it for every library that serves zoologists and/or behavioral scientists as well as for major public libraries.
—Andrezej Elzanowski, Acta Ornithologica

I highly recommend this publication to anyone who is interested in animal behavior. It would be a wonderful textbook for advanced undergraduate courses and for graduate-level seminars in biology, psychology, and anthropology programs.
—Marc Bekoff, Quarterly Review of Biology

This book is a landmark publication that will stimulate, guide and advance animal tool-use research for decades to come. . . Brimming with exciting natural history and presented with admirable rigour and scholarship.
—Christian Rutz, Ibis

From the Publisher

Animal Tool Behavior is a read for a wide audience of individuals interested in understanding not only the range of behaviors of which non-human animals are capable, but also cognition, conceptualized both as a set of abilities and as an array of mental operations.

Metapsychology - Maura Pilotti

A true encyclopedia of animal tool use and as such I highly recommend it for every library that serves zoologists and/or behavioral scientists as well as for major public libraries.

Acta Ornithologica - Andrezej Elzanowski

I highly recommend this publication to anyone who is interested in animal behavior. It would be a wonderful textbook for advanced undergraduate courses and for graduate-level seminars in biology, psychology, and anthropology programs.

Quarterly Review of Biology - Marc Bekoff

Reading about how busy all these tool-users are is a delight, an introduction to a unique way of regarding a fascinating aspect of animal behavior.

The Dispatch - Rob Hardy

This book is a landmark publication that will stimulate, guide and advance animal tool-use research for decades to come. . . Brimming with exciting natural history and presented with admirable rigour and scholarship.

Ibis - Christian Rutz

Recommended.

Choice

I highly recommend this publication to anyone who is interested in animal behavior. It would be a wonderful textbook for advanced undergraduate courses and for graduate-level seminars in biology, psychology, and anthropology programs.

— Marc Bekoff

Quarterly Review of Biology

A true encyclopedia of animal tool use and as such I highly recommend it for every library that serves zoologists and/or behavioral scientists as well as for major public libraries.

— Andrezej Elzanowski

Acta Ornithologica

Reading about how busy all these tool-users are is a delight, an introduction to a unique way of regarding a fascinating aspect of animal behavior.

— Rob Hardy

The Dispatch

Animal Tool Behavior is a read for a wide audience of individuals interested in understanding not only the range of behaviors of which non-human animals are capable, but also cognition, conceptualized both as a set of abilities and as an array of mental operations.

— Maura Pilotti

Metapsychology