Animal Behaviour

Prof. Dr. Peter Kappeler (Ph.D., Duke University, 1992) holds a chair for Sociobiology/Anthropology at the University of Göttingen and is the head of the Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit at the German Primate Center. He studied Biology and Psychology at the University of Tübingen and at Duke University. As a postdoc, he worked at the German Primate Center and obtained his Habilitation in Tropical Ecology from the University of Würzburg. Before moving to his present position, he was the head of the Behavioral Ecology Department at Leipzig University. His research interests focus on the social systems of non-human primates. For the past 25 years, his empirical work has focused on the social and mating systems of Malagasy primates, carnivores and birds, which he and his students have been studying at Kirindy Forest. He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in top scientific journals, and authored or edited 15 books and special issues. He was a long-term editor of the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

• Part 1: Basics.- Chapter 1: Behavioral Biology: Content and History.- Chapter 2: Methods and Concepts of Behavioral Biology.- Chapter 3: Behavior, Evolution and Life histories.- Part 2: Survival Strategies.- Chapter 4: Basic Function and Behavior.- Chapter 5: Orientation in Time and Space.- Chapter 6: Habitat and Food Selection.- Chapter 7: Predation.- Part 3: Reproduction.-  Chapter 8: Sexual selection: Evolutionary Foundations.- Chapter 9: Intrasexual selection: how males compete.- Chapter 10: Intersexual selection: how females choose.- Part 4: Parental Care and Infant Development.- Chapter 11: Parental care.- Chapter 12: Development and control of behaviour.- Part 5: Social evolution.-  Chapter 13: Social systems.- Chapter 14: Social structure.