Location is everything in real estate, and it also helps explain the evolutionary roots of social behavior in adult male cheetahs, says a new book by a UC Davis behavioral ecologist. To gain and hold territory preferred by nomadic female cheetahs, several male cheetahs will live together in small bands, or "coalitions." The reproductive advantage provides a better explanation for the coalitions than the old group-hunting theory to Tim Caro, an associate professor of wildlife, fish and conservation biology with the UC Davis Center for Population Biology. Available in bookstores by Aug. 1, Caro's new book synthesizes 10 years of study and 5,000 hours worth of field observations into a volume believed to be the most comprehensive account of carnivore social behavior to date. The final chapter of "Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species" applies Caro's findings to conservation problems in an attempt to save cheetahs from extinction.