Anaesthetising a fish, x-raying a frog and hospitalising a walrus are all in a day’s work for the world’s wildest veterinarian. Travelling from the rainforests of Sierra Leone to the jungles of Borneo, Romain Pizzi has caught, anaesthetised, diagnosed, operated on, medicated, and then released some of the world's most endangered wild animals. From disease testing Polynesian snails to keyhole surgery in Sumatran orangutans; from endoscopy in sharks to ultrasound on a chimpanzee. Sometimes this is high tech work, such as the first robotic surgery in a tiger, or giant panda cloning attempts. Sometimes the situations are more primitive, from anaesthetising a bear with a bicycle pump, old plumbing tubes and a plank, to operating on a vulture using an old metal spoon. In Exotic Vetting, Romain recalls his many interesting patients, while taking readers on a tour of the challenges of treating the world’s amazing spectrum of wild animal species.

Britain was a very different place 15,000 years ago - home to lions, lynx, bears, wolves, bison and many more megafauna. But as its climate changed and human populations expanded, most of early Britain's largest mammals disappeared. Will advances in science and technology mean that we can one day bring these mammals back? And should we? In The Missing Lynx, palaeontologist Ross Barnett uses case studies, new fossil discoveries and biomolecular evidence to paint a picture of these lost species and to explore the ecological significance of their disappearance. He discusses how the Britons these animals shared their lives with might have viewed them and investigates why some species survived while others vanished. Barnett also looks in detail at the realistic potential of reintroductions, rewilding and even of resurrection in Britain and overseas, from the successful return of beavers in Argyll to the revolutionary Pleistocene Park in Siberia, which has already seen progress in the revival of 'mammoth steppe' grassland. As widespread habitat destruction, climate change and an ever-growing human population lead us inexorably towards the sixth extinction, this timely book explores the spaces that extinction has left unfilled. And by helping us to understand why some of our most charismatic animals are gone, Ross Barnett encourages us to look to a brighter future, one that might see these missing beasts returned to the land on which they once lived and died.

How old is the sloth? How do sloths have sex? How did a sloth save Dublin? The answers to these questions, and more, are found in this wonderfully entertaining celebration of the sloth. Walking readers through the sloth's evolutionary history - from the prehistoric ground sloth to modern pygmy - William Hartston reveals the sloth's fascinating journey from maligned mammal to cause celebre. Playfully peppered with science and filled with factoids, Sloths is a love-letter to the most anachronistic, and just a little bit ridiculous, of animals. 'Riveting... Sloths is as comprehensive a look at the instincts, lifestyle and capacities of this curious creature as you are ever likely to need.' Daily Express

A photographic identification guide to 92 land and 30 marine mammals represents 90 per cent of all mammals in Sri Lanka, providing a perfect for guide for residents and visitors alike. Over 300 high-quality photographs from Sri Lanka's top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habitat and viewing tips. The user-friendly introduction covers climatic zones, topography, top wildlife sites, night safaris and where to watch marine mammals. Also included is an all-important checklist of all of the mammals of Sri Lanka encompassing, for each species, its common and scientific names.

From the popular television Oregon travel series Grant’s Getaways comes the third book in Grant McOmie’s well-loved guidebooks. Oregon’s treasure Grant McOmie offers in this handy guidebook his favorite kid-friendly outings featured in his television series, Grant’s Getaways. You’ll find activities to engage any kid, from archery to clamming on the coast to hunting for thundereggs to zip-lining through trees in an aerial adventure park. Grant explored many of these outings as a child on family trips and later as a father with his own children. A big believer in teachable moments through touchable history, he’s expert in providing educational content that kids truly enjoy. This is a detailed reference book for outdoor adventures geared for family fun and activities.

Martin Stevens explores the extraordinary variety of senses in the animal kingdom, and discusses the cutting-edge science that is shedding light on these secret worlds. Our senses of vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch are essential for us to respond to threats, communicate and interact with the world around us. This is true for all animals - their sensory systems are key to survival, and without them animals would be completely helpless. However, the sensory systems of other animals work very differently from ours. For example, many animals from spiders to birds can detect and respond to ultraviolet light, to which we are blind. Other animals, including many insects, rodents, and bats can hear high-frequency ultrasonic sounds well beyond our own hearing range. Many other species have sensory systems that we lack completely, such as the magnetic sense of birds, turtles, and other animals, or the electric sense of many fish. These differences in sensory ability have a major bearing on the ways that animals behave and live in different environments, and also affect their evolution and ecology. In this book, Martin Stevens explores the remarkable sensory systems that exist in nature, and what they are used for. Discussing how different animal senses work, he also considers how they evolve, how they are shaped by the environment in which an animal lives, and the pioneering science that has uncovered how animals use their senses. Throughout, he celebrates the remarkable diversity of life, and shows how the study of sensory systems has shed light on some of the most important issues in animal behaviour, physiology, and evolution.

Lights, Camera, Lions tells the remarkable story of Hungarian Hubert Geza Wells, who defects to America during the communist era and goes on to make a name for himself as one of the desired animal trainers in Hollywood. His hair-raising memoir (pun intended) gives insight into training animals that has never been revealed before.

'Lyrical and beautiful and feels like a haven in a cynical world - exactly the book we all need to read right now' Catherine Simpson, author of One Body: A Retrospective, When I Had A Little Sister and Truestory 'A book of passionate resistance to everything in modern life that wants us to stay neat and small and fearful' Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure For Sleep An intimate weaving of memoir and herbal folklore, All My Wild Mothers is a story of rewilding our wastelands and the transformation that can happen when we do. At seven months pregnant, Victoria Bennett was looking forward to new motherhood and all that was to come. But when the telephone rang, the news she received changed everything. Her eldest sister had died in a canoeing accident. Five years later, struggling with grief, the demands of being a parent-carer for her young son, and the impact of deeper austerity, life feels very different to the future she had imagined. A move to a new social housing estate in rural Cumbria offers Victoria and her family a chance to rebuild their lives. Constructed over an industrial site, at first the barren ground seems an unlikely place to sow the seeds of a new life. She and her son set about transforming the rubble around them into a wild apothecary garden. Daisy, for resilience. Dandelion, for strength against adversity. Red campion, to ward off loneliness. Sow thistle, to lift melancholy. Borage, to bring hope in dark and difficult times. Stone by stone, seed by seed, All My Wild Mothers is the story of how sometimes life grows, not in spite of what is broken, but because of it. 'An exciting new voice in nature writing' Cal Flyn, Sunday Times Writer of the Year, and author of Islands of Abandonment and Thicker Than Water

Sir David Attenborough is Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. His career as a naturalist and broadcaster has spanned nearly six decades, and in this volume of memoirs Sir David tells stories of the people and animals he has met and the places he has visited. His first job - after Cambridge University and two years in the Royal Navy - was at a London publishing house. Then in 1952 he joined the BBC as a trainee producer, and it was while working on the Zoo Quest series (1954-64) that he had his first opportunity to undertake expeditions to remote parts of the globe, to capture intimate footage of rare wildlife in its natural habitat. He was Controller of BBC2 (1965-68), during which time he introduced colour television to Britain, then Director of Programmes for the BBC (1969-1972). However, in 1973 he abandoned administration altogether to return to documentary-making and writing, and has established himself as the world's leading Natural History programme maker with several landmark BBC series, including Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), Life of Birds (1998), The Blue Planet (2001), Life of Mammals (2002), Planet Earth (2006) and Life in Cold Blood (2008). Sir David is an Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 1985. He is also Britain's most respected, trusted and lauded natural history broadcaster and writer, championing conservation and standing at the forefront of issues concerning the planet's declining species. A lot has changed since his first television documentary, and in this updated edition of Life on Air Sir David tells us of his experiences of filming in the 21st century.

Here s a superb collection of in-your-face images of Africa s magnificent Big Five lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant.

Award-winning wildlife photographer Gerald Hinde has long been enthralled by these magnificent animals and has spent countless hours in the field, experiencing them in all their different moods and behaviors.

Big Five of Africa beautifully reproduces some of the more remarkable moments he has captured on film during his visits to the wildlife sanctuaries of southern and East Africa. Brief but informative text introduces each animal in turn, providing interesting insights into the nature of these formidable, yet compelling, creatures

The second edition of the Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois offers up-to-date information on the state's 102 species of frogs and toads, salamanders, turtles, lizards, and snakes. Detailed descriptions by the authors include habitats, distinguishing features, behaviors, and other facts, while revised range maps and full-color photographs help users recognize animals in the field. In addition, an identification key and easy-to-navigate page layouts guide readers through extensive background material on each species' population, diet, predators, reproduction, and conservation status. A one-of-a-kind resource, the Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois is a definitive guide aimed at biologists, teachers, students, wildlife specialists, natural resource managers, conservationists, law enforcement officials, landowners, hobbyists, and everyone else eager to explore herpetology and nature in the Prairie State.

As Steven Meyers writes, an odyssey need not involve a long journey, simply a profound one. First drawn to Lime Creek for its fly fishing, this stream serves as Meyers’s muse in seven transcendent essays that explore journeys in the discovery of self, of home, and what it means to be human. The essays also explore loss and grief, of finding healing in the powerful presence of nature and in the awareness and experience of natural cycles. The tender eloquence of his writing and his compassion for all living things make for a contemplation of place in the tradition of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Desert Solitaire.

Amphibians of Costa Rica is the first in-depth field guide to all 206 species of amphibians known to occur in Costa Rica or within walking distance of its borders. A diminutive nation with abundant natural wealth, the country is host to 146 species of frogs and toads. Frogs of gemlike beauty and dizzying variety abound: some species can fit on the end of a human finger; others would take two hands to hold. In the rainforests, you can find frogs capable of gliding from high in the treetops to the forest floor, some that carry their eggs or their tadpoles around on their back, and others that secrete glue-like substances from their skin that are capable of sticking shut the mouth of attacking snakes. Costa Rica is also home to fifty-three species of lungless salamanders, whose unique adaptations and abilities have allowed them to colonize habitats inaccessible to other amphibians. In addition to the spectacularly diverse salamanders, frogs, and toads found in the country, this guide includes the caecilians-bizarre and highly specialized creatures that somewhat resemble giant worms. Author, photographer, and conservation biologist Twan Leenders has been studying the herpetofauna of Central America for more than twenty years. Leenders and his team of researchers have traipsed the rainforests, dry forests, and swamps of Costa Rica-toting portable photo studios-to put together the richest collection of photographs of Costa Rican herpetofauna known to exist. In addition to hundreds of photographs, range maps, morphological illustrations, and precise descriptions of key field characteristics, Amphibians of Costa Rica offers a wealth of natural history information, describing prey and predators, breeding strategies, habitat, and conservation status.

Jeremy & Amy is the first book to tell the story behind internationally famous Monkey World.

It's often imagined that rarity is special. We seek out uncommon plants or birds to tick them off our lists, but most of us overlook the extraordinary splendour of the species we encounter daily in the natural world. It's these species - the most successful plants - that are truly interesting. In this new book, Ken Thompson sets out to chart Britain's fifty-two most common wild plants and to explain the secrets of their success. What are their key characteristics? How do they thrive in different habitats? Where did they come from? What do their popular names - speedwell, buttercup, dog rose - mean? Common or Garden - stunningly illustrated by the artist Sarah Abbott - will open our eyes afresh to the everyday natural world.

This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and easily accessible field guide to the mammals of Borneo--the ideal travel companion for anyone visiting this region of the world. Covering Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan, the book provides essential information on 277 species of land and marine mammals and features 141 breathtaking color plates. Detailed facing-page species accounts describe taxonomy, size, range, distribution, habits, and status. This unique at-a-glance guide also includes distribution maps, habitat plates, regional maps, fast-find graphic indexes, top mammal sites, and a complete overview of the vegetation, climate, and ecology of Borneo. * Covers 277 species--from orangutans and clouded leopards to otters and other marine mammals * Features 141 superb color plates * Includes facing-page species accounts, distribution maps, fast-find graphic indexes, and more * Describes Borneo's vegetation, climate, and ecology

THE WADDODLES OF HOLLOW LAKE: THE RUFFED GROUSE COURTSHIP CEREMONY Romance is heavily in the air everywhere along the West Shore of Hollow Lake. Harriet Waddodle entertains reservations concerning her involvement with Tobias Trottleby. Toby is deeply smitten with Harriet, but understands her reluctance and exhibits great patience. The Ruffed Grouse Courtship Ceremony takes place on The Grassy Meadow, as scheduled, where the male grouse look over the female grouse. Animals and birds alike, attend to watch the drumming, preening, dancing, love calls and battles as the males perform before the females they hope to impress and win their 'wing' in marriage. Gaylord Grantmore and Gracie Goodglee wish to be together, however, for this to happen, Gaylord must win Gracie. If more than one male desires a certain female, the males must battle furiously to win her. Gracie Goodglee is most popular among the males and Gaylord must battle several suitors to try to win her before he can claim Gracie as his bride. When the grouse are paired, following the Ceremony, those attending share in the celebration and feasting. Fireflies cover the The Grassy Meadow bathing the meadow with romantic firelight for the many wedding ceremonies taking place. 'The Newspapers', white-tail-deer Clara and Zoe, deliver surprising news of Scitter Chipmunk's pregnancy. There are many reports of Big Casey, the beastly-deranged black bear, moving closer to West Shore and again threatening the lifes of the Waddodles and their friends. Life on West Shore is thriving with excitement and pleasure as the friends and neighbors look forward to carrying out their complicated plans for The Birds Beauty Contest. Plans are underway for the contest and grow ... and grow ... as multitudes of birds are itching to take part. The West Shore of Hollow Lake is aglow with excitement.

What's the difference between bliss and solace? Misery and sorrow? Bitterness and malice? In Animals Are People Too, each page presents animal portraits that illustrate everything from the depths of sadness to the heights of joy. At times hilarious, at times poignant, but always visually stunning, see yourself in the animal world with images such as 'indulgence' personified by a chubby-cheeked chipmunk, 'glee' shown by a dancing tree frog, and 'infatuation' portrayed by the entwined necks of two giraffes.

The relationship between humans and animals has always been strong, symbiotic and complicated. Animals, real and fictional, have been a mainstay in the arts and entertainment, figuring prominently in literature, film, television, social media, and live performances. Increasingly, though, people are anthropomorphizing animals, assigning them humanoid roles, tasks and identities. At the same time, humans, such as members of the furry culture or college mascots, find pleasure in adopting animal identities and characteristics. This is the first book of its kind to explore these growing phenomena across media. The contributors to this book represent various disciplines in the arts, humanities and healthcare. Their essays demonstrate the various ways that human and animal lives are intertwined and constantly evolving.

A tongue-in-cheek field guide to the deadliest animals on Earth from TikTok star @mndiaye_97 Let's be clear: Mamadou Ndiaye knows a whole lot of animals that can and will end you, but he has no plans to let these strange and horrifying creatures cash in his life insurance policy. Now the TikTok star is turning his engaging, entertaining, and informative takes on animal biology and behaviour into this hilarious guide to the world's most deadly creatures. These include: * sperm whales with a call so strong it can vibrate you to death * meerkats or "the most homicidal mammals on Earth" * hyenas, which eat their prey while it is still alive * hippos, which "have no soul and answer to no god" * and a golf-ball-sized octopus that can erase twenty-six people with one bite You'll learn not only which animals to avoid, but which ones can beat you in a footrace, which ones create surprisingly high body counts, and which ones will give you a good reason never to venture into the ocean. Mamadou also offers the occasional survival tip, even if it is just to make peace with your higher power. From the moose (aka "the antlered Grim Reaper") to the Cassowary ("Jurassic bullshit with feathers"), this is nature like you never want to meet it in real life.