Carnivores include some of the most impressive, dangerous and mysterious animals in the world. Hans Kruuk has spent his life studying them against magnificent backdrops, from the Serengeti savannahs and Kalahari deserts to the Scottish Highlands, from the Galapagos Islands to the Far East. In each location he has used meticulous observation of animal behaviour to understand the ecology and natural history of wild carnivore populations, and ultimately to promote their conservation. This book describes the methods, challenges and rewards of the science of behavioural ecology. However, it essentially concerns the personal, rather than the scientific, side of that work, and above all the field experiences involved. With photographs and line drawings, it brings to life African safaris, the hyena in his bath, flights with vultures, dives with otters, attacks by a badger in Scotland and by feral dogs in Galapagos, gull-eating hedgehogs in Britain and the role of animals in African witchcraft. The author communicates his lifelong fascination with wildlife through these unique experiences and the insights they afforded him. Professor Kruuk is a leading authority on animal behaviour and the author of classic studies of hyaenas, otters and badgers, as well as a biography of his Oxford mentor Niko Tinbergen.

There are five races of tiger on our planet and all but one live in tropical regions: the Siberian Tiger Panthera tigris altaica is the exception. Mysterious and elusive, and with only 350 remaining in the wild, the Siberian tiger remains a complete enigma. One man has set out to change this. Sooyong Park has spent twenty years tracking and observing these elusive tigers. Each year he spends six months braving sub-zero temperatures, buried in grave-like underground bunkers, fearlessly immersing himself in the lives of Siberian tigers. As he watches the brutal, day-to-day struggle to survive the harsh landscape, threatened by poachers and the disappearance of the pristine habitat, Park becomes emotionally and spiritually attached to these beautiful and deadly predators. No one has ever been this close: as he comes face-to-face with one tiger, Bloody Mary, her fierce determination to protect her cubs nearly results in his own bloody demise. Poignant, poetic and fiercely compassionate, The Great Soul of Siberia is the incredible story of Park's unique obsession with these compelling creatures on the very brink of extinction, and his dangerous quest to seek them out to observe and study them. Eloquently told in Park's distinctive voice, it is a personal account of one of the most extraordinary wildlife studies ever undertaken.

'London in the Wild is a timely opportunity to get out and explore all the wild spaces and natural places that exist alongside us. Both on your doorstep and on the other side of the river.' - Chris Packham A place of cars, concrete, lights, noise and pollution, London is a harsh, unyielding landscape created to meet the needs of people, not wildlife, but if you take the time to stop and look, you'll discover it is teeming with more than 15,000 species of flora, fungi and fauna, including marsh frogs, hedgehogs, short-eared owls and dragonflies. With London in the Wild as your guide, you can explore the city from your garden, local parks and community space, but also from its wetlands, woodlands and heaths. Along the way you'll discover the best places to see bluebells in springtime, the day-to-day life of a London Tube mouse and the activities of seals who make their home in the Thames.

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.

Following on from the hugely successful Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom, this three-journal set is a beautiful gift for yourself or a friend. Each journal features a stunning illustration by Millie Marotta with sparkling gold foiling on the cover. They consist of 64 pages, one journal with plain paper and two with rules for writing, as well as stunning motifs from Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom dotted throughout the pages. These are the perfect notebooks for any creative work, school or business notes, diary entries or plain old doodling.

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.

From two of the world’s leading authorities on dogs, an imaginative journey into a future of dogs without people What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive—and possibly even thrive—and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now. Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff—two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs—explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own—and could do so in a world without us. Challenging the notion that dogs would be helpless without their human counterparts, A Dog’s World enables us to understand these independent and remarkably intelligent animals on their own terms.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A compelling investigation of navigation in the animal kingdom.' Mail on Sunday 'David Barrie, who himself has sailed the oceans using a sextant, is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around ... eye-opening book.' Frans de Waal, New York Times 'Only a sailor could relate the navigational powers of both humans and animals with such appreciation, excitement, and precision. Thank you, David Barrie, for taking us along on these riveting voyages by sail and wing, hoof and flipper. We arrive surprised, delighted, and awed.' Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus 'Immensely entertaining... [Barrie] is an admirably reliable and assiduous guide to what we do and don't yet know.' Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times 'Barrie has a good eye for colourful detail.' Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday 'This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with the wonders of nature.' Publishers Weekly In Incredible Journeys, award-winning author David Barrie takes us on a tour of the cutting-edge science of animal navigation, where breakthroughs are allowing scientists to unravel, for the first time, how animals as various as butterflies, birds, crustaceans, fish, reptiles and even people find their way. Weaving interviews with leading experts on animal behaviour with the groundbreaking discoveries of Nobel-Prize winning neuroscientists, Barrie shines a light on the astounding skills of animals of every stripe. Dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way. Ants and bees that navigate using patterns of light invisible to humans. Sea turtles, spiny lobsters and moths that find their way using the Earth's magnetic field. Salmon that return to their birthplace by following their noses. Baleen whales that swim thousands of miles while holding a rock-steady course and birds that can locate their nests on a tiny island after crisscrossing an entire ocean. There's a stunning diversity of animal navigators out there, often using senses and skills we humans don't have access to ourselves. For the first time, Incredible Journeys reveals the wonders of these animals in a whole new light.

Featuring 280 of Australia's most beautiful, unusual and commonly encountered lizard species, this lavishly illustrated guide provides a thorough introduction to the land of the lizard. Stunning photographs from Australia's top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits and habitat. The user-friendly introduction covers the geography and climate of Australia, types of habitat, and details of orders and families. Also included is an all-important checklist of all of the lizards of Australia encompassing, for each species, its common and scientific name, which state it is present in and its IUCN Red List status.

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.

Elephants have long been targeted by humans: not only are they killed for their ivory, but their extraordinary strength, intelligence and charisma have seen some of them captured, chained and effectively jailed for life.

Bully and Induna are two African elephants, both orphaned in organised culling operations and destined for lives in captivity. Growing up far apart and quite differently, Bully (a former animal film star) and the less fortunate Induna were both driven to react to their circumstances – Induna even killed one of his carers. Their individual situations reached a point where both were considered to be dangerous animals and were under threat of being put down.

This is the true story of their lives. Conservationist Richard Peirce presents their individual narratives and the twists and turns of their fortunes: the exploitation of these majestic but sensitive animals, how they each came to be trapped in unsuitable ‘employment’ and shunted about from one venue to the next, before finding one another – free at last – on a farm in southern Africa.

Giant Steps is a gripping story, full of drama, danger, sadness and ultimate rescue.

'Britain's finest living nature writer' THE TIMES 'Lewis-Stempel's greatest gift remains his prose, with all its vividness and energy' THE DAILY MAIL 'The hottest nature writer around' THE SPECTATOR At night, the normal rules of Nature do not apply. In the night-wood I have met a badger coming the other way, tipped my cap, said hello. The animals do not expect us humans to be abroad in the dark, which is their time, when the world still belongs to them. That was in winter. The screaming of a tawny owl echoed off the bare trees. For all of our street-lamp civilization, you can still hear the call of the wild. If, if, you go out after the decline of the day... As the human world settles down each evening, nocturnal animals prepare to take back the countryside. Taking readers on four walks through the four seasons, acclaimed nature writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel reveals a world bursting with life and normally hidden from view. Out beyond the cities, it is still possible to see the night sky full of stars, or witness a moonbow, an arch of white light in the heavens. It is time for us to leave our lairs and go tramping. To join our fellow creatures of the night.

The New York Times bestseller. A delightfully quirky compendium of the Animal Kingdom's more unfortunate truths, with over 150 hand-drawn illustrations to make you laugh and cry. Have you ever wondered how expensive a jar of honey would be if a minimum wage for bees applied, or whether a dog cares what's on television when they sit next to you? Once you enter Brooke Barker's world, you'll never see animals in the same way again. This melancholy menagerie pairs the sweet and sad facts of animal life with their hilarious thoughts and reactions. Sneakily informative, and beautifully illustrated, Sad Animal Facts by Brooke Barker is the perfect book for animal lovers (and haters) everywhere.

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.

'So, so good! ... More gems than a pirate's chest ... science, art, history, culture - it's epic and mammoth, a repository of all our truths through their lives' Chris Packham A powerful and fascinating insight into the 100 animals - from the blue whale to the mosquito - that have had the biggest influence on humanity through the ages. We are not alone. We are not alone on the planet. We are not alone in the countryside. We are not alone in cities. We are not alone in our homes. We are humans and we love the idea of our uniqueness. But the fact is that we humans are as much members of the animal kingdom as the cats and dogs we surround ourselves with, the cows and the fish we eat, and the bees who pollinate so many of our food-plants. In The History of the World in 100 Animals, award-winning author Simon Barnes selects the 100 animals who have had the greatest impact on humanity and on whom humanity has had the greatest effect. He shows how we have domesticated animals for food and for transport, and how animals powered agriculture, making civilisation possible. A species of flea came close to destroying human civilisation in Europe, while the slaughter of a species of bovines was used to create one civilisation and destroy another. He explains how pigeons made possible the biggest single breakthrough in the history of human thought. In short, he charts the close relationship between humans and animals, finding examples from around the planet that bring the story of life on earth vividly to life, with great insight and understanding. The heresy of human uniqueness has led us across the millennia along the path of destruction. This book, beautifully illustrated throughout, helps us to understand our place in the world better, so that we might do a better job of looking after it. That might save the polar bears, the modern emblem of impending loss and destruction. It might even save ourselves.

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.