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.

What hope remains for Africa's black rhinos? This book addresses that question by mixing local people and attitudes with biology and adventure, while describing the challenges of doing ecological fieldwork in a difficult setting, accompanied by a small child. It moves beyond typical nature studies by featuring real world components of conservation - the delicate mix of western and economic influences, and personal commitment.

"Required reading for anyone invested in our shared future with these powerful and complex creatures." -John Vaillant, author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce Growing up on a northern trap line, Harold Johnson was taught to keep his distance from wolves. For decades, wolves did the same for humans. But now this seems to be changing. In 2005, twenty-two-year-old Kenton Carnegie was killed in a wolf attack near his work camp. Part story, part forensic analysis, Cry Wolf examines this and other attacks, showing how we fail to take this apex predator seriously at our own peril. "A crucial and timely examination of our shifting relationship to the land in general and the Canis lupus in particular." -Eden Robinson, author of Son of a Trickster "Insightful . . . . Johnson eloquently argues that Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the wisdom of Indigenous people can help us better understand the true nature of predators such as wolves." -Cristina Eisenberg, PhD, author of The Wolf's Tooth and The Carnivore Way

This long-standing, trusted field guide to the wildlife of southern Africa has been comprehensively updated and now includes distribution maps. It describes over 2,000 plants and animals, each accompanied by accurate illustrations in full colour. This book has been a trusted field companion for many years. Comprehensively updated, it now features range maps for most groups. The chapters are colour-coded for easy reference, and diagnostic features appear in bold type within the descriptions. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in the field.

The Grand Canyon State offers an array of wildlife experiences from Gila monsters to Hummingbirds. Arizona Wildlife is the perfect pocket-sized, folding guide for seasonal traveler or state resident. This beautifully illustrated guide highlights over 140 familiar species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies/insects, and fishes. A map featuring prominent state-wide wildlife sanctuaries has been conveniently included. Laminated for durability, this lightweight guide can fit in your pocket or backpack for on-the-go reference.

A lavishly illustrated look at how evolution plays out in selective breeding Unnatural Selection is a stunningly illustrated book about selective breeding-the ongoing transformation of animals at the hand of man. More important, it's a book about selective breeding on a far, far grander scale-a scale that encompasses all life on Earth. We'd call it evolution. A unique fusion of art, science, and history, this book is intended as a tribute to what Charles Darwin might have achieved had he possessed that elusive missing piece to the evolutionary puzzle-the knowledge of how individual traits are passed from one generation to the next. With the benefit of a century and a half of hindsight, Katrina van Grouw explains evolution by building on the analogy that Darwin himself used-comparing the selective breeding process with natural selection in the wild, and, like Darwin, featuring a multitude of fascinating examples. This is more than just a book about pets and livestock, however. The revelation of Unnatural Selection is that identical traits can occur in all animals, wild and domesticated, and both are governed by the same evolutionary principles. As van Grouw shows, animals are plastic things, constantly changing. In wild animals, the changes are usually too slow to see-species appear to stay the same. When it comes to domesticated animals, however, change happens fast, making them the perfect model of evolution in action. Featuring more than four hundred breathtaking illustrations of living animals, skeletons, and historical specimens, Unnatural Selection will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in natural history and the history of evolutionary thinking.

Somewhere deep inside, you know what your gift, purpose, and mission are. Boyd Varty, a lion tracker and life coach, reveals how the wisdom from the ancient art of tracking can teach you how to recognize these essential ingredients in a meaningful life.

Know how to navigate, don’t worry about the destination, and stay alert. These are just a few of the strategies that contribute to both successful lion tracking and a life of fulfillment. When we join Boyd Varty and his two friends tracking lions, we are immersed in the South African bush, and, although we learn some of the skills required for actual tracking, the takeaways are the strategies that can be applied to our everyday lives. Trackers learn how to use all of their senses to read the environment and enter into a state of “greater aliveness.” When we learn to find and follow our inner tracks, we learn to see what is deeply important to us.

In the same way the trip in the classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a vehicle to examine how to live out our values, the story of this one-day adventure—with danger and suspense along the way—uses the ancient art of tracking to convey profound lessons on how to live a purposeful, meaningful life of greater harmony.

A photographic celebration of the return of otters to our rivers and freshwater wetlands after a drastic decline. Ripples of excitement are spreading through Europe's rivers and wetlands. A generation ago, otter watching was a wildlife highlight restricted to remote coastal areas - otter populations had been decimated over the previous century by pesticide poisoning and habitat disturbance. Now we are seeing the positive effect of determined conservation efforts over recent decades. As our waterways improve, otters are returning and spreading throughout their former habitats. One of the UK's leading natural history photographers, Laurie Campbell got to know otters while working in Scotland's Highlands and Islands, but he had never seen these elusive predators on his home beat. Then, in the early 1990s, he was delighted to find otters back on the Tweed and its tributaries, a river system he has lived close to for most of his life. The discovery launched him on a quest to create a photographic account of their lives on his home river. More than two decades later, otter numbers continue to increase, and new generations of otters have become more confident around people, sometimes appearing in broad daylight and in town centres. Laurie continues his long-standing study, still photographing the otters through the changing seasons - always with an eye on the bigger picture of the river itself and the plants and animals that share the otters' habitat. Wildlife journalist and writer Anna Levin accompanies Laurie to the riverbank and learns of his working philosophy and fieldcraft. Together they weave a wealth of information into the stories that the pictures tell. While extracts from Anna's notebooks offer a vivid glimpse of the photographer at work and the otters that enchant them both.

'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.

Whether you would like to learn how to build a bird box, dig a hedgehog tunnel or implement broader environmental changes in your community, this practical guide to saving our most endangered species will teach you how you can help on an individual, local and national level. Focusing on thirty of our most loved and most ‘at risk’ inhabitants, this uplifting and hopeful book will give naturalists of any age the tools to respond to the SOS calls heard from their garden, local park and beyond. Featured species include: • Hedgehog • Shrill Carder Bee • Red Squirrel • Skylark • Puffin • Barn Owl • Seahorse • Bottle-nose Dolphin

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

Examining the appearance of nonhuman animals laboring alongside humans in humanitarian operations   Both critical and mainstream scholarly work on humanitarianism have largely been framed from anthropocentric perspectives highlighting humanity as the rationale for providing care to others. In Nonhuman Humanitarians, Benjamin Meiches explores the role of animals laboring alongside humans in humanitarian operations, generating new ethical possibilities of care in humanitarian practice. Nonhuman Humanitarians examines how these animals not only improve specific practices of humanitarian aid but have started to transform the basic tenets of humanitarianism. Analyzing case studies of mine-clearance dogs, milk-producing cows and goats, and disease-identifying rats, Nonhuman Humanitarians ultimately argues that nonhuman animal contributions problematize foundational assumptions about the emotional and rational capacities of humanitarian actors as well as the ethical focus on human suffering that defines humanitarianism. Meiches reveals that by integrating nonhuman animals into humanitarian practice, several humanitarian organizations have effectively demonstrated that care, compassion, and creativity are creaturely rather than human and that responses to suffering and injustice do not—and cannot—stop at the boundaries of the human.

Big cats such as lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars fascinate us like few other creatures. They are enduring symbols of natural majesty and power. Yet despite the magnetic appeal of the big cats, their origins and evolutionary history remain poorly understood-and human activity threatens to put an end to the big cats' glory. On the Prowl is a fully illustrated and approachable guide to the evolution of the big cats and what it portends for their conservation today. Mark Hallett and John M. Harris trace the origins of these iconic carnivores, venturing down the evolutionary pathways that produced the diversity of big cat species that have walked the earth. They place the evolution and paleobiology of these species in the context of ancient ecosystems and climates, explaining what made big cats such efficient predators and analyzing their competition with other animals. Hallett and Harris pay close attention to human impact, from the evidence of cave paintings and analysis of ancient extinctions up to present-day crises. Their engaging and carefully documented account is brought to life through Hallett's detailed, vivid illustrations, based on the most recent research by leading paleontologists. Offering a fresh look at the rise of these majestic animals, On the Prowl also makes a powerful case for renewed efforts to protect big cats and their habitats before it is too late.

Oklahoma Birds, An Introduction to Familiar Species, is a must-have, reference guide for beginners and experts alike. Whether you're on a nature hike or in your own backyard, you'll want to take along a copy of this indispensable guide. The Pocket Naturalist(tm) series is an introduction to common plants and animals and natural phenomena. Each pocket-sized, folding guide highlights up to 150 species and most feature a map highlighting prominent sanctuaries and outstanding natural attractions. Each is laminated for durability. (31/2 X 81/4 folded, opens to 22 X 8 1/4, color illustrations, map)

Nature on the Doorstep reveals the simple pleasures of paying attention to the natural world in one's own backyard over the course of a year. In weekly letters, Angela Douglas shares the joys and curiosities of a decidedly ordinary patch of green in upstate New York cultivated through the art of "strategic neglect"-sometimes taking a hand to manage wildlife, more often letting nature go its own way. From the first flowers of spring to cardinals singing in the winter, Douglas shows us the magic of welcoming unexpected plant and animal life into one's backyard. A paean to the richness we find when we stop to look and let be, Nature on the Doorstep celebrates the role humble backyards play both in conservation efforts and in an expanded appreciation of the living world.

This is a guide to finding tree-roosts. It is the result of the collaborative efforts of professional surveyors and amateur naturalists across Europe as part of the Bat Tree Habitat Key project, and represents a combination of firsts: It is the first time legislation and planning policy have been reviewed and put to practical use to define an analysis framework with clearly identifiable thresholds for action. Yet, despite its efficacy in a professional context, it is also the first time a guide has been produced that is equally effective in achieving its objective for amateurs. It is the first time such a method has been evidence-supported throughout, with summary reviews of each aspect of the roosting ecology of the individual 14 tree-roosting species, with illustrative photographs and data to which the reader has open access. It is the first time a repeatable analysis framework has been defined against which the surveyor may compare their results at every stage, from the desk-study, through ground-truthing, survey and analysis, thereby ensuring nothing is overlooked and that every result can be objectively compared. The survey and analysis framework itself is ground-breaking in that it may readily be adapted for any taxa; from moths, through amphibians, reptiles, birds and all other mammals. Used diligently, these methods will reward disproportionately and imbue the reader with renewed confidence as they quickly progress from beginner to competency. Thus, this book is for everyone who has ever wanted to find a tree-roost, or to safeguard against inadvertently damaging one.

THE AVOCADO DRIVE ZOO is a warm and personal, yet humorous, recounting of how the members of the Hamner family have lived with and loved the animals in their lives. By the time they moved to Hollywood and settled into a lovely residence on Avocado Drive, their home was virtually a zoo.

See those animal signs on the trail? Was that footprint left by a fox or a wolf? Was that pile of droppings deposited by a moose, a mouse, or a marten? Scats and Tracks of Alaska Including the Yukon and British Columbia will help you determine which mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have passed your way and could still be nearby. Clearly written descriptions and illustrations of scats, tracks, and gait patterns will help you recognize species across the entire region. An identification key, a glossary of tracking terms, and detailed instructions on how to document your finds are also included here. Easy-to-use scat and track measurements appear on each page, making this book especially field friendly and letting you know if a white tailed ptarmigan, a red fox, or even a black bear has been your way.

'An intriguing and mesmerising book' Ben Fogle My life is free, random and spontaneous. This in itself creates enormous energy and clarity in body and mind - Miriam Lancewood Miriam Lancewood is a young Dutch woman living a primitive, nomadic life in the heart of the mountains with her New Zealand husband. She lives simply in a tent or hut and survives by hunting wild animals, foraging edible plants and using minimal supplies. For the last six years she has lived this way, through all seasons, often cold, hungry and isolated in the bush. She loves her life and feels free, connected to the land and happy. This book tells her story, including the very practical aspects of such a life: her difficulties learning to hunt with a bow and arrow, struggles to create a warm environment in which to live, attempts to cross raging rivers safely and find ways through the rugged mountains and dense bush. This is interwoven with her adjustment to a very slow pace of life, her relationship with her much older husband, her interactions with the few other people they encounter, and her growing awareness of a strong spiritual connection to the natural world.

Namibia is a fascinating land of contrasts, where floodplains, swamps and the world’s oldest desert have contributed to a rich biodiversity. Wildlife of Namibia is an easy-to-use guide to the country’s most conspicuous and interesting mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates and plants.

The book includes:

An informative introduction to the country’s geography, climate and vegetation
Accounts describing each species’ appearance, habits, size and conservation status, as well as information on habitat and best viewing localities
Full-colour photographs of each species, along with distribution maps to show their range

This all-in-one compact guide will prove invaluable to visitors to national parks, nature reserves and other wildlife-rich places in Namibia.

Mike Tomkies gives a remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him, in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill these pages - exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, a pair of dragonflies mating, the flight of the redwing, the territorial movements of foxes, otters and badgers, an oak tree being torn apart by hurricane-force gales. Nothing seems to escape his penetrating eye, to which the selection of his photographs in this book - some revealing little-known aspects of animal behaviour - immediately testifies. Yet Mike's extraordinary insights into the wildlife that shared his otherwise empty territory of 300 square miles are not gained without perseverance in the face of perilous hazards. Every pound of supplies (including heavy gas canisters) has to be manhandled in and out of his boat, which once sank beneath him in a storm. Thousands of miles of rock faces and hillside must be trekked each year in summer and winter, the tussock grass concealing sodden peat holes that will break an ankle. Hours on end, day and night, are spent in cramped hides on windy, precipitous ledges.A Last Wild Place is much more than the chronicle of a man who left city life in order to study the wilderness. It is a celebration of nature at its most rugged and spectacular in all Britain. Like the enormous ageing salmon he threw back because he felt he had no right to claim its life, Mike Tomkies reveals through his quest our urgent need to become retuned to natural rhythms if mankind is to regain a measure of health and sanity in a world bent on self-destruction.

When Bill Weber and Amy Vedder arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, the gorilla population was teetering toward extinction. Poaching was rampant, but it was loss of habitat that most endangered the gorillas. Weber and Vedder realized that the gorillas were doomed unless something was done to save their forest home. Over Fossey's objections, they helped found the Mountain Gorilla Project, which would inform Rwandans about the gorillas and the importance of conservation, while at the same time establishing an ecotourism project -- one of the first anywhere in a rainforest -- to bring desperately needed revenue to Rwanda. In the Kingdom of Gorillas introduces readers to entire families of gorillas, from powerful silverback patriarchs to helpless newborn infants. Weber and Vedder take us with them as they slog through the rain-soaked mountain forests, observing the gorillas at rest and at play. Today the population of mountain gorillas is the highest it has been since the 1960s, and there is new hope for the species' fragile future even as the people of Rwanda strive to overcome ethnic and political differences.

A lavishly illustrated celebration of these glorious animals-and a poignant lament for their future Elephants are among the most beloved of all creatures. Their behavior can seem almost human, from their complex social interactions to their need to mourn their dead. They are also among the most persecuted of animals, subjected to untold cruelty at the hands of humans through the ages. In this stunningly illustrated book, Errol Fuller provides a rich and moving portrait of elephants, exploring their natural history, the legends that have grown up around them, their unique place in art and literature, and their urgent need for protection today. Fuller traces the evolution of these majestic animals from prehistoric mammoths and mastodons to today's African and Asian elephants, and looks at their behavior, herd dynamics, and social life. He examines the role of elephants in cultures around the world, from folklore and fine art to the exploitation of elephants as war machines and circus animals. Fuller also discusses the importance of conservation, warning that continued poaching and habitat degradation could send these iconic animals the way of the dodo. Featuring many evocative photos never before published, Elephant is a fittingly exquisite tribute to these breathtaking creatures.