Sasol First Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa provides fascinating insight into the wild animals of the region.

Through full-colour photographs and distribution maps, and easy-to-read text, the beginner and budding naturalist will be able to identify the more common mammal species found in southern Africa, discover where they live, and learn about their unique feeding and breeding habits.

Over the course of the past decade, there has been an enormous augmentation in the amount of information available on the lemurs of Madagascar. These advances are closely coupled with an increase in the number of national and international researchers working on these animals. As a result, Madagascar has emerged as one of the principal sites of primatological studies in the world. Furthermore, the conserva tion community has a massive interest in the preservation of the natural habitats of the island, and lemurs serve as one of the symbols of this cause. Between 10 and 14 August 1998, the XVIIth International Primatology Society (IPS) Congress was held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. For a country that about a decade ago was largely closed to foreign visitors, this Congress constituted a massive event for the Malagasy scientific community and was assisted by about 550 primatolo gists from 35 different countries. Naturally, given the venue and context of the Con gress, many of the presentations dealt with lemurs and covered a very wide breadth of subjects."

In The Intelligent Movement Machine: An Ethological Perspective on the Primate Motor System, Michael Graziano offers a fundamentally new theory of motor cortex organization: the rendering of the movement repertoire onto the cortex. The action repertoire of an animal is highly dimensional, whereas the cortical sheet is two-dimensional. Rendering the action space onto the cortex therefore results in a complex pattern, explaining the otherwise inexplicable details of the motor cortex organization. This clearly written book book includes a complete history of motor cortex research from its discovery to the present, a discussion of the major issues in motor cortex research, and an account of recent experiments that led to Graziano's "action map" view. Though focused on the motor cortex, the book includes a range of topics from an explanation of how primates put food in their mouths, to the origins of social beahvior such as smiling and laughing, to the mysterious link between movement disorders and autism. This book is written for a general audience, and should be of interest to experts, students, and the scientific lay.

A world of categones devmd of spirit waits for life to return. Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift The stock-in-trade of communicating hypotheses about the historical path of evolution is a graphical representation called a phylogenetic tree. In most such graphics, pairs of branches diverge from other branches, successively marching across abstract time toward the present. To each branch is tied a tag with a name, a binominal symbol that functions as does the name given to an individual human being. On phylogenetic trees the names symbolize species. What exactly do these names signify? What kind of information is communicated when we claim to have knowledge of the following types? "Tetonius mathewzi was ancestral to Pseudotetonius ambiguus. " "The sample of fossils attributed to Homo habzlis is too variable to contain only one species. " "Interbreeding populations of savanna baboons all belong to Papio anubis. " "Hylobates lar and H. pileatus interbreed in zones of geographic overlap. " While there is nearly universal agreement that the notion of the speczes is fundamental to our understanding of how evolution works, there is a very wide range of opinion on the conceptual content and meaning of such particular statements regarding species. This is because, oddly enough, evolutionary biolo gists are quite far from agreement on what a species is, how it attains this status, and what role it plays in evolution over the long term."

It is the goal of The Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors to provide acomprehensive and forward-thinking review ofthe tremen- dous advances that have occurred in less than a decade of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR) research. Virtually every areaof mGluR research is covered, including the molecular biology, pharmacology, anatomical distribution, and physiological and pathological roles of mGluRs. It is our intention that this volume not only summarize what is now known about the mGluRs, but also illuminate the areas in which there is the greatest need for focused research. Glutamic acid is an amino acid that has long been known to play several important metabolic roles in central and peripheral tissues and to be a component of several naturally occurring molecules. The first evidence that glutamate mayaIso serve as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) came in the late 1950s and early 1960s when glutamate and other acidic amino acids were found to induce behavioral convulsions when topically applied to the cortex and to excite a wide variety of central neurons. These findings spurred a massive research effort that quickly established glutamate as the pri- mary excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate CNS. One of the most striking characteristics of glutamate that was quickly recognized was its ubiquitous role in serving as the neurotransmitter at the vast majority of excitatory synapses in the brain. It is now clear that most central neuronal circuits involve glutamatergic neurotransmission at some level.

The book combines information about the behaviour that allowed ruminants to survive and to evolve on Earth: the rumen. Furthermore, the reader will find aspects involving rumen anatomy, physiology, microbiology, fermentation, metabolism, manipulation, kinetics and modeling. Thus, the book was not only organized to help students involved in areas such as ruminant nutrition and ruminant production but collegians gathering material for teaching practices.

This volume comprises the edited proceedings of the International Taurine Sympo sium held in Osaka, Japan, in June 1995, as a Satellite Symposium of the 15th Biennial of the International Society for Neurochemistry. This Taurine Symposium was the Meeting latest in a series held since 1975 at approximately two-year intervals by an informal group of international researchers. It attracted contributions from 20 countries, ranging from Armenia via Finland and Spain to the United States. Some 121 participants attended. The Symposium was organized and chaired by Junichi Azuma, University of Osaka. Other members of the Organizing Committee in Japan consisted of Kinya Kuriyama and Masao Nakagawa, both from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, and Akemichi Baba, from Osaka University. The Committee had to contend with the disaster of the Kobe earthquake, which struck on January 21. The epicenter was only around 25 miles from the meeting site, and the quake demolished the home of one Committee member. Despite this unnaturally natural handicap, the participants experienced a superbly organized meeting, one which more than maintained the high social and scientific standards established for this series. In his Welcome Message, Dr. Azuma listed a threefold objective for the Symposium: To provide a forum for the interdisciplinary exchange of information on taurine; to give an opportunity for renewing old friendships and making new friends; and to promote coopera tion among participants from around the world."

Foreword by Phillip V. Tobias The introduction of rhesus macaques to Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico in 1938, and the subsequent development of the CPRC for biomedical research, continues its long history of stimulating studies in physical anthropology. The CPRC monkey colonies, and the precise demographic data on the derived skeletal collection in the Center's Laboratory of Primate Morphology and Genetics (LPMG), provide rare opportunities for morphological, developmental, functional, genetic, and behavioral studies across the life span of rhesus macaques as a species, and as a primate model for humans. The book grows out of a symposium Wang is organizing for the 78th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists to be held in April 2009. This symposium will highlight recent and ongoing research in, or related to, physical anthropology, and reveal the numerous research opportunities that still exist at this unusual rhesus facility. Following an initial historical review of CPRC and its research activities, this book will emphasize recent and current researches on growth, function, genetics, pathology, aging, and behavior, and the impact of these researches on our understanding of rhesus and human morphology, development, genetics, and behavior. Fourteen researchers will present recent and current studies on morphology, genetics, and behavior, with relevance to primate and human growth, health, and evolution. The book will include not only papers presented in the symposium, but also papers from individuals who could not present their work at the meeting due to limitations in the maximum number (14) of permitted speakers.

The papers in this volume are representative of those presented at a conference entitled "Creatures of the Dark: The Nocturnal Prosimians," held at Duke University, June 9-12, 1993. The purpose of the conference, attended by more than 100 scientists, was to assemble, for the ftrst time ever, scholars from diverse ftelds with a common interest in the nocturnal prosimian primates. The history of the precursors of this meeting are outlined in the Historical Perspective by Doyle (this volume). Most of the invited papers are presented here in modified form, as are several papers originally presented as posters. Two papers are included that were not presented, due to scheduling conftcts and health considerations. Some papers, delivered from the podium, are not included in this volume. Interactions among conference participants resulted in many revisions to the contributions, as did the comments of reviewers and the editors. Several papers which contained new data or new interpretations of familiar phenomena met with constructive criticism, resulting in modification of the original papers. We thank all of the contributors for their patience and cooperation, and commend the numerous reviewers who generously donated their time and expertise. We greatly appreciate funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Duke University Center for International Studies, the Duke University Primate Center, and Drs. Charles Putman of Duke University and Malcolm Gillis, currently of Rice Universtiy.

The Springer Handbook of Auditory Research presents a series of com prehensive and synthetic reviews of the fundamental topics in modern auditory research. It is aimed at all individuals with interests in hearing research including advanced graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical investigators. The volumes will introduce new investigators to important aspects of hearing science and will help established inves tigators to better understand the fundamental theories and data in fields of hearing that they may not normally follow closely. Each volume is intended to present a particular topic comprehensively, and each chapter will serve as a synthetic overview and guide to the literature. As such, the chapters present neither exhaustive data reviews nor original research that has not yet appeared in peer-reviewed journals. The series focusses on topics that have developed a solid data and con ceptual foundation rather than on those for which a literature is only beginning to develop. New research areas will be covered on a timely basis in the series as they begin to mature."

Modeling of Oxygen Transport to Skeletal Muscle: Blood Flow Distribution, Shunt, and Diffusion.- The Haldane Effect of Rabbit Blood Under Different Acid-Base Conditions.- Interaction of Blood Flow, Diffusive Transport and Cell Metabolism in Isovolemic Anemia.- The Role of Wall Shear Stress in Microvascular Network Adaptation.- Changes in Tissue Histology Associated with Adaptation and Acclimation to Hypoxia.- Transcutaneous Measurements of Skin O2 Supply and Blood Gases.- Relating Measuring Signals from PO2 Electrodes to Tissue PO2: A Theoretical Study.- A New Catheter for Quasi-Continuous Measurement of Arterial Partial Oxygen Pressure.- Continuous Intra-Arterial PO2 Monitoring During Thoracic Surgery.- Construction, Calibration and Evaluation of PO2 Electrodes for Chronical Implantation in the Rabbit Brain Cortex.- Photothrombosis in Rabbit Brain Cortex: Follow Up by Continuous pO2 Measurement.- Intravitreal and Intraretinal Oxygen Tension in the Rat Eye.- Brain Oxygenation State: Preparation of Isolated Perfused Rat Brain and Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry.- The Simultaneous Measurement of the Redox State of Cytochrome Oxidase in Heart and Brain of Rat In Vivo by NIR.- Picosecond Time of Flight Measurement of Living Tissue: Time Resolved Beer-Lambert Law.- Cerebral Oxygenation State in Chemically-Induced Seizures in the Rat: Study by Near Infrared Spectrophotometry.- Experimentally Measured Optical Pathlengths for the Adult Head, Calf and Forearm and the Head of the Newborn Infant as a Function of Inter Optode Spacing.- Near-Infrared Imaging in vivo (I): Image Restoration Technique Applicable to the NIR Projection Images.- Muscle Oxygenation by Fast Near Infrared Spectrophotometry (NIRS) in Ischemic Forearm.- Near-Infrared Imaging in vivo (II): 2-Dimensional Visualization of Tissue Oxygenation State.- Monitoring of the Oxygen Pressure in the Blood of Live Animals Using the Oxygen Dependent Quenching of Phosphorescence.- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and the Study of Tissue Oxygen Metabolism: A Review.- On-Line Oxygen Uptake Measurement (VO2): A Computer Feed-Back Controlled Rebreathing Circuit for Long Term Oxygen Uptake Registration.- Oxygen Delivery (DEL O2) Dependent and Independent Oxygen Consumption (VO2).- Microtopographic Analysis of Oxidative Stress in Organ Microcirculatory Units.- Cytochrome P-450 Under Conditions of Oxidative Stress: Role of Antioxidant Recycling in the Protection Mechanisms.- Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Free Radical Involvement in Gastric Mucosal Disorders.- Influence of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Free Radical Scavengers on Intestinal Ischemia Induced Oxidative Tissue Damage.- Influence of Free Radical Scavengers on Myeloperoxidase Activity and Lipid Peroxidation in Acute Skin Grafts.- Morphometric Methods for the Evaluation of Capillary Grouping Patterns in Rat Heart.- Estimation of the Oxygen Gradient Across Phospholipid Bilayers of Mitochondria from Reperfused Rabbit Hearts after Ischemia.- The Oxygen Dependence of Mitochondrial Oxidative Phosphorylation and Its Role in Regulation of Coronary Blood Flow.- Oxygen Penetration in and Release from Lung Surfactant.- Improvement of Pulmonary Gas Exchange After Surfactant Replacement in Rats With Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia.- Attenuation of Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction in Acute Oleic Acid Lung Injury: Significance of Vasodilator Prostanoids.- 99mTc-DTPA Clearance: A Sensitive Method for Early Detection of An Impending Disturbance in Gas Exchange.- Acute Respiratory Failure During Pneumonia Induced by Sendai Virus.- Estimation of Respiratory Mechanics in Dogs with Acute Lung Injury.- Effect of Hyperventilation on Oxygenation of the Brain Cortex of Neonates.- Hypoxia and the "Reaction Theory" of Central Respiratory Chemosensitivity.- Oxygenation of Mammary Tumors: From Isotransplanted Rodent Tumors to Primary Malignancies in Patients.- Measurements of Tumor Blood Flow Using Intraperitoneal Deuterium and 2H-NMR Spectroscopy....

This book, the second in Chapman & Hall's Wildlife Ecology and Behaviour Series, focuses on studies of both European and Siberian roe deer to provide an authoritative insight into their taxonomy, ecology, feeding patterns, social behaviour and population dynamics. It uses this information to tackle the fascinating question of what environmental factors underly ranging patterns and trigger migratory behaviour in some populations but not in others, adding new perspectives and depths to our understanding of general issues in behavioural ecology. This book is an important addition to the literature on ungulate ecology, offering for the first time in the English language, a distillation of the knowledge and understanding gathered in over twenty years' ground breaking research by Aleksey Danilkin and other Russian and Eastern European researchers on European and Siberian roe deer. Mark Hewison's extensive experience with European roe deer in France and Great Britain ensures the work presents a definitive and integrated analysis of the current state of knowledge on roe deer worldwide. Students and researchers in zoology, conservation, ecology and wildlife management as well as many naturalists will welcome this stimulating synthesis.

After 40 years of research, scientists have confirmed that persistent neurogenesis occurs in the adult mammalian brain. The obvious next question is: "Are the newly generated neurons functional?" If so, "What are the functions of these new neurons?" This volume intends to clarify both questions by providing the latest data available.

'A must-read' New Scientist 'Fascinating' Greta Thunberg 'Enthralling' George Monbiot 'Brilliant' Philip Hoare A thrilling investigation into the pioneering world of animal communication, where big data and artificial intelligence are changing our relationship with animals forever In 2015, wildlife filmmaker Tom Mustill was whale watching when a humpback breached onto his kayak and nearly killed him. After a video clip of the event went viral, Tom found himself inundated with theories about what happened. He became obsessed with trying to find out what the whale had been thinking and sometimes wished he could just ask it. In the process of making a film about his experience, he discovered that might not be such a crazy idea. This is a story about the pioneers in a new age of discovery, whose cutting-edge developments in natural science and technology are taking us to the brink of decoding animal communication - and whales, with their giant mammalian brains and sophisticated vocalisations, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for us to do so. Using 'underwater ears,' robotic fish, big data and machine intelligence, leading scientists and tech-entrepreneurs across the world are working to turn the fantasy of Dr Dolittle into a reality, upending much of what we know about these mysterious creatures. But what would it mean if we were to make contact? And with climate change threatening ever more species with extinction, would doing so alter our approach to the natural world? Enormously original and hugely entertaining, How to Speak Whale is an unforgettable look at how close we truly are to communicating with another species - and how doing so might change our world beyond recognition.

The purpose of this volume is to present a comprehensive overview of recent advances in primate field research, ecology, and conservation biology in Mesoamerica. The overall goal of each contribution is to integrate newly collected field data with theoretical perspectives drawn from evolutionary biology, socioecology, biological anthropology, and conservation to identify how our current knowledge of primate behavior and ecology has moved beyond more traditional approaches. A corollary to this, and an important goal of the volume is to identify geographical regions and species for which we continue to lack sufficient information, to develop action plans for future research, and to identify areas for immediate conservation action. Despite many decades of primate research in Mesoamerica, much is still unknown concerning the basic ecology and behavior of these species, demography, current distribution, and conservation status of local populations, and the effectiveness of conservation policies on primate survivorship. Four major areas of research are the focus of the volume: Evolutionary Biology and Biogeography; Population Demography and Ecology; Behavior; and Conservation and Management Policies.

The social calls of bats are an area about which relatively little is known, with more research still required to expand our understanding. However, these calls are increasingly recognised as a useful aid to identification: they appear to be species specific and are indicative of behaviour – as in territorial activity of males during the mating season. Because the gathering and interpretation of bat echolocation data are a matter of course during research, conservation and consultancy, it is a logical progression to build momentum behind the consideration of social calls in mainstream bat-related work. A better understanding of this subject could mean that non-intrusive survey methods are developed, ensuring that what is being observed is, as far as possible, purely natural behaviour. In turn this will contribute to better interpretation and more suitable mitigation, compensation and/or enhancement solutions. The book summarises what is understood so far about social calls of the bat species occurring in Britain and Ireland, and north-west Europe. This new edition has been updated and expanded throughout, now containing: foreword by the bat authority Michel Barataud, author of Acoustic Ecology of European Bats   almost double the number of figures and tables as appeared in the first edition completely overhauled call library, all in full spectrum format, with new additional examples  three entirely new chapters, covering bat-related acoustics, settings for social interaction, and survey guidelines The material will be useful to people carrying out bat studies, at whatever level and for whatever purpose, and will also encourage others to undertake further research. What's more, social calls are fascinating to listen to: they are, after all, produced with listeners in mind (other bats). In light of this, the book is accompanied by an extensive downloadable library of sound files which offer a unique gateway into the private life of bats. 

The book provides up-to-date summaries on the main systems of blood group antigens and MHC molecules. The human systems are used to explain the necessary background knowledge and the systems in nonhuman primates are then described and compared. The emphasis is on the molecular nature of the gene products, the evolutionary relationships among the various systems, and the presumed mechanims by which the systems have evolved. All articles are written in such a way that they can serve as an introduction to the field for nonexperts and at the same time as a handbook for experts. Numerous tables, diagrams, and figures provide overviews of structure, distribution in different species, lists of known forms, and evolutionary relationships. Extensive reference lists guide the reader through the literature on each topic.

This comprehensive introductory text integrates evolutionary, ecological, and demographic perspectives with new results from field studies and contemporary noninvasive molecular and hormonal techniques to understand how different primates behave and the significance of these insights for primate conservation. Each chapter is organized around the major research themes in the field, with Strier emphasizing the interplay between theory, observations, and conservation issues. Examples are drawn from the "classic" primate field studies as well as more recent studies, including many previously neglected species, to illustrate the vast behavioral variation that exists across the primate order. Primate Behavioral Ecology 6th Edition integrates the impacts of anthropogenic activities on primate populations, including zoonotic disease and climate change, and considers the importance of behavioral flexibility for primate conservation. This fully updated new edition brings exciting new methods, theoretical perspectives, and discoveries together to provide an incomparable overview of the field of primate behavioral ecology and its applications to primate conservation. It is considered to be a "must read" for all students interested in primates.

The past decade has seen a steady increase in studies oflemur behavior and ecology. As a result, there is much novel information on newly studied populations, and even newly discovered species, that has not yet been published or summarized. In fact, lemurs have not been the focus of an international symposium since the Prosimian Biology Conference in London in 1972. Moreover, research on lemurs has reached a new quality by addressing general issues in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology. Although lemurs provide important comparative information on these topics, this aspect of research on lemurs has not been reviewed and compared with similar studies in other primate radiations. Thus, as did many in the field, we felt that the time was ripe to review and synthesize our knowledge of lemur behavioral ecology. Following an initiative by Gerry Doyle, we organized a symposium at the XIVth Congress of the International Primatological Society in Strasbourg, France, where 15 contributions summarized much new information on lemur social systems and their ecological basis. This volume provides a collection of the papers presented at the Strasbourg symposium (plus two reports from recently completed field projects). Each chapter was peer-reviewed, typically by one "lemurologist" and one other biologist. The first three chapters present novel information from the first long-term field studies of three enigmatic species. Sterling describes the social organization of Daubentonia madagascariensis, showing that aye-aye ranging patterns deviate from those of all other nocturnal primates.

The observation that neuropeptide Y (NPY) is the most abundant peptide present in the mammalian nervous system and the finding that it elicits the most powerful orexigenic signal have led to active investigations of the properties of the NPY family of hormones, including peptide YY (PYY) and pancreatic polypeptide (PP). Nearly two decades of research have led to the identification of several NPY receptor subtypes and the development of useful receptor selective ligands. Moreover, these investigations have imp- cated NPY in the pathophysiology of a number of diseases, including feeding disorders, seizures, memory loss, anxiety, depression, and heart failure. Vigorous efforts are therefore continuing, not only to understand the bioche- cal aspects of NPY actions, but also toward developing NPY-based treatments for a variety of disorders. To facilitate these efforts, it was decided to produce the first handbook on NPY research techniques as part of the Methods in Molecular Biology Series. In compiling Neuropeptide Y Protocols, I have gathered contributions on techniques considered critical for the advancement of the NPY field from experts in various disciplines. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction, with Materials and Methods sections following. The latter sections are presented in an easy to follow step-by-step format. The last section of the chapter, Notes, highlights pitfalls and the maneuvers employed to overcome them. This information, not usually disseminated in standard research pub- cations, may prove extremely useful for investigators employing these te- niques in NYP research.

Many of the papers in this volume were first presented at the Third International Great Apes of the World Conference, held July 3-6, 1998 in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The editors of this volume, the first in a two-volume series, are world renowned, having dedicated most of their lives to the study of great apes. The world's premiere primatologists, ethologists, and anthropologists present the most recent research on both captive and free-ranging African great apes. These scientists, through deep personal commitment and sacrifice, have expanded their knowledge of chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. With forests disappearing, many of these studies will never be duplicated. This volume, and all in the Developments in Primatology book series, aim to broaden and deepen the understanding of this valuable cause.

Arid lands require that organisms inhabiting them be well-adapted to thrive or even just to survive. This book provides a review of the ecological adaptations - be they behavioural, physiological or morphological - of carnivores to arid environments. Following a general introduction into aridity and arid lands in Africa, the major carnivore families are presented. Ecological adaptations of carnivores in arid lands reveal the amplitude and resilience of the ecology of these animals. In setting up conservation measures, the nature and extent of such adaptations are important facets in determining the effective area and degree of heterogeneity required as habitat by a carnivore population so as to produce a viable unit.