This book demonstrates how the primate hand combines both primitive and novel morphology, both general function with specialization, and both a remarkable degree of diversity within some clades and yet general similarity across many others. Across the chapters, different authors have addressed a variety of specific questions and provided their perspectives, but all explore the main themes described above to provide an overarching "primitive primate hand" thread to the book. Each chapter provides an in-depth review and critical account of the available literature, a balanced interpretation of the evidence from a variety of perspectives, and prospects for future research questions. In order to make this a useful resource for researchers at all levels, the basic structure of each chapter is the same, so that information can be easily consulted from chapter to chapter. An extensive reference list is provided at the end of each chapter so the reader has additional resources to address more specific questions or to find specific data.

Following the success of earlier ‘Quick Guide’ books, this slim little volume tackles one of the few groups of mammals that can fly. Divided into large fruit bats and smaller insecteating bats, this ultimate quick identification guide covers Africa’s 12 bat families. An informative introduction touches on evolution, flight, echolocation and reproduction, demystifying an animal that is all too often misunderstood. The text describes the facial characteristics and wing shapes common to each family and points out features that can help to distinguish between them. But it is the photographs and annotated line drawings that are most useful for identification. They include bats in flight and roosting sites, and close-ups of facial structures and wings that highlight key diagnostic attributes. An added extra is a photographic section showing the skulls of a variety bats.

This is a valuable guide for anyone with an interest in wildlife and its less common members.

The goal of this book is to foster better knowledge of the mammalian fauna of the Mediterranean islands. The atlas presents the current state of knowledge of the past and present distribution of the non-flying terrestrial mammals of the Ionian and Aegean islands. It provides a distribution map for each species with extensive references and a description of all the mammalian taxa. The book also focuses on the important role of human beings in the redefinition of the insular ecological equilibrium, as well as on the environmental impact of biological invasions. The protection and study of this fauna can provide an opportunity for testing a range of different evolutionary theories.

Across the globe, about 250 species of rodents spend most of their lives in safe and stable, but dark, oxygen-poor and carbon dioxide-rich burrows, deprived of most of the sensory cues available aboveground. They have become fully specialized for a unique way of life in which foraging and breeding take place underground. The systematic research into adaptations of subterranean dwellers is only about two decades old, but it has rapidly intensified within the last few years, bringing insight into many aspects of the biology and evolution at different organization levels.

Subterranean Rodents presents achievements from the last years of research on these rodents, divided into five sections: ecophysiology; sensory ecology; life histories, behavioural ecology and demography; environmental and economical impact; molecular ecology and evolution. It is a must for all researchers working in this field and will be of interest to zoologists, physiologists, morphologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists.

A summary of much of the experimental work on the spatial ecology of small mammals. This field has entered an exciting stage with such new techniques as GIS and systems modeling becoming available. Leading contributors describe and analyze the most well-known case studies and provide new insights into how landscape patterns and processes have had an impact on small mammals and how small mammals have, in turn, affected landscape structure and composition.

This work is about the first manatee ever conceived and born in captivity. The pregnancy was long (about 13 months), the mother was huge (over 900 pounds), and baby Lorelei was regarded by Zeiller and his coworkers at the Miami Seaquarium as a truly blessed event. Even one addition to the dwindling number of this endangered species was reason to rejoice. Zeiller's knowledge of the history and plight of this docile sea mammal is based on his work at the Seaquarium, where he helped develop the only extant breeding herd of manatees (including Lorelei's parents, Romeo and Juliet), the only gene pool of the animal in captivity at that time. With more than 100 photographs that help to document his personal experiences, Zeiller describes ""mercy"" missions with the Mermaid Rescue Squad to liberate animals caught in drainage ditches or to care for animals injured by boat propellers. He relates his efforts and adventures with Captain Jacques Cousteau to return ""Sewer Sam"" to the freedom of Crystal River. In uncomplicated language he presents scientific information on the habitat, distribution, physiology, and feeding and breeding habits of the manatee and its relatives. Manatees are nearing extinction not because of public insensitivity, he believes, but because of a lack of knowledge. His intention throughout the book is to increase public awareness of the crises. ""Destroying or saving 60,000,000 years of evolution is in our hands"", he writes. And, from the Epilogue: ""We have named Lorelei's son (Juliet's grandson) Hugh.

At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists and laymen alike appear to have been peculiarly confident that the world had been thoroughly explored and most of its creatures named and documented. Few, if any, large animals still awaited discovery. The scientific unveiling of the giraffe-like okapi in 1901 was one of the earliest of this century's discoveries to shake this belief. But many consider it to be the last great find, and view the rediscovery of extinct animals to be as likely as the alchemic conversion of iron into gold. Since 1901, however, a whole host of new and rediscovered creatures has turned up to contradict these views-including a giant 7-ft-long forest hog from Africa, a colossal Indonesian monitor lizard called the Komodo dragon, the lobe-finned coelacanth fish resurrected from 64 million years of supposed extinction, the incredible megamouth shark, deep-sea tube-dwelling worms over 8 ft tall with huge red tentacles resembling strange alien flowers, plus the extraordinary Vu Quang ox and giant barking deer both discovered in Vietnam during the 1990s. And discoveries continue to be made today, in the 21st century-ranging diversely and dramatically from giant peccaries and zombie worms to an entire new suborder of insects known as the gladiators, a veritable jungle of new monkeys, and an extraordinary chameleonesque snake. And nor can we possibly forget the sensational rediscovery in North America of the near-legendary, supposedly long-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker. The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals is the third, wholly-updated edition of the very first-and still the definitive-book to be devoted to the spectacular zoological discoveries and equally amazing rediscoveries of the 20th century, which attracted international acclaim and exemplary reviews following its original publication in 1993 (when it was entitled The Lost Ark), and its subsequent republication in 2002 as an updated, greatly-expanded second edition (entitled The New Zoo). This latest edition also contains an in-depth survey of the 21st century's most celebrated discoveries and rediscoveries made during its first decade, plus an exhaustive, significantly-increased bibliography, as well as the only comprehensive collection of colour and b/w illustrations of these spectacular animal species ever published (including new, previously-unpublished photographs, and several exclusive, specially-commissioned full-colour paintings). Unquestionably, The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals provides good reason indeed for believing that our world continues to holds many more animal surprises in store for future revelation.

Martens and Fishers (Martes) in Human-Altered Environments: An International Perspective examines the conditions where humans and martens are compatible and incompatible, and promotes land use practices that allow Martes to be representatively distributed and viable.

All Martes have been documented to use forested habitats and 6 species (excluding the stone marten) are generally considered to require complex mid- to late-successional forests throughout much of their geographic ranges. All species in the genus require complex horizontal and vertical structure to provide escape cover protection from predators, habitat for their prey, access to food resources, and protection from the elements. Martens and the fisher have high metabolic rates, have large spatial requirements, have high surface area to volume ratios for animals that often inhabit high latitudes, and often require among the largest home range areas per unit body weight of any group of mammals. Resulting from these unique life history characteristics, this genus is particularly sensitive to human influences on their habitats, including habitat loss, stand-scale simplification of forest structure via some forms of logging, and landscape-scale effects of habitat fragmentation. Given their strong associations with structural complexity in forests, martens and the fisher are often considered as useful barometers of forest health and have been used as ecological indicators, flagship, and umbrella species in different parts of the world. Thus, efforts to successfully conserve and manage martens and fishers are associated with the ecological fates of other forest dependent species and can greatly influence ecosystem integrity within forests that are increasingly shared among wildlife and humans.

We have made great strides in our fundamental understanding of how animals with these unique life history traits perceive and utilize habitats, respond to habitat change, and how their populations function and perform under different forms of human management and mismanagement. This knowledge enhances our basic understanding of all species of Martes and will help us to achieve the goal of conserving viable populations and representative distributions of the world's Martes, their habitats, and associated ecological communities in our new millennium.

Biologists and anthropologists in Japan have played a crucial role in the development of primatology as a scientific discipline. Publication of Primate Origins of Human Cognition and Behavior under the editorship of Tetsuro Matsuzawa reaffirms the pervasive and creative role played by the intellectual descendants of Kinji Imanishi and Junichiro Itani in the fields of behavioral ecology, psychology, and cognitive science. Matsuzawa and his colleagues-humans and other primate partners- explore a broad range of issues including the phylogeny of perception and cognition; the origin of human speech; learning and memory; recognition of self, others, and species; society and social interaction; and culture. With data from field and laboratory studies of more than 90 primate species and of more than 50 years of long-term research, the intellectual breadth represented in this volume makes it a major contribution to comparative cognitive science and to current views on the origin of the mind and behavior of humans.

The marsupials are an important order of mammals that have evolved along lines parallel to eutherians. This book brings together what is known about one very important sense needed for survival - hearing. It documents various studies of the hearing capacities of marsupials and relates this information to their vocal behavior. To what sounds do marsupials respond? What are the spectra of their vocalizations? The organization of the brain auditory pathways of marsupials is compared with those of eutherian mammals and related to the structure of the auditory periphery. The fact that much of the early development of marsupial young occurs outside the mother's body enables the possibility of discoveries about the early development of brain and hearing relevant to all mammals.

Even as a young girl, Jane Goodall was fascinated with animals. As she grew older, she would have the opportunity to begin her research on chimpanzees under the guidance of notable anthropologist Louis Leakey. With Leakey's encouragement and support, Goodall pursued her Ph.D. and began research at the Gombe Stream Reserve in Tanzania. It was there that she would make significant discoveries regarding chimpanzee behaviors. These discoveries, along with her tireless efforts for conservation, have led to numerous awards during her career of over 40 years. Goodall's life is revealed from her earlier days growing up in England and the influence of her mother, to her experiences living and observing chimpanzees in Africa, and her undying efforts to promote conservation of wildlife. A timeline lists important events in her life, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources provides suggested readings for students and general readers.

This volume is the second in the planned coverage of the neurochemical circuitry of the primate central nervous system. While this volume contains only two chapters, their topics and the extraordinarily comprehensive coverage with which the authors have dealt with their topics, will nevertheless contribute equal amounts of knowledge, wisdom, and opportunities for future research extensions as have every volume in this unique series. As such, these chapters extend the goals of this primate series to develop a broad coverage of human and non-human primate chemical neuroanatomic details in a volume which makes clear the known and desirable appreciation for differences between and among subsets of primate brains.
The first chapter covers the primate thalamus with equal emphases on new world, old world, pro-simian and human anatomic details and their differences. The second undertakes a comparably comprehensive examination of one of the most intensively studied regions of the primate brain, namely the primate visual cortex. While much has been studied, both chapters also reveal how much remains for future efforts in these enormously important regions which are the archetypes of primate sub-cortical and cortical function.

Indonesia possesses the second largest primate population in the world, with over 33 different primate species. Although Brazil possesses more primate species, Indonesia outranks it in terms of its diversity of primates, ranging from prosimians (slow lorises and tarsiers), to a multitude of Old World Monkey species (macaques, langurs, proboscis moneys) to lesser apes (siamangs, gibbons) and great apes (orangutans). The primates of Indonesia are distributed throughout the archipelago. Partly in response to the number of primates distributed throughout the Indonesian archipelago, Indonesia is classified as the home of two biodiversity hotspots (Wallacea and Sundaland). In order to be classified as a hotspot, an area must have a large proportion of endemic species coupled with a high degree of threat including having lost more than 70% of its original habitat. Two areas within Indonesia meet these criteria. The tremendous diversity of primates in Indonesia, in conjunction with the conservation issues facing the primates of this region, created a need for this volume.

Various parallels have been drawn between wolves and humans from the perspective of their social organisation. Therefore, studying wolves may well shed light on the evolutionary origins of complex human cognition and, in particular, on the role that cooperation played in its development. Humans closely share their lives with millions of dogs - the domesticated form of wolves. Biologically, wolves and dogs can be considered to be the same species; yet only dogs are suitable living companions in human homes, highlighting the importance of cognitive and emotional differences between the two forms. The behaviour of wolves and dogs largely depends on the environment the animals grew up and live in. This book reviews more than 50 years of research on the differences and similarities of wolves and dogs. Beyond the socio-ecology, the work explores different theories about when and how the domestication of wolves might have started and which behaviours and cognitive abilities might have changed during this process. Readers will discover how these fascinating animals live with their conspecifics in their social groups, how they approach and solve problems in their daily lives and how they see and interact with their human partners.

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."

Although the function of nitric oxide in a regulatory capacity in the central and peripheral nervous system is widely recognized, the full scope of its actions and its interrelationships with other classes of regulatory molecules is just beginning to be comprehended. This volume contains a number of sophisticated and advanced methods essential for exploring the activity of nitric oxide in the brain. It will be a valuable tool for the established investigator and for those just entering the field.
Key Features
* Comprehensive protocols included for
* Detection of NO and related compounds by chemical, immunohistochemical, and "in situ" hybridization techniques
* Newly developed methods for the purification of neuronal and endothelial NO synthase, production of monoclonal antibodies to NO synthase, molecular cloning and expression of NO synthesis, and control of NO synthase gene expression
* Assessment of NO-mediated functions in neurons, central nervous system, cerebral circulation, synaptic transmission, and vascular tone
* Calcium imaging by confocal microscopy, evaluation of the effect of NO on iron metabolism, and detection of heme oxygenase-1 and -2 message level and distribution

Originally published in 1976, this volume reports research that will help us to understand the causes of psychogenic diseases. It deals both experimentally and theoretically with the question of symptom specificity in psychosomatic research - why some individuals respond to psychological stress with gastric disorders, others with sexual impotence, and still others with high blood pressure. As the author notes in summarizing his conclusions, "The repeated pairing of activation of a given organic system with intense nervous stress directs the pathological influence of the stressor primarily upon the system activated; subsequently the natural stimuli which would ordinarily activate the system in a normal manner sustain the pathological stressor's effect as a conditioned stimulus for the stressor effect." The translation of this work from the original Russian brings to the attention of Western investigators new and useful models of stress-induced disorders, and sheds new light on the pervasive problem of psychosomatic disease.

In this volume contemporary methods designed to provide insights into, mathematical structure for, and predictive inferences about neuroendocrine control mechanisms are presented.
Key Features
* Collates an array of contemporary techniques for analysis of neuroendocrine data
* Discusses current problems in and solutions to neurohormone pulse analysis
* Identifies relevant software available

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.

‘Steve Brusatte, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, brings mammals out from the shadow of their more showy predecessors in a beautifully written book that . . . makes the case for them as creatures who are just as engaging as dinosaurs.’ – The Sunday Times, ‘Best Books For Summer’ 'In this terrific new book, Steve Brusatte . . . brings well-known extinct species, the sabre-toothed tigers and the woolly mammoths, thrillingly back to life' – The Times The passing of the age of the dinosaurs allowed mammals to become ascendant. But mammals have a much deeper history. They – or, more precisely, we – originated around the same time as the dinosaurs, over 200 million years ago; mammal roots lie even further back, some 325 million years. Over these immense stretches of geological time, mammals developed their trademark features: hair, keen senses of smell and hearing, big brains and sharp intelligence, fast growth and warm-blooded metabolism, a distinctive line-up of teeth (canines, incisors, premolars, molars), mammary glands that mothers use to nourish their babies with milk, qualities that have underlain their success story. Out of this long and rich evolutionary history came the mammals of today, including our own species and our closest cousins. But today’s 6,000 mammal species - the egg-laying monotremes including the platypus, marsupials such as kangaroos and koalas that raise their tiny babies in pouches, and placentals like us, who give birth to well-developed young – are simply the few survivors of a once verdant family tree, which has been pruned both by time and mass extinctions. In The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, palaeontologist Steve Brusatte weaves together the history and evolution of our mammal forebears with stories of the scientists whose fieldwork and discoveries underlie our knowledge, both of iconic mammals like the mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers of which we have all heard, and of fascinating species that few of us are aware of. For what we see today is but a very limited range of the mammals that have existed; in this fascinating and ground-breaking book, Steve Brusatte tells their – and our – story.

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."

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.

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."