The definitive photographic guide to the amazing avifauna of South Africa.

South Africa – from the vast savanna of Kruger to the unparalleled richness of the Cape – is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, featuring the highest number of endemics of any African country, as well as rich seabird assemblage and vast numbers of more widespread yet no less spectacular African birds.

The perfect companion for any wildlife-friendly visitor, Birds of South Africa provides photographic coverage of more than 340 species that regularly occur in the region. Concise text for each species includes information on identification, songs and calls, behaviour, distribution and habitat, with each photo having been carefully selected to guide identification. A guide to the best birdwatching sites in South Africa is also included.

Portable yet authoritative, this is the perfect guide for travellers and birdwatchers visiting this spectacular and bird-rich destination.

Elephants are arguably Africa’s most charismatic animals, and among the biggest drawcards to our game reserves. While the burgeoning game-park industry may be increasing our access to these magnificent creatures, rising human-elephant encounters are an inevitable outcome – sometimes, sadly, fatal. Such encounters could likely have been avoided had those involved understood elephant behaviour, and particularly how these intelligent animals interface with traffic through their territory.

This book describes elephant family life, from rearing of infants to establishing dominance within a herd; it unpacks regular elephant behaviour, the matriarchal system, the particular dangers of males in musth, and many other aspects of their lives. Most of all, it provides guidelines for ensuring safe and enjoyable encounters with these majestic animals.

This is an essential guide for those planning visits to reserves: aside from the interest factor, being able to read the tell-tale signs may just save lives.

VELD Voëls van Suider-Afrika: Die volledige fotogids bring die heel nuutste foto’s, navorsing en verspreidingsdata oor alle voëlspesies wat tot op hede in Suider-Afrika aangeteken is, byeen.

Hierdie omvattende veldgids bevat nagenoeg 2 000 pragtige kleurfoto’s, asook:

• die nuutste inligting oor die 991 voëlspesies in Suider-Afrika
• bondige inskrywings wat fokus op identifikasie, moontlike verwarring, gedrag en habitat, asook verskille in geslag, ouderdom, kleurvariasies en subspesies
• opsommende inligting oor elke voëlspesie se grootte, kos, status en sosialiteit
• bygewerkte, kleurgekodeerde verspreidingskaarte wat elke voël se status en digtheid aandui
• ’n volledige en verkorte register
• ’n toepassing (“app”) met voëlroepe en addisionele foto’s van kleurvariasies.

Of jy buite in die veld of op die rusbank in jou huis is, is hierdie gids ’n onontbeerlike metgesel.

Seabirds hold a special place in the hearts of birders, not least because of the challenge of getting to grips with a group of birds that is largely inaccessible, and living in an often hostile habitat. Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa is the first book focusing exclusively on the nearly 1,000 birds that occur around the southern African coastline and adjacent Southern Ocean.

This book is primarily an identification guide, but the author also includes information about these birds’ fascinating biology and behaviour. The text is richly supported with photographs, as well as distribution maps for all the birds. A detailed introduction covers, among other topics, seabird origins, havens, feeding, breeding and conservation, as well as how best to watch and photograph these enigmatic birds.

Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa is an authoritative, first-of-its-kind, essential, volume for birders’ libraries.

In this book, Adrian Koopman describes the complex relationship between birds, the Zulu language and Zulu culture. A number of chapters look at the underlying meaning of bird names, and here we will find that the Zulu name of the Goliath Heron means ‘what gives birth to baby crocodiles’, the dikkop (umbangaqhwa) means ‘what causes frost’, and the African Hoopoe is a party-goer who wears a colourful blanket.

The book goes further than just Zulu names, exploring the underlying meanings of bird names from other South African languages and languages from Central and East Africa. Here we find birds with names that translate as ‘cool-porridge’, ‘kiss-banana-flower’ and ‘waiter-at-the-end-of-the furrow’.

A focus on Zulu traditional oral literature details the roles birds have played in Zulu praise poetry (including the praise poems of certain birds themselves) and in proverbs, riddles and children’s games. Also considered is traditional bird lore, examining the role played by various species as omens and portents, as indicators of bad luck and evil, as forecasters of rain and storm, and as harbingers of the seasons. Here we see that the Bateleur Eagle (ingqungqulu) is linked to war, the Southern Ground Hornbill (insingizi) to thunder and heavy rain, the Red-chested Cuckoo (uphezukokhono) to the start of the ploughing season, and the Jacobin Cuckoo (inkanku) to the start of summer.

Zulu Bird Names and Bird Lore discusses the Zulu Bird Name Project, a series of Zulu bird name workshops held between 2013 and 2017 with Zulu-speaking bird guides designed to confirm (or otherwise) all previously recorded Zulu names for birds, while at the same time devising new names for those without previously recorded names. The result has been a list of species-specific names for all birds in the Zulu-speaking region. Finally, the book turns to the role such new bird names can play in conservation education and in avi-tourism.

VELD Birds of Southern Africa: The complete photographic guide incorporates the latest photographs of, and research and atlas information on, all species of birds recorded in southern Africa to date.

This comprehensive field guide contains almost 2 000 beautiful colour photographs, as well as:

• the latest information on all 991 bird species in southern Africa
• concise entries focusing on identification, behaviour, possible confusion and habitat, along with differences in sex, age, colour morphs and subspecies
• at-a-glance information on each species’ size, food, status and sociality
• brand-new, colour-coded distribution maps reflecting each bird’s status and abundance
• full-length and quick indexes
• an app providing bird calls and additional photographs of plumage variations.

An essential companion, whether you’re out in the field or on the couch at home.

ow in its fifth edition, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa has been brought fully up to date by its expert author panel, with additional contributions from two new birding experts. Greatly enhanced, this comprehensive, best-selling guide is sure to maintain its place as one of Africa’s most trusted field guides.

Key features of the 5th revised edition:

• More than 800 new illustrations
• Scan and play bird calls using free downloadable app
• Fully revised text (with latest species records), maps and plate annotations
• Fresh input from new contributing authors
• Comprehensive coverage of the region’s birds

This larger edition is based on the updated and expanded fifth edition of Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, which has been brought fully up to date by its expert author panel, with additional contributions from two new birding experts.

Greatly enhanced, this comprehensive, best-selling guide is sure to maintain its place as one of Africa’s most trusted field guides.

Key features of the 5th revised edition:

• More than 800 new illustrations
• Scan and play bird calls using free downloadable app
• Fully revised text (with latest species records), maps and plate annotations
• Fresh input from new contributing authors
• The larger format allows for better appreciation and easier use of the plates.

Now in its fifth edition, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa has been brought fully up to date by its expert author panel, with additional contributions from two new birding experts. Greatly enhanced, this comprehensive, best-selling guide is sure to maintain its place as one of Africa’s most trusted field guides.

Key features of the 5th revised edition:

• More than 800 new illustrations
• Scan and play bird calls using free downloadable app
• Fully revised text (with latest species records), maps and plate annotations
• Fresh input from new contributing authors
• Comprehensive coverage of the region’s birds

Southern Africa has a particularly rich marine fauna and flora – almost 6% of all coastal marine species known worldwide occur here, along only 0.5% of the world’s coastline. The most frequently encountered species of this rich assemblage – fish to whales, algae to sponges, and seaweeds to dune forests – are covered in detail in this newly revised and comprehensively updated edition of the best-selling Two Oceans – A Guide to the Marine Life of Southern Africa.

It encompasses descriptions of more than 2,200 species, covering diagnostic features, biology, related species, and distribution. Stunning full-color photographs illustrate the species. The only guide to southern Africa's marine heritage, this fifth edition brings the science up to date and features an additional 120 species, 260 updated species names, revised distribution maps, and more than 190 new photographs.

Highly recommended for scientists, students, divers, fishers, and beachcombers.

Die vyfde uitgawe van Sasol Voëls van Suider-Afrika is tans volledig bygewerk deur die deskundige skrywerspaneel, met bykomende bydraes van twee nuwe voëldeskundiges. Hierdie omvattende topverkopergids is grootliks verbeter en sal beslis sy plek behou as een van die mees betroubare veldgidse in Afrika.

Belangrike kenmerke van die nuwe uitgawe:

• Meer as 800 nuwe illustrasies
• Skandeer en speel voëlroepe deur die gratis aflaaibare toep te gebruik
• Omvattende hersiening (met mees onlangse spesierekords), verspreidingskaarte en plaatbyskrifte
• Nuwe toevoegings van bydraende skrywers
• Omvattende dekking van die streek se voëls

Die vyfde uitgawe van Sasol Voëls van Suider-Afrika is tans volledig bygewerk deur die deskundige skrywerspaneel, met bykomende bydraes van twee nuwe voëldeskundiges. Hierdie omvattende topverkopergids is grootliks verbeter en sal beslis sy plek behou as een van die mees betroubare veldgidse in Afrika.

Belangrike kenmerke van die nuwe uitgawe:

• Meer as 800 nuwe illustrasies
• Skandeer en speel voëlroepe deur die gratis aflaaibare toep te gebruik
• Omvattende hersiening (met mees onlangse spesierekords), verspreidingskaarte en plaatbyskrifte
• Nuwe toevoegings van bydraende skrywers
• Omvattende dekking van die streek se voëls

Besides being a world-famous game-viewing destination, the Kruger National Park also boasts a remarkable diversity of reptiles. This beginner-friendly guide features over 60 species of snake, lizard, terrapin, tortoise and crocodile, with basic identification pointers, interesting facts and notes on best viewing.
 
Learn more about the black mamba, puff adder, boomslang and other dangerously venomous snakes, as well as harmless creatures such as egg-eaters and blind snakes. Find out how to the identify the geckos, agamas and skinks that dart around camp, and discover the habits of the Nile crocodiles and water monitors, which bask along the waterways.
 
A richly illustrated, beginner-friendly guide – ideal for visitors keen to identify and learn more about the park’s reptiles.

Why do people find monkeys and apes so compelling to watch? One clear answer is that they seem so similar to us-a window into our own minds and how we have evolved over millennia. As Charles Darwin wrote in his Notebook, "He who understands baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke." Darwin recognized that behavior and cognition, and the neural architecture that support them, evolved to solve specific social and ecological problems. Defining these problems for neurobiological study, and conveying neurobiological results to ethologists and psychologists, is fundamental to an evolutionary understanding of brain and behavior. The goal of this book is to do just that. It collects, for the first time in a single book, information on primate behavior and cognition, neurobiology, and the emerging discipline of neuroethology. Here leading scientists in several fields review work ranging from primate foraging behavior to the neurophysiology of motor control, from vocal communication to the functions of the auditory cortex. The resulting synthesis of cognitive, ethological, and neurobiological approaches to primate behavior yields a richer understanding of our primate cousins that also sheds light on the evolutionary development of human behavior and cognition.

This volume of "Methods in Cell Biology" is the 3e, and provides comprehensive compendia of laboratory protocols and reviews covering all the new methods developed since 2004. This new volume on Disease Models and Chemical Screens, covers two rapidly emerging and compelling applications of the zebrafish.
* Details state-of-the art zebrafish protocols, delineating critical steps in the procedures as well as potential pitfalls
* This volume concentrates on Disease Models and Chemical Screens

This book should be of value to anyone interested in bird evolution and taxonomy, biogeography, distributional history, dispersal and migration patterns. It provides an up-to-date synthesis of current knowledge on species formation, and the factors influencing current distribution patterns. It draws heavily on new information on Earth history, including past glacial and other climatic changes, on new developments in molecular biology and palaeontology, and on recent studies of bird distribution and migration patterns, to produce a coherent account of the factors that have influenced bird species diversity and distribution patterns worldwide.
Received the Best Bird Book of the Year award for 2004 from British Birds magazine.
* Winner of the British Birds/British Trust for Ornithology, Bird Book of the Year 2004
* The first book to deal comprehensively with bird speciation and biogeography
* Up-to-date synthesis of new information
* Clearly written
* No previous book covers the same ground
* Many maps and diagrams
* Makes difficult and widely scattered information accessible and easily understood
* A sound base for future research
* Takes full account of recent developments in molecular biology

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.

This practical book provides the detailed methodology and expert guidance required for measuring and manipulating cytosolic ion concentrations. In addition, the strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls of various techniques are presented. It is an invaluable source for those needing an objective evaluation of current methodologies and for those contemplating setting up such procedures.
Key Features
* A one-source reference for measuring and manipulating intracellular ions and for comparing and evaluating current methodologies
* Includes overviews of
* Optical probes and reagents
* Fabrication and use of ion-selective microelectrodes
* Use of NMR spectroscopy
* Ionophores

The History of British Birds reviews our knowledge of avifaunal history over the last 15,000 years, setting it in its wider historical and European context. The authors, one an ornithologist, the other an archaeologist, integrate a wealth of archaeological data to illuminate and enliven the story, indicating the extent to which climatic, agricultural, and social changes have affected the avifauna. They discuss its present balance, as well as predicting possible future changes.
It is a popular misconception that bird bones are rarely preserved (compared with mammals), and cannot be reliably identified when they are found. The book explores both these contentions, armed with a database of 9,000 records of birds that have been identified on archaeolgical sites. Most are in England, but sites elsewhere in Great Britian, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Isles are included.
Britain's most numerous bird is also the most widespread in the archaeological record, but some of the more charismatic species also have a rich historical pedigree. For example, we can say quite a lot about the history of the Crane, Red Kite, White-tailed Eagle and great Auk. The history of many introduced domestic species can also be illuminated. Even so, there remain uncertainties, posed by difficulties of dating or identification, the vagaries of the archaeological record or the ecological specialities of the birds themselves. These issues are highlighted, thus posing research questions for others to answer.
And the commonest British bird, then and now? Buy the book and read on...

Because of their vital role in the emergence of humanity, tools and their uses have been the focus of considerable worldwide study. This volume brings together international research on the use of tools among primates and both prehistoric and modern humans. The book represents leading work being done by specialists in anatomy, neurobiology, prehistory, ethnology, and primatology. Whether composed of stone, wood, or metal, tools are a prolongation of the arm that acquire precision through direction by the brain. The same movement, for example, may have been practiced by apes and humans, but the resulting action varies according to the extended use of the tool. It is therefore necessary, as the contributors here make clear, to understand the origin of tools, and also to describe the techniques involved in their manipulation, and the possible uses of unknown implements. Comparison of the techniques of chimpanzees with those of prehistoric and modern peoples has made it possible to appreciate the common aspects and to identify the differences. The transmission of ability has also been studied in the various relevant societies: chimpanzees in their natural habitat and in captivity, hunter-gatherers, and workmen in prehistoric and in modern times. In drawing together much valuable research, this work will be an important and timely resource for social and behavioral psychologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and animal behaviorists.

Scientific developments have increasingly been transforming our understanding of the place of human beings in nature. The study of humanity, carried out in a variety of disciplines from anthropology and paleontology to genetics and neurosciences, is shedding new light on the origins and biological bases of human nature and culture. The findings of these relatively new hyphenated sciences have profound implications for the interpretation of human behavior within spiritual life no less than the material culture. This fine compendium serves as a splendid introduction to sociobiology. Sociobiology, now frequently being referred to by many as evolutionary psychology and evolutionary anthropology, first offered a radically selfish and individualist account of human nature. However, later researchers have moved away from such reductionisms, and into a sense of the common good that characterizes many species, and human brings as well. The emergence of discourses on the role of religion in understanding behavior in terms of moral considerations that permit people to live in community contexts has generated a lively examination within the new social sciences on the source of instinct, impulse, intelligence and interest. This compendium is clearly etched in a new and generous vision of human behavior that is at the same time rooted in the best of the current social sciences. "The Origins and Nature of" Sociality comes out of a symposium sponsored by the Program for Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and co-chaired by the editors. The contributors focus on the current status of research on sociality and the evolution of cooperative and altruistic behavior in nonhuman and human primates. They examine questions related to the evolution, cultural viability, and hormonal underpinnings of human sociality in specific detail, and describe patterns of sociality among nonhuman primates that many shed light on human social behavior. "Robert W. Sussman" is professor of anthropology, at Washington University in St. Louis. His work has appeared, among other places, in "The American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Folia Primatology," and Zygon. "Audrey R. Chapman" serves as director of the Science and Human Rights program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington D.C.

This book describes one of our closest relatives, the orangutan, and the only extant great ape in Asia. It is increasingly clear that orangutan populations show extensive variation in behavioral ecology, morphology, life history, and genes. Indeed, on the strength of the latest genetic and morphological evidence, it has been proposed that orangutans actually constitute two species which diverged more than a million years ago - one on the island of Sumatra the other on Borneo, with the latter comprising three subspecies.
This book has two main aims. The first is to carefully compare data from every orangutan research site, examining the differences and similarities between orangutan species, subspecies and populations. The second is to develop a theoretical framework in which these differences and similarities can be explained. To achieve these goals the editors have assembled the world's leading orangutan experts to rigorously synthesize and compare the data, quantify the similarities or differences, and seek to explain them.
Orangutans is the first synthesis of orangutan biology to adopt this novel, comparative approach. It analyses and compares the latest data, developing a theoretical framework to explain morphological, life history, and behavioral variation. Intriguingly, not all behavioral differences can be attributed to ecological variation between and within the two islands; relative rates of social learning also appear to have been influential. The book also emphasizes the crucial impact of human settlement on orangutans and looks ahead to the future prospects for the survival of critically endangered natural populations.

As Crocodile strolls along wistfully, admiring beautiful creatures, she has one question: "Why, oh why, am I a crocodile?" Just as she's at her lowest, she encounters a blind monkey who introduces her to some newfound friends. Will Monkey be able to change Crocodile's view on the world and will she learn to love herself? A fun, rhyming children's book exploring emotional issues, such as low self-esteem and negative self-image. This lovely bedtime story, for toddlers, young children (and grown-ups!), is the perfect tool for discussing these all-important, ever-increasing feelings in a child-friendly way. The vibrant illustrations, with quirky extra details, will keep kids totally engaged and they will love joining in with the repetitive element of the book. Why, oh why, am I a crocodile? is the perfect addition to any child's bookshelf.

A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian A "remarkable" (Los Angeles Times), "seductive" (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and--possibly--even murder. "At one point, Miller dives into the ocean into a school of fish...comes up for air, and realizes she's in love. That's how I felt: Her book took me to strange depths I never imagined, and I was smitten." --The New York Times Book Review David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake--which sent more than a thousand discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life's work was shattered. Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish that he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world. When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool--a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don't Exist is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.