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.

100 SWEARY TEAR-OUT POSTCARDS TO DELIGHT YOUR NEAREST AND DEAREST, FROM THE CREATOR OF EFFIN' BIRDS Ever since Effin' Birds first appeared on social media, fans have been clamouring for a way to deliver these lavishly illustrated profane messages in the real world. Today is the day that their prayers and DMs are answered: Greetings from Effin' Birds is a book of 100 tear-out postcards, featuring new birds and new jokes, plus 100 absolutely true* Bird Facts that will help you spot these fine avian creatures in your everyday life. The bewildered gander wants to talk about how fucked everything is... The fretful scaup wants to know how long this bullshit is going to take... The rational sheldrake is losing its fucking mind over here... and 97 more! *All 100 Bird Facts are completely untrue.

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.

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.

The very best photographs from Bird Photographer of the Year. The Bird Photographer of the Year competition celebrates the artistry of bird photography, and this beautiful book reflects this. A celebration of avian beauty and diversity, it is a tribute to both the dedication and passion of the photographers as well as a reflection of the quality of today's modern digital imaging systems. The book includes the winning and short-listed images from the seventh year of this annual competition, showcasing some of the finest bird photography and with a foreword by birdwatcher and explorer, Steve Backshall. A proportion of the profits from the book goes directly to Birds on the Brink to support their conservation work. The advent of digital technology has revolutionised photography in recent years, and the book brings to life some of the most stunning bird photography currently on offer. It features a vast variety of photographs by hardened pros, keen amateurs and hobbyists alike, reflecting the huge diversity of bird enthusiasts and nature lovers which is so important in ensuring their conservation and survival.

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.

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.

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.

The vertebrate integument arose about 450 million years ago as an armour of dermal bony plates in small, jawless fish-like creatures, informally known as the ostracoderms. This book reviews the major changes that have occurred in the vertebrate integument from its beginnings to the present day. Critical questions concerning the origin, structure and functional biology of the bony integument are discussed and intrinsically linked to major steps in vertebrate evolution and phylogeny the origin of jaws and the origin of teeth. The discussions include the origins of mineralization of major vertebrate skeletal components such as the dermatocranium, branchial arches and vertebral column. The advances that led to the origin of modern fishes and their phylogenetic development are reviewed and include the evolution of fins and replacement of the bony plates with several types of dermal scales. The evolution of reptiles saw a major transformation of the integument, with the epidermis becoming the protective outermost layer, from which the scales arose, while the dermis lay below it.The biological significance of the newly-evolved -keratin in reptilian scales, among the toughest natural materials known, is discussed in the context of its major contribution to the great success of reptiles and to the evolution of feathers and avian flight. The dermis in many vertebrates is strengthened by layers of oppositely oriented cross-fibres, now firmly entrenched as a design principle of biomechanics. Throughout the book conventional ideas are discussed and a number of new hypotheses are presented in light of the latest developments. The long evolutionary history of vertebrates indicates that the significance of the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest may be overstated, including in our own mammalian origins and that chance often plays a major role in evolutionary patterns. Extensive illustrations are included to support the verbal descriptions.

Professor Theagarten Lingham-Soliar is in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal."

Referred to in the Bible, pictured on the wall-friezes of ancient Egyptian tombs, and a subject of fascination for generations of scientists, the tilapias (Cichlidae: Tilapiini) have featured in the diet and culture of humankind for thousands of years. The present century has seen their spread from Africa throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, largely for food and fisheries purposes. This book attempts to pull together our knowledge of this important group - their biology and fisheries and aquaculture - in a single volume, something that has not been done comprehensively for nearly two decades. A succession of chapters by acknowledged authorities covers evolution, phylogenetic relationships and biogeography, reproductive biology, mating systems and parental care, diet, feeding and digestive physiology, environmental physiology and energetics, the role of tilapias in ecosystems, population dynamics and management, genetics, seed production, nutrition, farming, economics and marketing. The book is aimed at biologists, fisheries scientists, aquaculturists, and all interested in aquatic ecology.

Salvelinus species are one of the most thoroughly studied groups of fishes. Many reasons explain this intense interest in charr biology. Charrs have a Holarctic distribution encompassing many Asian, North American, and European countries and occupy diverse marine and freshwater environments. Furthermore, the current distribution of charr includes areas that were directly influenced by climate and topographic change associated with the many Pleistocene glaciations. Undoubtedly, these conditions have promoted much of the tremendous morphological, ecological, and genetic variability and plasticity within Salvelinus species and they make charr very good models to study evolutionary processes 'in action'. Many charr species also exhibit demographic characteristics such as slow growth, late maturity, and life in extreme environments, that may increase their susceptibility to extinction from habitat changes and overexploitation, especially in depauperate aquatic habitats. This vulnerability makes understanding their biology of great relevance to biodiversity and conservation. Finally, charr are of great cultural, commercial, and recreational significance to many communities, and their intimate linkage with human societies has stimulated much interest in this enigmatic genus. This volume comprises a selection of papers presented at the fourth International Charr Symposium held in Trois-RiviA]res (QuA(c)bec, Canada), from 26 June to 1 July 2000. It includes 31 papers on ecological interactions and behaviour, trophic polymorphism, movement and migration, ecophysiology and evolutionary genetics, ecological parasitology, environmental stress and conservation. These studies cannot cover all recentdevelopments in the ecology, behaviour and conservation of Salvelinus species, but collecting them into a special volume should bring attention to current research on this important genus and stimulate further work on Salvelinus species.

"Birds of Mexico and Central America" is the only field guide to illustrate and describe every species of bird in Central America from Mexico to Panama, including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Written and illustrated by Ber van Perlo, this handsome work covers more than 1,500 species.

Information on key identification features, habitats, songs, and calls is included as are distribution maps showing each species' location and prevalence. Enhanced with ninety-eight color plates, the book provides illustrations of all plumages for the adult males and females as well as the juveniles of each species. Illustrations appear opposite their relevant text for quick and easy reference.

Comprehensive and highly portable, this guide is a must for any birdwatcher visiting the region. More than 1,500 species described and illustrated Information on key identification features, habitat, and songs and calls Distribution maps showing each species' location and prevalence Illustrations of all plumages for each species 98 color plates, which appear opposite their relevant text for quick and easy reference Comprehensive and highly portable A must for all birdwatchers visiting the region

This completey revised and updated edition of Bacterial Fish Pathogens is a comprehensive discussion of the biological aspects of the bacterial taxa which cause disease in fish. Since the 3rd edition was published in 1999, much has changed in the control of disease of farmes and wild fish. New pathogens such as Pasteurella skyensis have been described, and antimicrobial compounds for the control of disease have been replaced by alternative methods, such as probiotics. Consideration is given to all the bacterial taxa which have at some time been reported as fish pathogens, whether they are secondary invaders of already damaged tissues or serious, primary pathogens.

The process whereby a single cell, the fertilized egg, develops into an adult has fascinated for centuries. Great progress in understanding that process, h- ever, has been made in the last two decades, when the techniques of molecular biology have become available to developmental biologists. By applying these techniques, the exact nature of many of the interactions responsible for forming the body pattern are now being revealed in detail. Such studies are a large, and it seems ever-expanding, part of most life-science groups. It is at newcomers to this field that this book is primarily aimed. A number of different plants and animals serve as common model org- isms for developmental studies. In Molecular Methods in Developmental Bi- ogy: Xenopus and Zebrafish, a range of the molecular methods applicable to two of these organisms are described, these are the South African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, and the zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio. The embryos of both of these species develop rapidly and externally, making them particularly suited to investigations of early vertebrate development. However, both Xenopus and zebrafish have their own advantages and disadvantages. Xenopus have large, robust embryos that can be manipulated surgically with ease, but their pseudotetraploidy and long generation time make them unsuitable candidates for genetics. This disadvantage may soon be overcome by using the diploid Xenopus tropicalis, and early experiments are already underway. The transp- ent embryos of zebrafish render them well-suited for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and good for observing mutations in genetic screens.

Shark conservation and management is often hindered by a lack of basic biological information for most species. An understanding of the age structure and growth dynamics of a population is important for effective conservation and management because this information is often utilized for determination of natural mortality and longevity. Ultimately age and growth information is used for calculation of vital rates in population models. Over the last few years there have been advances in the quantitative study of age and growth of chondrichthyan fishes. Novel approaches to ageing of various chondrichthyan fishes continue to arise. This volume is a collection of papers on several of these topics that include new hard parts (e.g. caudal thorns) for assessments of age, new techniques for validation (e.g. bomb radiocarbon) and reexaminations of previous age and growth models.

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.

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.

Aquaculture is rapidly becoming a major source of fish protein used to meet the nutritional needs of humans. As the aquaculture industry grows, exposure of farmed fish to environmental contaminants, and the need for chemical therapeutic agents for fish, will increase. This book is designed to bring together authorities worldwide on the regulation of environmental contaminants and food chemicals and researchers investigating the metabolism and disposition of foreign chemicals (xenobiotics) in fish species.

Teleost fishes account for nearly half of all known vertebrate species. They have representatives in virtually all aquatic systems and an enormous variety in the ways they live. Moreover, teleost fishes support subsistence and commercial fisheries and aquaculture systems throughout the world. The second edition of this highly respected book retains the aims and structure of the first edition, emphasizing the responses of individual fish to their environment and the consequences of these responses for the population and community to which the individuals belong. Fully updated and rewritten, this new edition of Ecology of Teleost Fishes offers a thorough and integrated approach to the area and is essential reading for all students of fish biology and ecology, fisheries science and aquaculture. Fish biologists, fisheries scientists, ecologists and researchers in fish population studies, genetics and aquaculture will also find this book to be an invaluable reference source.

It is generally accepted that the recent progress in molecular and cellular biology would not have been possible without an understanding of the mechanisms and signaling pathways of communication inside the cell and between various cells of the animal organism. In fact a similar progress occurred in the field of chemical communication between individual organisms of vertebrate species, and this volume is aimed at presenting the current state of the art on this subject. The reader can find here both original results obtained in the laboratory or field studies and comprehensive reviews summarizing many years of research. The presentations of over 60 scientists have been grouped according to their approach into nine parts covering such fields as ecological and evolutionary aspects of chemical communication, structure and neuronal mechanisms of chemosensory systems, chemical structure of pheromones and binding proteins, kin, individual and sexual recognition, predator-prey relationships, purpose and consequences of marking behavior, scent signals and reproductive processes. Expanding on former volumes of this series, entirely new chapters have been added on prenatal chemical communication describing specific effects of the intrauterine environment. In many cases a truly multidisciplinary approach was required, such as with the population analysis of polymorphic variants of the mouse's major urinary proteins that function in carrying pheromones.

Sharks are ruthlessly efficient predators, the apex of 450 million years of evolution. They are older than trees, have survived five extinction events and are essential to maintaining balanced ocean ecosystems, but how much do we really know about their lives? The first book to reveal the hidden world of sharks, Emperors of the Deep draws upon the latest scientific research to examine four species in detail – mako, tiger, hammerhead and great white – as never before. An eye-opening tour of shark habitats ranges from the coral reefs of the Central Pacific where great whites mysteriously congregate every autumn in what researchers call a festival for sharks, to tropical mangrove forests where baby lemon sharks play in social groups and to the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, home to 400-year-old Greenland sharks, the world’s longest-lived vertebrates. McKeever also traces the evolution of the myth of the ‘man-eater’ and exposes the devastating effects of the fishing industry on shark populations: In 2018 only four people died in shark attacks while we killed 100 million sharks. At once a journey through the misunderstood world of sharks and an urgent call to protect them, Emperors of the Deep celebrates these iconic predators that continue to capture our imagination – and that desperately need our help to survive.

Although feeding has not yet been thoroughly studied in many vertebrate taxa, and different conceptual and methodological approaches make a synthesis difficult, the aim of this volume is to provide a comprehensive overview of the feeding design in aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates with a detailed description of its functional properties. The book focuses on the constant interaction between function and form, behaviour and morphology in the course of evolution of the feeding apparatus and feeding mechanism in both a complementary and basic manner in relation to survival, interspecific competition, adaptation to environmental changes and adaptive radiation. Special emphasis is given to the quantification of the observational and experimental data on the morphology and biomechanics of the feeding design and its elements - jaws, teeth, hyoidean apparatus and tongue in order to allow the present and further comparisons in an evolutionary perspective.