Africa is home to an amazing array of animals, including the world's most diverse assortment of large mammals. These include the world's largest terrestrial mammal, the African elephant, which still roams great swathes of the continent alongside a host of hooved mammals such as hippopotamuses, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and zebras.

African Ark: Mammals, Landscape and the Ecology of a Continent tells the story of where these mammals have come from and how they have interacted to create the richly varied landscape that makes up Africa as we know it today. It also highlights small mammals, such as rodents and bats, which are often overlooked by both naturalists and zoologists in favour of their larger cousins.

African Ark explains the processes through which species and population groups are formed and how these fluctuate over time. It explores the impact of megafauna on the environment and the important roles they play in shaping the landscape. In this way, mammals such as elephants and rhinoceros support countless plant communities and the habitats of many smaller animals. The book brings in a human perspective as well as a conservation angle in its assessment of the interaction of African mammals with the people who live alongside them.

African Ark is at once scientifically rigorous - drawing on the contributions of numerous zoologists, ecologists and conservationists - and an engaging read for anyone dedicated to the understanding of Africa and its wildlife.

This revised edition of Bats of Southern and Central Africa builds on the solid foundation of the first edition and supplements the original account of bat species then known to be found in Southern and Central Africa with an additional eight newly described species, bringing the total to 124. The chapters on evolution, biogeography, ecology and echolocation have been updated, citing dozens of recently published papers. The book covers the latest systematic and taxonomic studies, ensuring that the names and relationships of bats in this new edition reflect current scientific knowledge. The species accounts provide descriptions, measurements and diagnostic characters as well as detailed information about the distribution, habitat, roosting habits, foraging ecology and reproduction of each species. The updated species distribution maps are based on 6 100 recorded localities. A special feature of the 2010 publication was the mode of identification of families, genera and species by way of character matrices rather than the more generally used dichotomous keys. Since then these matrices have been tested in the field and, where necessary, slightly altered for this edition. New photographs fill in gaps and updated sonograms aid with bat identification in acoustic surveys. The bibliography, which now contains more than 700 entries, will be an invaluable aid to students and scientists wishing to consult original research.

All the information researchers, students, and practitioners need to conducted innovative, state-of-the-art research on small mammals. Rodents and insectivores constitute the vast majority of mammals on our planet, yet we often overlook the importance of this group. As seed dispersers, prey species, and disease regulators, these animals are critical to the functioning of our ecological systems. While considerable material exists that describes these species, there has been no dedicated guide explaining how to effectively research them-until now. Methods for Ecological Research on Terrestrial Small Mammals is a one-stop resource compiling all the information readers need to conduct state-of-the-art research on small terrestrial mammals across the globe. The authors cover the full spectrum of issues, from capture, handling, identification, reproduction, demography, and taxonomy to behavior, diet, evolution, diseases, movements, morphometrics, and more. They also: * highlight the latest techniques while carefully explaining the tried-and-tested methods needed to conduct rigorous scientific inquiries; * provide step-by-step examples and case studies, demonstrating how the methods discussed can be used in actual research projects; * compare and contrast methodologies, analytical techniques, and software packages, helping researchers determine which pathways and tools will yield the best results for their studies. A comprehensive and invaluable resource, Methods for Ecological Research on Terrestrial Small Mammals is a must-have for any ecologist working on small mammals.

This comprehensive handbook covers all the rodents occurring in Southern, Central, East and West Africa, south of the Sahara. Detailed treatments of 79 genera and 420 species are provided for the following families: Anomaluridae (anomalures), Bathyergidae (mole-rats), Gliridae (dormice), Hystricidae (porcupines), Muridae (rats and mice), Nesomyidae (nesomyids), Pedetidae (springhares), Sciuridae (squirrels) and Thryonomyidae (canerats). The work comprises short reviews of the systematics of African rodents and African biogeography, identification matrices and keys,79 detailed genus accounts, 420 species accounts and an extensive bibliography. Genus and species accounts include diagnostic descriptions, systematics and taxonomy, biogeographical environment, fossil species, photographs of skull and mandible, illustrations of molar dentition, photographs of live animals, distribution maps and tables of standard museum measurements. This is an essential handbook for all zoologists.