Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding: whatever is important).In addition, each group of birds includes an introduction which covers the major problems involved in identifying or observing them: how to organise a sea watching trip, how to separate birds of prey in flight, which duck hybrids can be confused with which main species. These and many other common birdwatching questions are answered.The combination of definitive text, up-to-date distribution maps and superb illustrations, all in a single volume, makes this book the ultimate field guide, essential on every bookshelf and birdwatching trip.

    Engaging, thoughtful and candid' Telegraph Waterlog celebrates the magic of water and the beauty and eccentricity of Britain.In 1996 Roger Deakin, the late, great nature writer, set out to swim through the British Isles. From the sea, from rock pools, from rivers and streams, tarns, lakes, lochs, ponds, lidos, swimming pools and spas, from fens, dykes, moats, aqueducts, waterfalls, flooded quarries, even canals, Deakin gains a fascinating perspective on modern Britain.Detained by water bailiffs in Winchester, intercepted in the Fowey estuary by coastguards, mistaken for a suicide on Camber sands, confronting the Corryvreckan whirlpool in the Hebrides, he discovers just how much of an outsider the native swimmer is to his landlocked, fully-dressed fellow citizens.This is a personal journey, a bold assertion of the native swimmer's right to roam, and an unforgettable celebration of the magic of water.

    Bird migration is the world's only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and myriad songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent decades. Migration paths form an elaborate global web that shows serious signs of fraying, and Weidensaul delves into the tragedies of habitat degradation and deforestation with an urgency that brings to life the vast problems these miraculous migrants now face.

    Covering southeastern California, the southern half of Arizona, most of Baja California, and much of the state of Sonora, Mexico, this vast area is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals. Its terrain varies dramatically, from parched desert lowlands to semiarid tropical forests and frigid subalpine meadows. A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert provides the most complete collection of Sonoran Desert natural history information ever compiled and is a perfect introduction to this biologically rich desert of North America.The authors—experts in many fields—begin with a general look at the region's geology, paleoecology, climate, human ecology, and biodiversity. The book then looks in depth at hundreds of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, native fishes, and invertebrates that live in the northern part of the Sonoran Desert. Throughout, the text is supplemented with anecdotes, essays, color and black-and-white photographs, maps, diagrams, and 450 finely-rendered drawings. This comprehensive, accessible natural history is written for nonscientists and will surely become an invaluable companion for nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers, hikers, students, and anyone interested in the desert Southwest.A copublication with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

    Veteran science writer Jon Luoma uncovers the inner workings of an ancient forest, from the microscopic bugs in the soil to the giant trees.

    Water Light Time is an extraordinary collection of photographs by David Doubilet, a pioneering artist and diver who is widely acclaimed as the world's leading underwater photographer.From the Galapagos to the Red Sea, from the Pacific shores to the fresh waters of North America, Water Light Time includes over 25 years of Doubilet's work, to reveal the mesmerizing beauty of more than 30 bodies of water rich with fascinating life forms.

    In a remarkable portfolio of photographs made during three expeditions to the icy kingdoms of penguins, he reveals both the amazing natural history and the irresistible appeal of the most human of birds.

    Discover the vital aspects of various species, how they feed, mate, and learn about their natural environment.

    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Illinois. This book features 111 species of Illinois birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

    The sea contains millions of species of animals and plants, but we have identified only a few thousand of them. The sea controls our planet's climate, but we do not really understand how. The sea is still the frontier, and yet it seems so familiar that we sometimes forget how little we know about it. Just as we are poised on the verge of exploiting the sea on an unprecedented scale—mining it, fertilizing it, fishing it out—this book reminds us of how much we have yet to learn. More than that, it chronicles the knowledge explosion that has transformed our view of the sea in just the past few decades, and made it a far more interesting and accessible place. From the Big Bang to that far-off future time, two billion years from now, when our planet will be a waterless rock; from the lush crowds of life at seafloor hot springs to the invisible, jewel-like plants that float at the sea surface; from the restless shifting of the tectonic plates to the majestic sweep of the ocean currents, Kunzig's clear and lyrical prose transports us to the ends of the Earth.Originally published in hardcover as The Restless Sea.

    As old myths, religious stories, and other shared narratives of humankind are increasingly viewed as intellectually implausible and morally irrelevant, they become less likely to fulfill their original purpose--to give people answers and provide a sense of stability and peace in daily life. Loyal Rue restores that imbalance with a new story based on fact. Rue, author of a New York Times Notable Book of 1994, By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History in Human Affairs, now provides an evolutionary tour recounting our shared "epic of evolution."

    Living creatures-swimming, creeping, floating or crawling--have invaded every possible undersea habitat. They have multiplied and diversified into every imaginable shape and form, from 20-foot giant squids to tiny creatures living between sand grains. Ninety percent of these animals are invertebrates--animals without backbones. Many are beautiful, a few are bizarre, and all are fascinating. This book leads the reader deeper into the undersea realm with photographs of over 500 species of lobsters, shrimps, crabs, shells, octopus, corals, anemones, urchins, stars, sponges, slugs and a host of other lesser-known creatures. Virtually all the animals encountered by snorkelers, divers and beachgoers in Hawaii are here. Hoover provides scientific, common and Hawaiian names for each animal and a wealth of information on its natural history, ecology, cultural importance and even suitability for aquariums.

    This accessible guide to the forty-seven species of bats found in the United States and Canada captures and explains the amazing diversity of these marvels of evolution.A wide variety of bat species live in the United States and Canada, ranging from the California leaf-nosed bat to the Florida bonneted bat, from the eastern small-footed bat to the northern long-eared bat. The authors provide an overview of bat classification, biology, feeding behavior, habitats, migration, and reproduction. They discuss the ever-increasing danger bats face from destruction of habitat, wind turbines, chemical toxicants, and devastating diseases like white-nose syndrome, which is killing millions of cave bats in North America. Illustrated species accounts include range maps and useful identification tips.Written by three of the world’s leading bat experts and featuring J. Scott Altenbach's stunning photographs, this fact-filled and easy-to-use book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of bats in the U.S. and Canada.

    The book records extraordinary discoveries about the lives of tigers, with the role of the father in the wild recorded for the first time. The enhanced second edition comes with a new preface by the author and latest information on the forest occupancy of tigers, co-predators, prey, and population estimates of tigers in India. Written in a lucid, story-telling style, and with twenty-four outstanding colour plates, this book will enthrall all animal lovers and those interested in the conservation of wildlife.

    Richly illustrated, it serves as both a natural history and field guide. Each species' narrative is accompanied by a full-page color botanical illustration, photographs from the wild, detailed indentification information, and a range map. California is home to more than 50 native species of pines, first, spruces, junipers hemlocks, and other conifers. "Conifers of California" covers the state's world-renowned cone-bearers, such as coast redwood, giant sequoia, and bristlecone pines, and also features its many other rare and unusual conifers, such as Torrey pine, Santa Lucia fir, and Brewer spruce.

    In transcribing the 150-year-old manuscript’s cryptic handwriting and complex notations, Thoreau specialist Bradley Dean has performed a "heroic feat of decipherment" (Booklist) to bring this great work to light. Readers will discover "passages that reach for the transcendentalist ideal of writing new scriptures, yet grounding this Bible in a vision of practical ecology" (Boston). Beautifully illustrated throughout with line drawings of the natural life Thoreau considers on his walks, Wild Fruits is "well worth any nature lover’s attention" (Christian Science Monitor).

    Judith Lowry's voice and experiences make a rich matrix for essays that include discussions of wildflower gardening, the ecology of native grasses, wildland seed-collecting, principles of natural design, and plant/animal interactions. Though this book is based on California gardens, readers from all parts of the country will be inspired and informed by these examples of gardening to include "the larger garden beyond the fence."Gardening with a Wild Heart promises to be a classic for lovers of nature writing, gardeners, bioregionalists, and students and professionals in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration.

    One of the most remarkable is that two genetically distinct forms of killer whales reside in these waters. The two groups of whales do not associate and each leads a completely different lifestyle. Residents specialize in a diet of salmon and other fish, while transients are hunters of seals, sea lions, porpoises, and even large whales. Enigmatic and elusive, these mammal-hunting whales travel in small groups, often moving unpredictably.Transients contains the latest information on the natural history of transient killer whales, including their feeding habits, social lives, and distribution patterns. It also includes photographs of and notes on over 200 individual whales. Numerous sidebars contain interesting observations on encounters with transients as well as information on how and where to best watch them.

    Glassberg here shows us how to find, identify, and enjoy all of the butterflies native to the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada. This guide: *Combines the immediacy and vividness of actual photographs of living butterflies with the traditional field guide format*Emphasizes conservation over collection*Includes 630 color photographs, arranged on 72 color plates, of butterflies in the wild*Provides adjacent color maps that show where each species occurs in a given locality and for how much of the year*Supplies entirely new field marks for butterfly identification*Demonstrates how to identify subjects by way of the key characteristics butterflies are likely to display in their natural settings*Shows how species can be recognized both from above and below*Explains how to differentiate between males and females.For butterfly enthusiasts, for bird watchers who want to add a new dimension to their hobby, for anyone who is simply interested in exploring the wilds of their own back yard, this new field guide offers hours of delightful help and instruction.

    Now, for the first time, her beautiful work -- arguably the most exquisite collection of Victorian flower paintings in existence -- can be appreciated by all.Fanny's exceptional book combines elegant watercolors with evocative poetry that is finely illuminated in the manner of a medieval Book of Hours. Using the symbolic Language of Flowers, she invests each flower grouping with subtle and often highly romantic meanings -- indeed, it is thought that the volume was intended as a lasting tribute to a lost lover.In her fascinating commentary on the paintings, Gill Saunders, a senior curator in the Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, explains the intriguing floral symbolism and takes the reader on a delightful journey into Fanny Robinson's leisured and cultivated world of flower, pen and brush.

    This volume provides the most comprehensive selection of Audubon's writings ever published, along with a portfolio of his drawings.

    William Karesh, D.V.M., wildlife veterinarian and adventurer extraordinaire. From the jungles of the Amazon, to the golden savannas of Africa, to the rocky and unforgiving shores of Patagonia, Dr. Karesh manages an extraordinary medical practice. A healer of international renown, his patients are often as ferociously-toothed as they are difficult to subdue. As creator and head of the one-of-a-kind International Field Veterinary Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Karesh's days and nights are devoted to the catching of crocodiles, the examining of orangutans, and the tagging of tigers. An adventurer whose commitment to conservation is as fierce as the landscapes and animals he encounters, his exploits put fictional characters to shame.

    It is a land of absolutes, of passion and indifference, lush textures and inscrutable tensions. Here violence can push beauty to the edge of a razor blade. . . . Thus Ellen Meloy describes a corner of desert hard by the San Juan River in southeastern Utah, a place long forsaken as implausible and impassable, of little use or value—a place that she calls home. Despite twenty years of carefully nurtured intimacy with this red-rock landscape, Meloy finds herself, one sunbaked morning, staring down at a dead lizard floating in her coffee and feeling suddenly unmoored. What follows is a quest that is both physical and spiritual, a search for home.

    Ideas about education permeate Thoreau's writing. Uncommon Learning brings those ideas together in a single volume for the first time.

    Riveting, finely crafted essays about family and the natural world, and winner of the 2000 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award.

    Some fifty years later, however, continental drift was heralded as a major scientific breakthrough and today it is accepted as scientific fact. Why did American geologists reject so adamantly an idea that is now considered a cornerstone of the discipline? And why were their European colleagues receptive to it so much earlier? This book, based on extensive archival research on three continents, provides important new answers while giving the first detailed account of the American geological community in the first half of the century. Challenging previous historical work on this episode, Naomi Oreskes shows that continental drift was not rejected for the lack of a causal mechanism, but because it seemed to conflict with the basic standards of practice in American geology. This account provides a compelling look at how scientific ideas are made and unmade.

    They were killed by hunters or disappeared when their oak and beech habitats were destroyed. The last bird, named Martha (only the last of any species seems to merit a human name), died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1905." Here, in photographs and words, are stirring reminders of wild beauty that is no more, as well as profiles of species whose survival is in peril. Rosamond Purcell's seventy spectacular color photographs--taken primarily at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, Holland, which holds the world's most extensive collection of lost species--tell a haunting and foreboding tale.

    He studies antiterrorist driving techniques, dives for golf balls in a pond at a country club, hunts his fellow man with a paint gun, ice fishes for walleye with X-ray-stunned nightcrawlers, and poaches Panamanian crocodiles -- or goes pig shooting in the Australian outback. With self-effacing optimism, White captures the joys and fears of wandering the earth's surface with an eclectic cast of weirdo fellow travelers -- a frog that won't jump, a group of expatriate Brits who've developed an interesting cure for "road jaundice, " and even a mad Australian scientist.Though he rarely finds what he's looking for -- such as the legendary landlocked bull sharks of Nicaragua, or the secret to successful winter fishing on a Minnesota lake -- he develops a Zenlike "passion for the means" and a rare ability to revel in the rib-aching humor of each exotic trip.In the end, White leaves the reader mesmerized by the potential of undiscovered places and the promise of endless adventure in unfamiliar territory, from Florida to Bangkok to Borneo, and everywhere in between. An icon to the new breed of thick-skinned, high-endurance adventure travelers of the 1990s, Randy White uniquely extols the pleasures of being "alone and on the move."

    Illustrating each entry is a full-colour photo of the species in its natural habitat, so that even the novice can identify it confidently - without disturbing it.There are special sections on great Pacific Northwest viewing sites for intertidal life, ways to understand tides and choose the best times to look for beach wildlife, intertidal habitats ranging from sandy beaches to aging wharves to rocky, wave-swept shores, and ecologically friendly observation methods.Packed with expert information but wonderfully accessible to any interested layperson, this book is perfect for a family or a school group, a Saturday beachwalker or a naturalists' club. The species described here include sponges, clams, snails, crabs, sea stars, sea anemones, jellies, fishes, seaweeds and others. This informative guide was written to be both accurate and easy to understand. Details for each plant or animal include; description, habitat, range, additional notes and more.Many intertidal sites found in the Pacific Northwest are also featured in this guide. Additional information found here include tidal actions, intertidal habitats, and environmentally friendly beachcombing.

    He is as passionate about swamps, bogs, and vernal ponds and the creatures who live in them as most of us are about our families and closest friends. He knows frogs and snakes, muskrats and minks, dragonflies, water lilies, cattails, sedges--everything that swims, flies, trudges, slithers, or sinks its roots in wet places. In this "intimate and wise book" (Sue Hubbell), Carroll takes us on a lively, unforgettable yearlong journey, illustrated with his own elegant drawings, through the wetlands and reveals why they are so important to his life and ours -- and to all life on Earth.

    Hard to Find book

    Even the most zealous birders rarely encounter owls, and attempts to identify them are complicated by the number of species that are almost indistinguishable by plumage alone. This comprehensive guide (a thoroughly updated edition of the authors’ previous volume, Owls: A Guide to Owls of the World), penetrates the mysterious world of owls with full color illustrations, detailed species descriptions, useful information on vocalizations, and much more.An important reference book as well as identification guide, Owls of the World encompasses the 250 known species and many subspecies of owl, including twelve new species that have been discovered over the last decade. Michael Wink, et al. contribute a new section on molecular evolution. The book features sixty-eight full-color plates depicting every species and distinct subspecies, color morphs, and juvenile plumages. Current distribution maps are also provided.All the facts on:·        Identification features, including how to distinguish similar species·        Habitat·        Geographical variation·        Food, breeding, and habits·        Species status and conservation efforts·        The latest owl taxonomy, based on DNA analysis and vocalizationsEvery ornithologist, birder, and wildlife enthusiast will want to own this essential guide—the most comprehensive and advanced book ever published on owls.

    It brings together numerous tree-related topics, with chapters concerning their evolution, their sociological, economic and cultural influences on man, the diversity of manifestations within individual species, and the interrelationships between the various species. There is fascinating materials on trees in myth and legend, on the herbal and medicinal uses of trees, on woodland crafts and industries, and on tree planting, conservation and management. Trees and the products of trees touch the lives of everyone. The book sets out to inspire a greater appreciation and understanding of exactly how and why this is so. It is highly readable, full of accurate and scholarly information, and profusely and splendidly illustrated with many hundreds of new photographs and archive illustrations.

    Spectacular photos and excellent species information combine to make this a must-have reference book. Includes notes on edibility.

    But, in 1980, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, Walter, proposed a radical answer: 65 million years ago an asteroid or comet as big as Mt. Everest slammed into the earth, raising a dust cloud vast enough to cause mass extinction. A revolutionary idea that challenged the ice-age extinction theory, the asteroid-impact theory was scorned and derided by the science community. But after years of bitter debate and intense research, an astonishing discovery was made-an immense impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula that was identified as Ground Zero. The Alvarezes had their proof. A dramatic scientific detective story, Night Comes to the Cretaceous is a brilliant example of science at work-in the trenches, complete with passionate struggles and occasional victories.

    thru-hickers who happen to be publishing pros, too.

    It re-creates the legary big-game safaris led by Selous and Bell and the daring ventures of early hunters into unexplored territories, and brings to life such romantic figures as Cape-to-Cairo Grogan, who walked 4,000 miles for the love of a woman, and Dinesen's dashing lover, Denys Finch. Witnesses to the richest wildlife spectacle on the earth, these hunters were the first conservationists. Hard-drinking, infatuated with risk, and careless in love, they inspired Hemingway's stories and movies with Clark Gable and Gregory Peck.

    Blossfeldt's stunning black-and-white photographs of flowers transcend the genre with their deep tones, architectural forms, and timeless beauty.

    But when storms threaten, high-ticket beachfront construction invariably takes precedence over coastal environmental concerns--we rescue the buildings, not the beaches. As Cornelia Dean explains in Against the Tide, this pattern is leading to the rapid destruction of our coast. But her eloquent account also offers sound advice for salvaging the stretches of pristine American shore that remain.The story begins with the tale of the devastating hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, in 1900--the deadliest natural disaster in American history, which killed some six thousand people. Misguided residents constructed a wall to prevent another tragedy, but the barrier ruined the beach and ultimately destroyed the town's booming resort business.From harrowing accounts of natural disasters to lucid ecological explanations of natural coastal processes, from reports of human interference and construction on the shore to clear-eyed elucidation of public policy and conservation interests, this book illustrates in rich detail the conflicting interests, short-term responses, and long-range imperatives that have been the hallmarks of America's love affair with her coast.Intriguing observations about America's beaches, past and present, include discussions of Hurricane Andrew's assault on the Gulf Coast, the 1962 northeaster that ravaged one thousand miles of the Atlantic shore, the beleaguered beaches of New Jersey and North Carolina's rapidly vanishing Outer Banks, and the sand-starved coast of southern California. Dean provides dozens of examples of human attempts to tame the ocean--as well as a wealth of lucid descriptions of the ocean's counterattack. Readers will appreciate Against the Tide's painless course in coastal processes and new perspective on the beach.

    Recognizing the public's need for a complete guide to identifying and understanding Texas' snakes, two of the state's most respected herpetologists have joined forces to create this definitive reference to all 109 species and sub-species of Texas snakes.Well-written species accounts describe each snake's appearance, lookalikes, size, habitat, behavior, feeding, and reproduction. The authors also include color photos and finely detailed line drawings to aid field identification, along with accurate range maps, a checklist of Texas snakes, a key to the species, and a brief discussion of classification and taxonomy. The authors round out this volume with essays on snake myths and misinformation, snakebite and its prevention, conservation, Texas biotic provinces, and a brief history of Texas herpetology.

    Now, this definitive reference manual acts as a style guide for writing and filing species descriptions. New collecting techniques and new technology have led to a dramatic increase in the number of species that are discovered. Explorations of unstudied regions and new habitats for almost any group of organisms can result in a large number of new species discoveries--and hence the need to be described. Yet there is no one source a student or researcher can readily consult to learn the basic practical aspects of taxonomic procedures.Species description can present a variety of difficulties: Problems arise when new species are not given names because their discoverers do not know how to write a formal species description or when these species are poorly described. Biologists may also have to deal with nomenclatural problems created by previous workers or resulting from new information generated by their own research. This practical resource for scientists and students contains instructions and examples showing how to describe newly discovered species in both the animal and plant kingdoms.With special chapters on publishing taxonomic papers and on ecology in species description, as well as sections covering subspecies, genus-level, and higher taxa descriptions, Describing Species enhances any writer's taxonomic projects, reports, checklists, floras, faunal surveys, revisions, monographs, or guides.The volume is based on current versions of the International Codes of Zoological and Botanical Nomenclature and recognizes that systematics is a global and multicultural exercise. Though Describing Species has been written for an English-speaking audience, it is useful anywhere Taxonomy is spoken and will be a valuable tool for professionals and students in zoology, botany, ecology, paleontology, and other fields of biology.

    Multitiered illustrations will delight young readers as well as adults. These highly involving books have from five to seven pop-up spreads and, in most cases, one or two action devices on every page.

    For centuries, killer whales had a fearsome reputation as indiscriminate killers. In recent years we have realized that they are incredibly complex, endearing, and enigmatic creatures and do not deserve their killer name. We do not understand why, but unlike lions, tigers, and polar bears, they seem to be very careful not to harm people. Killer whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. Living in close-knit family groups known as pods, they are unmistakable with their distinctive jet-black and brilliant white markings and the tall, triangular dorsal fins of the males. They are most common in the cooler waters of the polar regions but can be seen almost anywhere. Best known for their supreme hunting abilities, they use their strength and some remarkable cooperative hunting strategies to tackle a wide variety of prey, including squid, fish, sea turtles, seabirds, sea lions, dolphins, and even whales several times larger than themselves. Killer whales are highly vocal animals and make a medley of weird and wonderful calls and whistles to communicate with one another. Killer Whales explores the surprising and awe-inspiring world of these amazing ocean predators, describing their daily lives and habits and examining their prospects for the future.

    The image of a herd grazing on Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service lands is so traditional that many view this use as central to the history and culture of the West. Yet the grazing program costs far more to administer than it generates in revenues, and grazing affects all other uses of public lands, causing potentially irreversible damage to native wildlife and vegetation.The Western Range Revisited proposes a landscape-level strategy for conserving native biological diversity on federal rangelands, a strategy based chiefly on removing livestock from large tracts of arid BLM lands in ten western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.Drawing from range ecology, conservation biology, law, and economics, Debra L. Donahue examines the history of federal grazing policy and the current debate on federal multiple-use, sustained-yield policies and changing priorities for our public lands. Donahue, a lawyer and wildlife biologist, uses existing laws and regulations, historical documents, economic statistics, and current scientific thinking to make a strong case for a land-management strategy that has been, until now, "unthinkable."A groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, The Western Range Revisited demonstrates that conserving biodiversity by eliminating or reducing livestock grazing makes economic sense, is ecologically expedient, and can be achieved under current law.

    Arabians is a lavishly illustrated celebration of the impressive history and splendor of this noble breed. The authoritative text explores the breeds ancient origins, its importance in the Islamic world, and the growing international interest in Arabians that began in the 17th century and continues today. At the heart of the book are more than 250 gorgeous color photographs that take the reader on a stunning visual journey around the world, touching down in the many countries and continents where this versatile breed has earned a loyal following among equestrians. In addition, it features a comprehensive list of Arabian horse organizations, registries, and societies; a glossary of Arabic terms; a thorough bibliography; and a foreword by H. H. Shiekh Zayed bin-Sultan al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates. Arabians is the definitive book on this revered breed.

    This book is a comprehensive introduction to their biology. Suitable as a textbook for undergraduates and written by one of the world's leading researchers, the book offers an accessible summary of the extensive body of research on bats. The book takes a broad physiological perspective and devotes separate chapters to specific physiological systems as well as to bat ecology and phylogeny. It features a thorough discussion of echolocation, which continues to be the subject of intense research, and describes many European and neotropical bats, as well as North American species. Biology of Bats is an important resource both for students and researchers.

    Much more than a field guide, Mammals of North America goes beyond simple identification and description, and delves into the reasons wild mammals live and act the way they do: Why are some predators highly social, while others live alone? Why must shrews no bigger than a thimble eat more than their body weight each day or face certain starvation? How can a bat pick a small insect off the surface of a leaf in total darkness? How did a squat prehistoric pig-like animal evolve into one of the world's fastest creatures, the pronghorn antelope?Blessed with vast areas of wilderness, the United States and Canada support the largest and healthiest populations of native mammals on Earth. Even residents of urban centers are seldom more than a morning's drive from the splendors of wild-mammal life. Whether you enjoy wildlife firsthand or from the comfort of your armchair, Adrian Forsyth's Mammals of North America will prove an essential and fascinating resource.

    Organized by families of birds, it features: -- More than 800 species known to breed in North America, both regular visitors and those that are sighted on occasion-- An easy-to-use checklist based on the latest classifications of the American Ornithologists Union-- Common and scientific names for each bird entry with accompanying artwork painted by top artists-- A laminated, high-quality durable coverBirders delight in accurate, varied, and frequent sightings, and a recording journal from the Society that publishes the ultimate in field guides will be considered second to none.

    After examining the many amazing facets of our construction, Dr. Gitt then proceeds to draw conclusions about the Originator of mankind, our standing before our Creator, and our final destiny.

    Maria Sibylla Merian's New Book of Flowers represents one of the most stunning collections of floral engravings created by a fascinating and fiercely independent woman.

    The text not only covers the vital information for identifying the differences between a rabbit and a hare, a red deer and a roe deer, or a killer whale and a long-finned pilot whale, or how to tell a red fox print from a dog, but also provides all the biological and taxonomic information you need to positively identify mammals. It also gives readers an insight into how the animals live, how crested porcupine adults keep their young warm crushing them between the parents, how many baby seals actually moult while still inside the mother and why the red fox can cause such destruction.