Providing an in-depth introduction to the rapidly evolving field of wildlife forensics, this volume also chronicles aspects of the history of management, conservation, and environmental protection, with an emphasis on their global importance in the twenty-first century. The book examines the crucial role of wildlife forensic investigation with regard to live animals, dead animals, and samples and covers national, regional, and international legislation. The book discusses animal welfare as...

Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials consists of two cross-referenced parts. The first, the book itself, is a review of pathological changes and tissue responses in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla and G. beringei), with an emphasis on free-living animals, but also with reference to those in captivity. The comparative aspects are discussed, stressing the relevance of research to both gorillas and humans. What makes the publication truly unique, however, is the sec...

A Companion to the Classification of Mental Disorders provides essential reading as a background and supplement to both the recently produced DSM-5 and the forthcoming ICD-11. It focuses on the processes of classification and diagnosis, and the uses for these classifications. The book emphasises the dangers of regarding any current psychiatric classification as true or complete, in view of the present partial state of knowledge about the causes and mechanisms of most mental and be...

Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda provides a broad-based overview of the biology of the red panda, Ailurus fulgens. A carnivore that feeds almost entirely on vegetable material and is colored chestnut red, chocolate brown and cream rather than the expected black and white. This book gathers all the information that is available on the red panda both from the field and captivity as well as from cultural aspects, and attempts to answer that most fundamental of questions,...

A new edition of the illustrated compendium that is "a gift to serious dinosaur enthusiasts" ( Science).What do we know about dinosaurs, and how do we know it? How did they grow, move, eat, and reproduce? Were they warm-blooded or cold-blooded? How intelligent were they? How are the various groups of dinosaurs related to each other, and to other kinds of living and extinct vertebrates? What can the study of dinosaurs tell us about the process of evolution?...

Selected by Forbes.com as one of the 12 best books about birds and birding in 2016This much-anticipated third edition of the Handbook of Bird Biology is an essential and comprehensive resource for everyone interested in learning more about birds, from casual bird watchers to formal students of ornithology. Wherever you study birds your enjoyment will be enhanced by a better understanding of the incredible diversity of avian lifestyles. Arising from the ren...

This third edition, now fully revised and updated by two of Dr. Zug's colleagues, provides herpetology students and amateur reptile and amphibian keepers with the latest taxonomy and species developments from around the world. Herpetology is a rapidly evolving field, which has contributed to new discoveries in many conceptual areas of biology. The authors build on this progress by updating all chapters with new literature, graphics, and discussions—many of which have changed our thinking.W...

Australia’s native rodents are the most ecologically diverse family of Australian mammals. There are about 60 living species – all within the subfamily Murinae – representing around 25 per cent of all species of Australian mammals. They range in size from the very small delicate mouse to the highly specialised, arid-adapted hopping mouse, the large tree rat and the carnivorous water rat. Native Mice and Rats describes the evolution and ecology of this much-neglected group of animals. It detai...

The fourth edition of the textbook Herpetology covers the basic biology of amphibians and reptiles, with updates in nearly every conceptual area. Not only does it serve as a solid foundation for modern herpetology courses, but it is also relevant to courses in ecology, behavior, evolution, systematics, and morphology. Examples taken from amphibians and reptiles throughout the world make this book a useful herpetology textbook in several countries. Naturalists, amateur herpetologists, herpe...

How did flying birds evolve from running dinosaurs, terrestrial trotting tetrapods evolve from swimming fish, and whales return to swim in the sea? These are some of the great transformations in the 500-million-year history of vertebrate life. And with the aid of new techniques and approaches across a range of fields—work spanning multiple levels of biological organization from DNA sequences to organs and the physiology and ecology of whole organisms—we are now beginning to unravel the con...

Since it first became known to European scientists and naturalists in 1798, the platypus has been the subject of controversy, interest and absolute wonder. Found only in Australia, the platypus is a mammal that lays eggs but, like other mammals, it has fur and suckles its young on milk. Many early biologists who visited the British colonies in Australia, including Charles Darwin, went out of their way to observe this remarkable animal. In Australia today the species is considered to be an ...

With its iconic appearance and historic popular appeal, the giraffe is the world's tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Recent years have seen much-needed new research undertaken to improve our understanding of this unique animal. Drawing together the latest research into one resource, this is a detailed exploration of current knowledge on the biology, behaviour and conservation needs of the giraffe. Dagg highlights striking new data, covering topics such as species ...