Showing 1–12 of 266 results
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Protecting Pollinators: How to Save the Creatures That Feed Our World
Artist/Author: Helmer, Jodi$51.00 Add to cartWe should thank a pollinator at every meal. These diminutive creatures fertilize a third of the crops we eat. Yet half of the 200,000 species of pollinators are threatened. Birds, bats, insects, and many other pollinators are disappearing, putting our entire food supply in jeopardy.
In North America and Europe, bee populations have already plummeted by more than a third and the population of butterflies has declined 31 percent. Protecting Pollinators explores why the statistics have become so dire and how they can be reversed. Jodi Helmer breaks down the latest science on environmental threats and takes readers inside the most promising conservation initiatives. Efforts include #famers reducing pesticides, cities creating butterfly highways, volunteers ripping up invasive plants, gardeners planting native flowers, and citizen scientists monitoring migration.
Along with inspiring stories of revival and lessons from failed projects, readers will find practical tips to get involved. They will also be reminded of the magic of pollinators – not only the iconic monarch and dainty hummingbird, but the drab hawk moth and homely bats that are just as essential. Without pollinators, the world would be a duller, blander place. Helmer shows how we can make sure they are always fluttering, soaring, and buzzing around us.
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Those Wild Rabbits: How They Shaped Australia
Artist/Author: Munday, Bruce$40.00 Add to cartA century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible – the naive hopes of the early settlers, the frustration, environmental damage, cost to agriculture, dreams shattered, and the lessons learned and ignored.
Those Wild Rabbits highlights not only the damage done but also Australia’s missed opportunities for real rabbit control. It recognises the bush’s paradoxical love affair with an animal that was at one time a significant rural industry and is still recalled with nostalgia. More importantly, it offers hope for a brighter future, making the case for continued research to drive the next rabbit-control miracle, because rabbit plagues of the past will become the future unless we capture the history and embrace the lessons.
Awarded the Keain Medal for the South Australian Historical Book of the Year, 2017
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Among the Pigeons: Why Our Cats Belong Indoors
Artist/Author: Read, John L.$35.00 Add to cartDuring the last century, global domestic cat numbers rocketed past 200 million, along with a surge in cat diseases and numbers of feral cats and sick, injured and malnourished cats. Cat shelters are overflowing. Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanised every year by despondent animal welfare workers. Misplaced sentimentality, sometimes promoted by corporate greed of cat food companies, has exacerbated this situation through promoting irresponsible feeding of strays.
Ecologist and author John Read has travelled the world consulting cat experts and collating the most recent science. In Among the Pigeons he balances the allure of indoor cats with the animal welfare, human health, and conservation issues they create when allowed to roam. But he also presents solutions, from breeding ideal indoor pet cats to development of humane and targeted tools to control feral cats.
In striking parallel to the repercussions of human-induced climate change, warnings about the damage wrought by free-ranging cats have been largely denied or overlooked. But we ignore these issues at our peril. For our own mental health and endangered wildlife worldwide, time is running out.
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Whales and Dolphins of Aotearoa: New Zealand
Artist/Author: Todd, Barbara$50.00 Add to cartRichly illustrated, entertaining and highly educational, Whales ‘Tohora’ brings the fascinating underwater world of cetaceans to life with a special focus on the whales and dolphins of the South Pacific. For centuries whales have captured our imaginations and ignited our emotions. We have revered and mythologised them, hunted them to the brink of extinction and passionately protected them. But how much do we really know about whales? Based on the hugely popular, internationally touring Te Papa exhibition ‘Whales ‘Tohora’, this all-new book brings these majestic marine mammals and their underwater world to life, with a special focus on the whales and dolphins of the South Pacific. From the first richly illustrated, entertaining chapter, readers are immersed in the salty sea – the home of the whales – to explore their amazing diversity, biology and adaption to life in the oceans. Throughout the book, hundreds of breath-taking photographs, historical pictures, astonishing facts and figures and informative illustrations and diagrams bring the whale world to life. Here, too, are stories from people whose lives have been inextricably linked with whales – from legendary South Pacific whale riders to international whale scientists to conservationists to former whalers and their families. A powerful combination of storytelling, science and culture reveals the relationship between whales and humans, now and into the future.
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Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW), Volume 9: Bats
Artist/Author: Don E., Russell A Mittermeier (Editors), Ilian Velikov, Blanca Martí de Ahumada, Alex Mascarell Llosa, Faansie Peacock, Jesús Rodríguez-Osorio Martín, Lluís Sogorb Mallebrera (Illustrators)$300.00 Add to cartVolume 9 completes the Handbook of Mammals of the World series, and it deals with the bats, order Chiroptera.
Our knowledge of bats has exploded in the past two decades, and all of that information is reflected in this volume. The number of recognized species has increased by more than 400 during that time and is still growing. Bats occupy almost every habitat on six continents and their ecology is incredibly diverse. Pollinators and seed dispersers for thousands of species of plants, bats are critical for the maintenance of tropical ecosystems.
As always, the text includes up-to-date information on every species, and each one is carefully illustrated. The family accounts include color photographs documenting a variety of behaviors of these interesting mammals.
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Saving the Tasmanian Devil: Recovery through Science-based Management
Artist/Author: Hogg, Carolyn, Samantha Fox, David Pemberton, Katherine Belov$120.00 Add to cartThe Tasmanian devil is threatened by Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a transmissible form of cancer that has reduced the population by over 80%. Hunting, extreme climate events, vehicle collision and habitat destruction also put pressure on this endangered species. The recovery effort to save the Tasmanian devil commenced over 15 years ago as a collaborative initiative between the Tasmanian government, the Australian government, the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, and many research institutions.
Saving the Tasmanian Devil documents the journey taken by partner organisations in discovering what DFTD is, the effect it has on wild devil populations, and the outcomes achieved through research and management actions. Chapters describe all aspects of devil conservation, including the captive devil populations, applied pathology, immunology and genetic research findings, adaptive management, and the importance of advocacy and partnerships. Saving the Tasmanian Devil will provide management practitioners and conservation scientists with insight into the complexities of undertaking a program of this scale, and will also be of value to researchers, students and others interested in conservation.
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Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer
Artist/Author: Marra, Peter P. (Author), Chris Santella (Author)$55.00 Add to cartIn 1894, a lighthouse keeper named David Lyall arrived on Stephens Island off New Zealand with a cat named Tibbles. In just over a year, the Stephens Island Wren, a rare bird endemic to the island, was rendered extinct. Mounting scientific evidence confirms what many conservationists have suspected for some time – that in the United States alone, free-ranging cats are killing birds and other animals by the billions. Equally alarming are the little-known but potentially devastating public health consequences of rabies and parasitic Toxoplasma passing from cats to humans at rising rates. Cat Wars tells the story of the threats free-ranging cats pose to biodiversity and public health throughout the world, and sheds new light on the controversies surrounding the management of the explosion of these cat populations.
This compelling book traces the historical and cultural ties between humans and cats from early domestication to the current boom in pet ownership, along the way accessibly explaining the science of extinction, population modeling, and feline diseases. It charts the developments that have led to our present impasse – from Stan Temple’s breakthrough studies on cat predation in Wisconsin to cat-eradication programs underway in Australia today. It describes how a small but vocal minority of cat advocates has campaigned successfully for no action in much the same way that special interest groups have stymied attempts to curtail smoking and climate change.
Cat Wars paints a revealing picture of a complex global problem – and proposes solutions that foresee a time when wildlife and humans are no longer vulnerable to the impacts of free-ranging cats.
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Cats in Australia: Companion and Killer
Artist/Author: Woinarski, John, Sarah Legge, Chris Dickman$60.00 Add to cartA discussion of the impact of cats, their relationship with people, and their management.
Across the world, cats are loved as pets or are kept or tolerated for their role in controlling some animal pests. But cats, both pets and feral, also kill many native animals and this toll can be enormous. Cats have been remarkably successful in Australia, spreading pervasively across the continent and many islands, occurring in all environments, and proving to be adept and adaptable hunters. A large proportion of Australia’s distinctive fauna is threatened and recent research highlights the significant role that cats play in the decline and extinction of native species.Cats in Australia brings this research together, documenting the extent to which cats have subverted, and are continuing to subvert, Australia’s biodiversity. But the book does much more than spotlight the impacts of cats on Australian nature. It describes the origins of cats and their global spread, their long-standing and varying relationship with people, their global impacts and their ecology. It also seeks to describe the challenge of managing cats, and the options available to constrain their impacts.
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Walker’s Mammals of the World: Monotremes, Marsupials, Afrotherians, Xenarthrans, and Sundatherians
Artist/Author: Nowak, Ronald M$216.00 Add to cartSince its first publication in 1964, Walker’s Mammals of the World has become a favourite guide to the natural world for general readers and professionals alike. Since publication of the 2-volume set, several spin-off titles have been published focusing on specific groups. This new Walker’s volume is another such title, and is a completely revised and updated compendium of information on five of the earliest clades to diverge from ancient mammal stock. Uniquely comprehensive in inimitable Walker’s style, it incorporates a full account of every genus that lived in the past 5,000 years. Every named species of each genus is listed in systematic order and accompanied by detailed descriptions of past and present range.
This book includes
– 500+ full-colour images throughout – a first for any Walker’s volume
– citations to more than 2,200 new references
– extensive bioconservation data, with discussion of every species in an IUCN Red List threatened categoryThe book’s thorough updates reflect 20 years of advances in our knowledge of taxonomy, ecology, behaviour, life history, and conservation. Substantive changes to 100% of previously existing generic accounts, plus the addition of 17 entirely new generic accounts, double the information in the last edition on the 19 orders covered. The black-and-white illustrations of earlier editions have been replaced by over 500 new colour images, including superb photos of live individuals and scientifically prepared paintings of extinct genera.
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Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals
Artist/Author: Vogelnest, Larry, Timothy Portas (Editors)$220.00 Add to cartCurrent Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals provides an update on Australian mammal medicine. Although much of the companion volume, Medicine of Australian Mammals, is still relevant and current, there have been significant advances in Australian mammal medicine and surgery since its publication in 2008. The two texts together remain the most comprehensive source of information available in this field.
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Canids of the World: Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, and Their Relatives
Artist/Author: Castello, Jose R$70.00 Add to cartThis stunningly illustrated and easy-to-use field guide covers every species of the world’s canids, from the Gray Wolf of North America to the dholes of Asia, from African jackals to the South American Bush Dog. It features more than 150 superb color plates depicting every kind of canid, and detailed facing-page species accounts that describe key identification features, morphology, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, and conservation status in the wild. The book also includes distribution maps and tips on where to observe each species, making Canids of the World the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to these intriguing and spectacular mammals. Covers every species and subspecies of canid and features more than 150 color plates with more than 600 photos from around the globe. Depicts species in similar poses for quick and easy comparisons. Describes key identification features, habitat, behavior, reproduction, and much more. Draws on the latest taxonomic research. Includes distribution maps and tips on where to observe each species.The ideal field companion and a delight for armchair naturalists -
Horses of the World
Artist/Author: Rousseau, Élise (Author), Yann Le Bris (Illustrator), Teresa Lavender Fagan (Translated by)$105.00 Add to cartHorses of the World is a comprehensive, large-format overview of 570 breeds of domestic and extant wild horses, including hybrids between the two and between domestic breeds and other equids, such as zebras. This beautifully illustrated and detailed guide covers the origins of modern horses, anatomy and physiology, variation in breeds, and modern equestrian practices. The treatment of breeds is organized by country within broader geographical regions – from Eurasia through Australasia and to the Americas. Each account provides measurements (weight and height), distribution, origins and history, character and attributes, uses, and current status. Every breed is accompanied by superb color drawings – 600 in total – and color photographs can be found throughout the book.
