marsupials

After a glimpse of kangaroos at Switzerland’s Basel Zoo at the age of three, Doris Herrmann’s life trajectory became clear. Despite overwhelming physical disabilities – Herrmann was born deaf and later lost her sight – she dedicated her life to the study of Australia’s signature marsupials. As a teenager, Herrmann so impressed the zookeepers with her self-directed studies, they granted her greater and greater access, resulting in an array of scientific articles and a reputation as a precocious kangaroo-whisperer. As her fame grew, Australia’s great kangaroo expert Karl H. Winkelstrater took note and invited her to Pebbly Beach to study in the field. Thereafter, Herrmann undertook four decades of travel and research. Sure to be an uplifting read, this book conveys Doris Herrmann’s unique story as a testament to human desire, determination, and, ultimately, joy.

Reaktion Animal Series. Written in a lively and approachable style, Kangaroo relates the story of this creature in Australian and global history, with a particular focus on how the image of the kangaroo has been used and abused. As well as describing the physiology and lifecycle of this unique animal, Simons outlines the kangaroo in indigenous Australian culture. He looks at the fate of the kangaroo on first contact with Europeans, and considers the wider kangaroo diaspora, including zoo animals and wild populations across Japan and the USA. The book also explores the connections between visual representation, cultural meaning, and the current controversy in Australia surrounding kangaroo hunting and eating. Simons demonstrates how the diversity of the kangaroo has frequently been reduced to a single stereotype, and how such misrepresentations now threaten the future of the species. This book will engage all kangaroo lovers, as well as those concerned with animal welfare and conservation, particularly in Australia.

The management of kangaroos is one of the most controversial issues in Australian wildlife management today – kangaroos are ‘in plague proportions’ or ‘on the verge of extinction’ depending on whom you spoke to last. This book examines the ecology and management of kangaroos and shows how they interact with their own environment and with that shaped by sheep grazing and the wool industry. It presents the results of intensive and detailed studies of feeding behaviour, movement and habitat utilisation, body condition and population dynamics, weather and plant growth. These are then synthesised to produce a clear picture of how kangaroos cope so successfully with the climatic extremes of the arid zone, how they and the sheep jointly affect each other’s fortunes, and what the options are for the future management of kangaroos both within the national parks and on the sheep rangelands.

A reprint of David Fleay’s classic work.

Covers the fifty living macropod species that inhabit the Australian mainland and adjacent islands. This concise guide provides excellent tips for identification in the field, based on appearance, size, behaviour and distribution. The conservation status for each species is also listed.

This marsupial volume is Winner of the 2016 Whitley Medal, awarded to outstanding publications in Australasian Zoology.
This is a companion work to the Handbook of birds of the world [HBW]. This series illustrates and describes all the mammal species of the world and is to be completed in nine volumes.
Contents of the series
Volume one: Carnivores
Volume two: Hoofed mammals
Volume three: Primates
Volume four: Sea mammals
Volume five: Marsupials
Volume six: Lagomorphs and Rodents I
Volume seven: Rodents II
Volume eight: Insectivores
Volume nine: Bats