Showing 1–12 of 140 results
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A Naturalist’s Guide to the Snakes of Australia
Artist/Author: Eipper, Scott, Tyese Eipper$26.00 Add to cartThis easy-to-use identification guide to the 280 species of snake most commonly seen in Australia is perfect for resident and visitor alike. High quality photographs from Australia’s top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits and habitat. The user-friendly introduction covers the geography and climate of Australia, types of habitat, and details of orders and families. Also included is an all-important checklist of all of the snakes of Australia encompassing, for each species, its common and scientific name, and its global IUCN status as at 2018.
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A Tribute to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia and New Zealand
Artist/Author: The Australian Herpetological Society, Chris Williams (Editor), Chelsea Maier (Editor)$50.00 Add to cartA Tribute to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia and New Zealand showcases 125 of the best photography ever assembled of the countries’ most spectacular reptiles and frogs, from the Tuatara to the Cape York Graceful Tree Frog, and from the Amethystine Python to the Starred Gecko. Twenty-five of the best photographers specialising in herpetology each submitted five of their most awe-inspiring images, culminating in a unique and captivating publication.
The contributor accounts read like an adventurer’s diary, with tales of hardship, sacrifice, skill and plain old good luck that were needed in order to find and photograph these amazing beasts. Structured like a field guide, this beautiful book includes details of each species’ natural history and distribution. For each image, photographic technical specifications are highlighted, while the story behind the image takes you alongside the photographer for each shot.
Publication is timed to coincide with the World Congress of Herpetology taking place in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 5-10 January 2020.
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World of Reptiles: A Stunning Photographic Celebration of the Planet’s Crocodiles, Lizards, Snakes, Tuataras and Turtles
Artist/Author: Reed New Holland$26.00 Add to cartWorld of Reptiles is a visual celebration of the diversity of the planet’s scaly inhabitants. It is a unique book in that it distils the 10,800 species of reptiles into 240 full-page images, with these photographs depicting representatives from 68 of the Earth’s 86 families.
It covers everything from the very common to the extremely rare, from the huge Saltwater Crocodile to the miniscule Pygmy Chameleon, and from the venomous King Cobra
to the highly endangered Tuatara. The completeness of the collection, and the fact that it contains many rare species, lends it strong appeal to keen reptile enthusiasts, while the remarkable nature of the images will be appreciated by anyone who has an interest in the subject – from beginner to expert – by showcasing the incredible diversity of the world’s reptiles.
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American Snakes
Artist/Author: Graham, Sean P (Author), Rick Shine(Foreword By)$78.00 Add to cart125 million years ago on the floodplains of North America, a burrowing lizard started down the long evolutionary path of shedding its limbs. The 60-plus species of snakes found in Sean P. Graham’s American Snakes have this ancestral journey to thank for their ubiquity, diversity, and beauty. Although many people fear them, snakes are as much a part of America’s rich natural heritage as redwoods, bald eagles, and grizzly bears. Found from the vast Okefenokee Swamp to high alpine meadows, from hardwood canopies to the burning bottom of the Grand Canyon, these ultimate vertebrates are ecologically pivotal predators and quintessential survivors.
In this revelatory and engaging meditation on American snakes, Graham, a respected herpetologist and gifted writer,
– explains the everyday lives of American snakes, from their daily routines and seasonal cycles to their love lives, hunting tactics, and defensive repertoires
– debunks harmful myths about snakes and explores their relationship with humans
– highlights the contribution of snakes to the American wilderness
– tells tales of “snake people” – important snake biologists with inspiring careersNeither a typical field guide nor an exhaustive reference, American Snakes is instead a fascinating study of the suborder Serpentes. Brimming with intriguing and unusual stories – of hognose snakes that roll over and play dead, blindsnakes with tiny vestigial lungs, rainbow-hued dipsadines, and wave-surfing sea-snakes – the text is interspersed with scores of gorgeous full-colour images of snakes, from the scary to the sublime. This proud celebration of a diverse American wildlife group will make every reader, no matter how sceptical, into a genuine snake lover.
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The Rise of Reptiles 320 Million Years of Evolution
Artist/Author: Sues, Hans-Dieter$178.00 Add to cartOver 300 million years ago, an early land vertebrate developed an egg that contained the embryo in an amnion, allowing it to be deposited on land. This moment marked the first step in the fascinating and complex evolutionary journey of the reptiles. In The Rise of Reptiles, paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues explores the diversity of reptilian lineages, discussing the relationships among turtles, crocodylians, lizards and snakes, and many extinct groups.
Reflecting the tremendous advances in the study of reptilian diversity and phylogeny over recent decades, The Rise of Reptiles is the first detailed, contemporary synthesis of the evolutionary history of these remarkable animals. Reptiles have always confused taxonomists, who have endlessly debated and rewritten their classifications. In this book, Sues adopts an explicitly phylogenetic framework to sift through the evidence and discuss the origin and diversification of Reptilia in a way no one has before. He also examines the genealogical link between dinosaurs and birds and sheds new light on the Age of Reptiles, a period that saw the rise and fall of most dinosaurs.
With this single meticulously researched volume, Sues paints a complete portrait of the reptilian evolution. Numerous photographs of key specimens from around the world introduce readers to the reptilian fossil record, and color images of present-day reptiles illustrate their diversity. The extensive bibliography provides an invaluable guide for readers who are interested in exploring individual topics more deeply. Accurate, synthetic, and sweeping, The Rise of Reptiles is the definitive work on the subject.
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Amphibians of Costa Rica: A Field Guide
Artist/Author: Leenders, Twan$88.00 Add to cartAmphibians of Costa Rica is the first in-depth field guide to all 206 species of amphibians known to occur in Costa Rica or within walking distance of its borders. A diminutive nation with abundant natural wealth, the country is host to 146 species of frogs and toads. Frogs of gemlike beauty and dizzying variety abound: some species can fit on the end of a human finger; others would take two hands to hold. In the rainforests, you can find frogs capable of gliding from high in the treetops to the forest floor, some that carry their eggs or their tadpoles around on their back, and others that secrete glue-like substances from their skin that are capable of sticking shut the mouth of attacking snakes.
Costa Rica is also home to fifty-three species of lungless salamanders, whose unique adaptations and abilities have allowed them to colonize habitats inaccessible to other amphibians. In addition to the spectacularly diverse salamanders, frogs, and toads found in the country, Amphibians of Costa Rica includes the caecilians – bizarre and highly specialized creatures that somewhat resemble giant worms.
Author, photographer, and conservation biologist Twan Leenders has been studying the herpetofauna of Central America for more than twenty years. Leenders and his team of researchers have immersed themselves in the rainforests, dry forests, and swamps of Costa Rica – toting portable photo studios – to put together the richest collection of photographs of Costa Rican herpetofauna known to exist. In addition to hundreds of photographs, range maps, morphological illustrations, and precise descriptions of key field characteristics, Amphibians of Costa Rica offers a wealth of natural history information, describing prey and predators, breeding strategies, habitat, and conservation status.
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Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Field Guide
Artist/Author: Leenders, Twan$90.00 Add to cartReptiles of Costa Rica, the long-awaited companion to Amphibians of Costa Rica is the first-ever comprehensive field guide to the crocodilians, turtles, lizards, and snakes of Costa Rica. A popular destination for tourists and biologists because of its biodiversity, the country is particularly rich in reptile fauna, boasting 245 species. The sheer diversity in shapes, sizes, colours, and natural history traits of these animals is beautifully displayed in Reptiles of Costa Rica. Lizards range from minuscule dwarf geckos to dinosaur-like iguanids, and everything in between, while the country’s snakes include tiny eyeless wormsnakes, massive boas, as well as twenty-three dangerously venomous species, which include the largest vipers in the world.
Author, photographer, and conservation biologist Twan Leenders has been researching and documenting the herpetofauna of Costa Rica for nearly twenty-five years. His explorations have taken him to remote parts of Costa Rica that few people ever visit, journeys that usually find him hauling an array of photographic equipment to document his finds. In addition to including more than 1,000 photographs, detailed black and white scientific illustrations, and range maps, Reptiles of Costa Rica also features paintings of anole dewlaps, a key identification feature for that very complex group of lizards. This new field guide will enable the reader to identify all species, while also providing a wealth of information about natural history, predation, breeding strategies, habitat preferences, and conservation of Costa Rica’s reptile fauna.
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The Book of Snakes: A Lifesize Guide to Six Hundred Species from Around the World
Artist/Author: O'Shea, Mark$60.00 Add to cartThere are over 3,600 species of snake found on every continent except for Antarctica, ranging in size from Barbados’ tiny threadsnake to Southeast Asia’s massive reticulated python. More than any other creature snakes are surrounded by dark, compelling myths and legend, unsurprising since many constrict their prey to death, or kill with a venomous bite, using a diverse armory of venoms that affect the blood, tissues, organs, and respiration. However, it is especially true of snakes that the closer you observe them, the more exquisite they are in their intricate geometry of pattern, the fine texture of the overlapping scales, and the intricacies of their multifarious lifestyles. The Book of Snakes profiles 600 significant species from all 32 families-one in six of all known species-to create a beautiful collector’s piece that is both a significant resource for enthusiasts and scholars, and the most visually stimulating guide on the market.
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Islands and Snakes: Isolation and Adaptive Evolution
Artist/Author: Lillywhite, Harvey B, Marcio Martins (Editors)$185.00 Add to cartIslands and Snakes contains 13 chapters describing ecological systems with foci on snakes and their ecological roles on islands around the world. Each chapter is written by one or more authors who is an authority on that particular system. Summaries of research on the various islands are written in a narrative manner that includes science as well as personal insights in easily understood language. These varied vignettes of science feature islands around the world, and in all cases, fantastic species of snakes and their roles in the community of insular organisms in which they occur. Both challenges and opportunities associated with island life are discussed, as well as the unique attributes of snakes and their conservation as unique and important parts of nature. Chapters include colorful photographs and illustrations, and collectively they convey information on topics that include ecology, behavior, biogeography, physiology, adaptation, and evolutionary biology. An introductory chapter presents a review and perspective on the historical importance of island ecology and how snakes have contributed to our understanding of evolution and adaptation. The other chapters focus on snakes inhabiting islands associated with Asia, Australia, South America, North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The final chapter features the unique “table top islands” or tepuis of South America as examples of ecological islands where elements of biota have become isolated by geographic features of landscape similarly to oceanic islands.
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Twilight of the Angonoka: Biology and Conservation of the World’s Rarest Tortoise
Artist/Author: Pedrono, Miguel, Alison Clausen$83.00 Add to cartThe fascinating wildlife of Madagascar is the result of millions of years of isolation of that continental island from the rest of the world. It has a unique and rich flora and fauna, the latter including the extraordinary tortoise species locally called the Angonoka. This is the most striking and best-studied of the Madagascan tortoises but, unfortunately, also has the dubious distinction of being the world’s rarest and most endangered tortoise, with fewer than 220 individuals living exclusively in isolated pockets of shrub-bamboo thicket in the north-western corner of the island. This timely book provides a complete summary of the biology and conservation of the Angonoka by two knowledgeable experts in biodiversity conservation and the biology of this species. While this meticulously researched book will fulfil scientists’ needs for accuracy and detail, Miguel Pedrono and Alison Clausen have maintained a personal touch that provides even the lay-reader with a realistic understanding of the ecology and conservation exigencies of this species. Through their sense of genuine conservation engagement, they systematically present the politics and realities of Angonokaconservation, and use this to showcase the challenges faced with all endangered species that lead to their imminent demise.
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King Cobra: Natural History and Captive Management
Artist/Author: Charlton, Tom$59.00 Add to cartThe king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world, is widely distributed across much of tropical and subtropical Asia. Its generic name Ophiophagus (‘snake-eater’) is indicative of its cannibalistic tendencies; its diet is comprised almost exclusively of snakes, including its own kind. The enormous lengths that the king cobra can reach, combined with an intimidating threat display and possession of highly neurotoxic venom, have led to it being greatly feared by many. It is widely considered as one of the most formidable snakes in the world.
However, whilst undoubtedly dangerous when provoked, the king cobra is undeserving of its fearsome reputation. Research has shown it to be an extremely shy and elusive reptile exhibiting fascinating behavioural traits, some of which are totally unique within the world of snakes. Even after more than 180 years since the king cobra was first described in 1836, many of its secrets are yet to be revealed. Importantly, monitoring of wild populations has shown signs of rapid decline in numbers in many areas, and so continued conservation efforts are required to secure the reign of the king cobra across its distribution.
King Cobra, profusely illustrated with excellent photographs from a number of very talented photographers, details the natural history of the king cobra, looking closely at all aspects of its life including distribution, diet, reproduction and venom, as well as its relationship with humans and conservation. The author also provides notes on the captive management of the king cobra, drawing on his experience of maintaining and breeding this species for a number of years.
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Dragon Lizards of Australia: Evolution, Ecology and a Comprehensive Field Guide
Artist/Author: Melville, Jane, Steve Wilson$50.00 Add to cartThe only title available on Australian Dragon Lizards including the most recent understanding of their origins and life history.
Australia’s mostly hot dry continent is home to nearly 800 described species and the seven Australian families represent four evolutionary lineages; three families of geckoes and flap-footed (legless) lizards; skinks; goannas and dragons. Australia is a land of lizards, with an amazing diversity of species that rivals any other country on earth.
The authors aim to convey their admiration for these amazing animals and share the knowledge and experience gained from working with them. Provided are the most recent understanding of their origins, life history, habitat and distribution. Also included is an individual account of all of Australia’s dragon species, featuring the most up to date taxonomic classification. Each is described, illustrated and mapped.
