Examines more than eighty avian families, including an overview of plumage, behavior, distribution, taxonomy, and conservation, and describes all 962 species, covering identification, similar species, voice, status, and distribution.

Beautifully illustrated and authoritative, the most up-to-date and comprehensive photographic guide to Madagascar's mammals.

A biologist takes us into the still mysterious world of koalas, from their marsupial ancestors to current threats to their existence. Koalas are one of the most beloved animals, but despite their celebrity, we are just learning much about their nature and history. Blending evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology, biologist Danielle Clode tells us the story of these amazing marsupials. She looks at fossils of ancestral giant koalas three times modern koalas' size and explains why they are the lone survivor of a once diverse family tree. Clode investigates their nature-often affectionate but can also be belligerent-and their physiology-from their pouches to their gut bacteria, which can only digest leaves of the species of gum tree they were raised on.

Insects are a fascinatingly diverse and beautiful group of animals. They are found on all continents, in caves, underground, inside other insects, in rivers, lakes, puddles, and in our houses. To date, over a million insect species have been named. In this Very Short Introduction, Simon Leather explores insects' evolution, behaviour, and development, highlighting their pivotal role in supporting ecosystems across the planet.

When many people think of bees, they are likely to picture the western domesticated honey bee, insects that live in large, socially complex societies inside a hive with a single queen and thousands of workers. But this familiar bee is just one of more than 20,000 species of bees--and almost none of the others is anything like it. In Bees of the World, Laurence Packer, one of the world's foremost experts on wild bees, celebrates the amazing diversity of bees--from size and appearance to nests and social organization. Providing clear, accurate accounts of the seven bee families, Bees of the World presents all the key information on generic characteristics, habits, and habitat, illustrated with incredible and often rare photographs that show bees in their natural habitats--foraging, nesting, raising their young, and more. The book reveals the secrets of these extraordinary insects as well as their importance in the global ecosystem and the ways humans can help protect them.

For hundreds of years, farmers and fishing communities maintained the inlet to Ellisville Marsh, a picturesque piece of coastline ten miles south of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Recognized as one of the most environmentally sensitive and ecologically valuable places in the state, the salt marsh and estuary are home to a diverse array of wildlife and a range of habitats, including low tide mudflats, a saltwater pond, intertidal zone, and fields of tall marsh grass. After agricultural and fishing activities faded away in the late twentieth century, it soon became apparent that protecting the marsh and its surroundings from development would not be enough to restore the natural equilibrium that had been lost when the inlet became blocked. Having witnessed government inaction over the years, Eric P. Cody and four other locals founded the Friends of Ellisville Marsh in 2007 to address erosion, revive tidal flows, and revitalize fisheries and wildlife in the face of climate change. Rescuing Ellisville Marsh presents the powerful case study of backyard activism, telling the story of a community that bonded with a natural place and decided to fight for it.

A substantially revised and expanded new edition of the bestselling standard field guide for southern Africa, now with a dedicated app providing access to vocalizations. Now in its fifth edition, Birds of Southern Africa has been brought fully up to date by its expert authors and greatly enhanced with a wide range of new information and features. Providing comprehensive coverage of the bird life of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and southern Mozambique, this comprehensive book is sure to maintain its place as one of Africa's most trusted field guides.

A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes is a comprehensive, current, and accurate identification guide to the more than 1,000 nearshore and offshore fishes that live in brackish and marine waters from Maine to Texas.
Val Kells and Kent Carpenter bring decades of experience to this project. With Kells' detailed, vivid illustrations and Carpenter's deep knowledge of biology, taxonomy, and nomenclature, this book captures the stunning diversity of species along America's eastern shores.

The Bird is a splendid celebration of ornithological illustration, featuring remarkable images of all kinds of birds, from the smallest wrens to colourful exotics. The Bird explores the fascinating world of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ornithological illustration. This was a period of scientific, artistic and geographic discovery, when people began to fully appreciate the immense variety of form and colour within the natural world.

Mammalian Species is published, on line, regularly by the American Society of Mammalogists with 20-30 new accounts issued each year. Each account summarizes the current understanding of the biology of a single species, including systematics, distribution, fossil history, genetics, anatomy, physiology, behavior, ecology, and conservation.