Name: Wolverine Tracks
Brand: Dag O. Hessen
Price: 28.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Following the Last Wild Wolves

$17.95

For twenty years, Ian McAllister has explored the rugged north coast of British Columbia, known as the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the last places on the planet where wolves live in an undisturbed way. This book describes McAllister's experiences over that period following two packs of wolves, one that dominates the extreme outer coastal islands, and another that lives farther inland in the heart of the temperate rainforest.

McAllister, along with Chris Darimont and Paul C. Paquet, were the first to document the unique behavior of these animals in The Last Wild Wolves. In Following the Last Wild Wolves McAllister brings readers up to date describing what has happened to the wolves and their environment since the book first appeared. He chronicles their unique behavior as they fish for salmon in the fall, target seals hauled out on rocks in winter, and give birth to their young in spring. He also describes the work of scientists with the Raincoast Conservation Society who have been studying the wolves and explains how their science corroborates his own observations and the traditional knowledge of the area’s Native people. Most interestingly, the results of these studies reveal a genetically distinct

Cover image for Following the Last Wild Wolves, isbn: 9781553659884

Deer Man

$17.95

For readers of Fox & I comes “a fable very much for our time.”—The TIMES

“Unusual and fascinating... Read this book and enter into another world."— Jane Goodall

In this sensuous and moving memoir, a young man forms a powerful connection with deer while living alone in the woods for seven years.

Geoffroy Delorme does not fit in the human world. As a boy, he dreams of transforming into a fox so he can escape into the forest. As he gets older, he disappears into the woods at night, drawn to the rhythms of animal life. One night, an encounter with a deer changes his life: from then on, he knows he wants to live among them.

Delorme becomes a creature of the forest. He learns to live without a tent or sleeping bag and forage for whatever food he can find. He blends in with the deer and, slowly, they accept him into their world. He witnesses their births and deaths, courtship and battles, ostracism and friendship over the cycles of their lives. Among the deer, he experiences the beauty, pain, fear, and joy of a life lived as a part of nature, not separate from it.

In his final year in the forest, Delorme meets a woman walking through the trees. He knows he can stay in the forest and die with his friends—or he can leave, and speak their truth to a human world that desperately needs to hear it.

Deer Man is a moving story of what it’s like to be an outsider and how forming connections with the natural world can help us feel less alone. A unique and powerful window into how far one human is willing to go to understand an animal, Deer Man asks us to never take for granted the flora and fauna of our world, and to work for their protection in whatever ways we can.

Cover image for Deer Man, isbn: 9781771649803

The Last Wild Wolves

$29.99

For seventeen years, Ian McAllister has lived on the rugged north coast of British Columbia, one of the last places on the planet where wolves live relatively undisturbed by humans. The Last Wild Wolves describes his experiences over that period following two packs of wolves, one in the extreme outer coastal islands and another farther inland in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest.

The behavior of these animals -- which depend on the vast old-growth forest and its gifts -- is documented in words and pictures as they fish for salmon in the fall, target seals hauled out on rocks in winter, and give birth to their young in the base of thousand-year-old cedar trees in spring. Most interestingly, scientific studies reveal a genetically distinct population of wolves -- one that is increasingly threatened by human incursions.

Cover image for The Last Wild Wolves, isbn: 9781553659235

Wolverine Tracks

$28.95

In this “book of great power and tenderness” (Charles Foster), a quest for an elusive animal reveals the comfort of nature in a changing, uncertain world.

“Deeply philosophical, addressing the questions that we are all pondering about our place in this world and the degree to which we are part of nature. A book for your bedside table.”—Catherine Raven, author of the New York Times bestseller Fox & I

Fifty years after Dag O. Hessen encounters wolverine tracks on a ski trip with his father and follows them until they disappear down a steep passage, he’s back to search for the animal that escaped him. His father is long gone but the mountains are still there—and somewhere out there is a wolverine, an elusive creature of myth and mystery. In Hessen’s imagination, the wolverine is wilderness in animal form, representing everything lost to us in a nature that is being steadily reduced to a tame vestige of its former self. Wolverines have a reputation as vicious gluttons: they’ve been known to kill a reindeer, bite its head off, and then hang it high up in a tree like a trophy. Yet wolverines can also be shy and playful, skidding down slopes and scaling mountain peaks for no apparent reason—perhaps, like humans, just to enjoy the view.

Over the course of a year, Hessen returns to the mountains in every season, but, since the passing of his father and sister, it’s no longer just a wolverine that he seeks. As Hessen walks and skis over peaks and valleys on the wolverine’s trail, spending his nights in silence with only the starry skies for company, he shares his biologist’s deep knowledge of flora and fauna through the changing seasons and in a changing climate. He also draws on literary explorations of humans and nature, wildness versus civilization, and, of course, wolverines, referencing writers including Thoreau, E. O. Wilson, Jon Krakauer, and Kerstin Ekman.

Wolverine Tracks is a story about time passing, about change and loss in nature and in Hessen’s own life. It’s also a book about what it means to be human in our tumultuous world, and the joy and power of being in nature.

Cover image for Wolverine Tracks, isbn: 9781778401909

Thinking Like a Wolf

$27.95

Book Five in the Award-Winning “Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone” series

“Rick’s writing is so vivid, so powerful, that I feel I have been right there with him among the wolves of Yellowstone.”—Jane Goodall

Following eight major wolf personalities, Thinking Like a Wolf draws on decades of field notes to uncover the challenges and triumphs of Yellowstone’s wolf packs, from the “chief historian of the most famous wolf population in the world” (Washington Post).

In his latest book, award-winning author and renowned wolf researcher, Rick McIntyre, explores the intricate world of wolf behavior in Yellowstone National Park and highlights the individual character traits that allow wolf packs to thrive.

Unveiling power struggles, pack politics, the roles of family protection, inter-pack conflicts, and more, Rick skillfully follows the intricacy of packs and the unique attributes each wolf has. In these true stories, he celebrates the many lessons we can learn from wolf packs and the dynamic personalities that enable them to expand across new territories amidst adversity.

Weaving an impressive web of politics and power, family cooperation and commitment, rivalry and resilience, Thinking Like a Wolf provides readers with a unique window into the fascinating inner workings of wolf packs.

Cover image for Thinking Like a Wolf, isbn: 9781778401268

A Place Between the Tides

$14.99

For every nature writer there seems to be one special place that tutors him or her in the ways of nature and the relationships of humans to the natural world, including the spiritual dimension. For Thoreau, it was a pond; for Henry Beaton, a barrier beach; for Annie Dillard, a creek. For Harry Thurston, it is the salt marsh, that part of the planet where land meets sea.

Based upon childhood memory and his naturalist’s journals, "A Place Between the Tides" is the story of Thurston’s return to the beloved environment of his boyhood when he moves to the Old Marsh, a 1.5-hectare marsh on the banks of the Tidnish River in Nova Scotia. Elegantly moving back and forth in time, from the present year through the past decade and all the way back to childhood, the book describes the seasons in the life of the marsh as filtered through two decades of Thurston’s living there. Blending acute analysis and a poet’s lyricism, Thurston explores and examines one of the most productive and biologically diverse habitats on Earth, a habitat that has been degraded relentlessly since European settlement, making the few standing marshes precious because they are so vulnerable and vital.

Cover image for A Place Between the Tides, isbn: 9781926685069

The Alpha Female Wolf

$18.95

Book Four in the Award-Winning Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series

Following five generations of female wolves—including the famous 06—this gripping family saga set in Yellowstone National Park reveals the pivotal role that female wolves play in pack life.

“Rick’s writing is so vivid, so powerful, that I feel I have been right there with him among the wolves of Yellowstone. And I urge you, the reader, to come with us and discover the magic of wolf society.”—DR. JANE GOODALL, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

Yellowstone’s 06 female was called ‘the most famous wolf in the world.’ Her strength, beauty, and intelligence were unmatched, and her ability to hunt, protect her young cubs, and choose the right mates made her pack successful. In his latest book, award-winning author and renowned wolf researcher Rick McIntyre turns his spotting scope on 06 and more remarkable female wolves, telling the dramatic true story of five generations of female leaders in Yellowstone National Park.

As Rick shows us, female wolves, not their male counterparts, play the most pivotal roles in pack life. They choose who may mate with them and where their pack will hunt and raise pups. They negotiate treaties and fiercely defend their families. The only opponent they cannot defeat is a human with a gun.

In The Alpha Female Wolf, McIntyre profiles 06’s rise to power. He also celebrates the lives of other female wolves who deserve our recognition. Throughout, McIntyre weaves wolf biology and storytelling into a page-turning narrative that, once again, gives readers a rare window into life in a wolf pack—this time from a female point of view.

Cover image for The Alpha Female Wolf, isbn: 9781771648592

California Snakes and How to Find Them

$22.00

A herpetologist introduces budding snake enthusiasts to the wonders of California snakes.

"I've loved snakes since childhood and am thrilled to now have this gorgeous book as my companion to finding snakes wherever a walk on the wild side takes me." —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles

Fear of snakes is one of the most common phobias in the world, yet step into any local zoo and you'll find the snake pit to be among these menageries' greatest attractions. In this entrancing ode to the charms of California's legless reptiles, rattlesnake wrangler Emily Taylor shares her knowledge, enthusiasm, and advice for getting to know our slithering neighbors, dispelling the usual misapprehensions that surround them and celebrating their striking biological traits along the way.

Featuring profiles of the nearly 50 fork-tongued species that burrow and coil in California's diverse habitats, and containing tips for serpent seekers—including identification guides and handling advice—California Snakes and How to Find Them delves into the longstanding myths and latest natural history research on our ophidian friends of the West. Taylor showcases the biodiversity of California's snakes, from the Common Garter to the fetchingly pink Rosy Boa to the elusive Alameda Striped Racer, illustrated with more than 100 detailed photographs. Supported with critical insights—such as what to do during a venomous encounter, and an exploration of the seemingly simple question, What is a snake?—this guide is the perfect companion for both the seasoned naturalist and the budding snake enthusiast.

Also available in the California Herping Guides Series by Emily Taylor:

California Snakes and How to Find Them
California Amphibians and How to Find Them

Cover image for California Snakes and How to Find Them, isbn: 9781597146357

When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors

$25.00

Now updated with a new preface: a full-color celebration of coexistence with California's iconic wildlife.

Wildness beats in the heart of California's urban areas, and across the state Californians are taking action to recast wildlife as an integral part of our everyday lives. In Los Angeles, residents rallied to build one of the largest wildlife crossings in the world because of the plight of one lonely mountain lion named P-22. Porpoises cavort in San Francisco Bay again because of a grassroots effort to clean up a waterway that was once a toxic mess. Yosemite's park staff and millions of visitors have mobilized to keep its famed bears wild. And after a near century-long absence, Californians are welcoming wolves back to the state, inspired by the remarkable journey of the wolf OR-7. When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors explores this evolving dynamic between humans and animals. Now updated with a new preface, these inspiring stories celebrate a new model for wildlife conservation: coexistence.

Cover image for When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors, isbn: 9781597146425

California Lizards and How to Find Them

$22.00

The author of California Snakes and How to Find Them invites budding reptile enthusiasts into a wonderland of lizards.

"This guide joyfully celebrates the beauty and quirkiness of our native lizards." —John Muir Laws

Lizards: they are cute, endearing, and mind-bogglingly diverse, and yet they are so easy to overlook among California’s natural abundance. Start watching them, though, and a wonderland of lizard life appears. In California Lizards and How to Find Them, lizard lover Emily Taylor profiles over 60 native and introduced species, from California's iconic Western Fence Lizard to the adorable Desert Iguana to the chonky Ringed Wall Gecko. With her expert knowledge and joyous, laugh-out-loud writing, Taylor provides tips for finding, watching, and responsibly catching lizards. She offers absorbing insights on lizard evolution, and she explains the toll of invasive lizard species on California's ecosystems. Featuring more than 100 full-color photographs, and designed for easy use in everyday life, this is the ideal guide for budding reptile enthusiasts and longtime naturalists alike.

Also available in the California Herping Guides Series by Emily Taylor:

California Snakes and How to Find Them
California Amphibians and How to Find Them

Cover image for California Lizards and How to Find Them, isbn: 9781597146722

Game Changer

$34.95

Are conservation and protecting animals the same thing? In Game Changer, award-winning environmental reporter Glen Martin takes a fresh look at this question as it applies to Africa’s megafauna. Martin assesses the rising influence of the animal rights movement and finds that the policies championed by animal welfare groups could lead paradoxically to the elimination of the very species—including elephants and lions—that are the most cherished. In his anecdotal and highly engaging style, Martin takes readers to the heart of the conflict. He revisits the debate between conservationists, who believe that people whose lives are directly impacted by the creation of national parks and preserves should be compensated, versus those who believe that restrictive protection that forbids hunting is the most effective way to conserve wildlife and habitats. Focusing on the different approaches taken by Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia, Martin vividly shows how the world’s last great populations of wildlife have become the hostages in a fight between those who love animals and those who would save them.

Cover image for Game Changer, isbn: 9780520952058

Cane Toad Wars

$34.95

In 1935, an Australian government agency imported 101 specimens of the Central and South American Cane Toad in an attempt to manage insects that were decimating sugar-cane harvests. In Australia the Cane Toad adapted and evolved with abandon, voraciously consuming native wildlife and killing predators with its lethal skin toxin. Today, hundreds of millions of Cane Toads have spread across the northern part of Australia and continue to move westward. The humble Cane Toad has become a national villain.

Cane Toad Wars chronicles the work of intrepid scientist Rick Shine, who has been documenting the toad’s ecological impact in Australia and seeking to buffer it. Despite predictions of devastation in the wake of advancing toad hordes, the author’s research reveals a more complex and nuanced story. A firsthand account of a perplexing ecological problem and an important exploration of how we measure evolutionary change and ecological resilience, this book makes an effective case for the value of long-term natural history research in informing conservation practice.

Cover image for Cane Toad Wars, isbn: 9780520967984

Coyotes Among Us

$9.99

An eye-opening volume of research and photographs exploring one of North America’s most persistent—and misunderstood—predators.

The coyote. Even its image conjures up more myth than fact. From its depictions as the “trickster” in ancient fables to its portrayal as a threat to humans and their pets in modern news sources, coyotes are rarely shown in a favorable light. Now, the Urban Coyote Research Project pulls back the curtain on the defamed coyote, revealing the surprising truth about this unique creature.

Though harassed and hunted for generations, today the coyote persists and even thrives. With an innate ability to adjust to new climates and environments, the coyote has developed an expansive range. Once confined to the American West, it now lives in forty-nine states, across lower Canada, throughout Mexico, and all the way to Costa Rica. Its habitat ranges from rural prairie to urban overpasses; it is the largest animal to regularly live wild within city limits. The coyote continues to overcome the ceaseless intrusion of urban development to create a bright and flourishing future, providing its human neighbors a surprising number of benefits.

With stunning images of coyotes within their surprising habitats, Coyotes Among Us draws from decades of experience to dispel coyote myths, highlight the benefits of living with coyotes, and embrace the coyote as a brilliant survivor against all odds.

Cover image for Coyotes Among Us, isbn: 9781959411246

Census of the Determinable Genera of the Stegocephalia

$90.00

This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication. Over 180 illustrations.

Cover image for Census of the Determinable Genera of the Stegocephalia, isbn: 9798893980325

Order Microsauria

$90.00

This volume discusses in particular the suggested relationship of microsaurs with reptiles and the determination of the ancestry of the various groups of living amphibians. Twenty-five general of microsaurs are recognized in this work. Contents: History of the Microsaur Concept; Definition of Micrausaurs; Methods of Study; Taxonomy; Systematic Description; Comparative Anatomy; Relationships of Microsaurs; Geological and Geographical Distribution and Biology of Microsaurs; Summary; and References Cites. Illustrations.

Cover image for Order Microsauria, isbn: 9798893982428

Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America

$95.00

From the first publications of the Transaction of the American Philosophical society, Vol. 1-20, 1818-1902

Cover image for Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America, isbn: 9798893984743

Gnomes of the Night

$95.00

This book is the most complete account in existence of a strange group of animals—the spadefoot toads. This small group of species, which, because of their secretive and burrowing habits, the author calls "gnomes of the night," have unusually numerous interesting facts in their life history. The purpose of the book is twofold: to give a factual picture of the lives of the spadefoots, drawing upon the technical literature as well as the author's wide experience with certain species; and to illustrate how a naturalist works, the mistakes he sometimes makes, his correction of them with time and further experience, and the necessity for him to accept and examine critically the comments on his work by others.

Gnomes of the Night should appeal to all zoologists, especially those whose interests are in the lives of animals in their natural habitat rather than in the laboratory. Illustrated with maps and photographs, it is a scholarly and fascinating account of little-known but prevalent animals.

Cover image for Gnomes of the Night, isbn: 9781512800685

Almost Human

$24.95

“Alternately joyous and heartbreaking...” —Jane Goodall

A moving and revealing biography of Norway’s most famous chimpanzee.

Julius is a national celebrity, the inspiration behind pop hits and bestselling books.

He’s also a chimpanzee, born in captivity, but raised in a zookeeper’s home after his own mother rejects him. Julius’s new parents change his diapers and comfort him when he has nightmares, and their daughters play with him. But soon they must reintroduce Julius to the zoo, a challenging task that brings new learnings on primate behavior and the dangers of animal celebrity.

Alternately humorous and heartbreaking, Almost Human shows that primates are more like us than we once thought possible. It also charts the transformation of one zoo over time: from a small operation of animals behind bars to a fast-growing attraction coming to terms with twenty-first-century views on animal rights and welfare.

Cover image for Almost Human, isbn: 9781771643863

Cow

$13.99

She is everywhere: as a vehicle for both farmers and advertisers, a subject for research scientists and poets, and ever-present in the form of lucky charms, children's toys, or simply as a tasty sandwich-filler. The female of the bovine species is revered as sacred or reviled as stupid, but one thing she never inspires is indifference. After more than ten thousand years living alongside us, she remains a beguiling mystery. Combining a myriad of richly entertaining anecdotes and an abundance of illuminating discoveries, Florian Werner presents the curious cultural history of that most intriguing of animals: the cow.

Since evolving from the aurochs, an ungulate that grazed the Persian grasslands, the cow has embedded itself into virtually all aspects of our lives. Cow is the first book to look at the animal in its countless manifestations in cultures around the world. Werner examines cows' role in commerce as an early form of currency and their place on our plates and in our stomachs in the form of meat and dairy products. Florian Werner examines how cows are worshipped in some circles, such as in Hindu mythology, and abhorred in others, today being vilified as an agent of climate change. And he waxes philosophic about the significance of the cow's rumination and cud chewing, as well as her simple but meaningful moo.

Combining thorough research with an accessible writing style, Florian Werner offers readers an eye-opening perspective on this commodified animal, whose existence is inextricably intertwined with ours and which we too often take for granted.

Cover image for Cow, isbn: 9781553659808

My Life with Sea Turtles

$18.95

“A WONDERFUL READ … Christine's deep love for turtles comes through on each page."—CRAIG FOSTER, MY OCTOPUS TEACHER

“Will appeal to anyone interested in the world around us.”—DR. JANE GOODALL

Filled with reverence and wonder for the natural world, this captivating book reveals the secret life of sea turtles, one of the oldest living creatures on Earth, and the story of one female scientist’s fight to save their future.

In 2015, a team of researchers carefully removed a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nostril off the coast of Costa Rica. The disturbing incident, which was captured on video, went viral, leading to corporate straw bans around the world. In this evocative book, reminiscent of Jane Goodall’s memoir In the Shadow of Man, the marine biologist behind the camera, Christine Figgener, recounts her own life spent studying and protecting sea turtles.

From the time she was a young girl, Figgener was determined to become a biologist, and study the marvels of the marine world. In My Life With Sea Turtles, she shares how she went from a small, gray town on the edge of industry to the lush coastline of Costa Rica, where she fell in love with the local environment and its famous residents: the sea turtles.

Figgener describes patrolling the beach at night, swimming with turtles in the open ocean, watching tiny turtles emerge from sandy nests, and risking her life during tropical storms. We learn about her experience as a woman in conservation, a male dominated space where she struggles to be taken seriously. Through discovering the fascinating science of sea turtles and the threats they face today, readers will be inspired to live their own lives differently to ensure the survival of these magnificent creatures.

Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

Cover image for My Life with Sea Turtles, isbn: 9781778400599

Birdfinding in British Columbia

$29.99

From Canada’s top birding team comes the definitive guide to finding birds in British Columbia.

Veteran naturalist and birdfinder Richard Cannings and his son, Russell, a gifted birder in his own right, use their combined knowledge and expertise to guide readers to the best birding sites in the province. The book is divided into eleven regions, from Vancouver Island to the Far North, providing bird lovers with detailed information about how to reach the best sites to look for birds, when to look for them, and what they might find.

Packed with descriptions of the natural history, ecosystems, and diverse landscapes of British Columbia and accompanied by numerous maps, this thorough guide is enhanced by Donald Gunn’s charming line drawings and the authors’ infectious enthusiasm, making it a must-have for novice and expert birders alike.

Cover image for Birdfinding in British Columbia, isbn: 9781771000048

Eight-Legged Wonders

$26.95

An encounter with a spider will never be the same again …

This warm-hearted book offers fascinating science and captivating storytelling to persuade readers to fall in love with—or at least tolerate—these eight-legged wonders.

Eight-Legged Wonders unveils the remarkable lives of one of the most misunderstood and maligned creatures on the planet: the spider. With over 50,000 species, spiders play vital roles in our ecosystems and the vast majority are harmless to humans. With this in mind, shouldn’t we at least try to set aside our creepy-crawly associations, and cultivate a deeper appreciation for these truly wonderful beings?

Eight-Legged Wonders helps us do just that. In this affectionate and surprisingly giddy ode to spiders, James O’Hanlon, a scientist and spider expert, introduces spiders that we may never have noticed before, including spiders that cosplay as ants, balloon through the air, and scuba-dive. He describes the peacock spider's colorful dances and the Portia jumping spider's cunning hunting techniques. He dispels bite concerns, highlights groundbreaking research using spiders for human benefit, and aims to shift perceptions, ultimately revealing spiders as truly remarkable beings worthy of our admiration.

Cover image for Eight-Legged Wonders, isbn: 9781778401558

Bees

$16.99

The bee may have a brain the size of a grass seed, but in its brief, five-week life it works as a brood nurse, wax producer, comb builder, honey maker, home guard, and floral forager. Bees: Nature's Little Wonders invites readers to take a new look at creatures that are both familiar and wondrously odd. It considers the diversity and biology of bees, including their peculiar sociosexual arrangements (pity the poor drone), their quirky relationships with flowers, and their startling mental abilities: What are we to make of insects that communicate through symbolic dances? The book also addresses the mysterious syndrome known as colony collapse disorder and identifies opportunities for the conservation of pollinators. Enriched with cultural sidebars and complemented by a stunning collection of images, Bees is a must-read for conservationists, gardeners, and everyone else who cares about the world around them.

Cover image for Bees, isbn: 9781926706528

Of Cockroaches and Crickets

$26.95

This deep dive into the wonderful world of insects teaches us to love the tiny, seemingly terrifying creatures all around us.

For many people, cockroaches are the most pesky of pests. Not so for entomologist Frank Nischk. In this funny and fascinating book, Frank reveals his love and admiration for so-called “nasty” creatures like cockroaches, crickets, and more. He shows us that even seemingly terrifying insects are beautiful in their own way—and essential to all life on Earth.

Frank never planned to study cockroaches. But when researching hummingbirds fell through, he switched to cockroach feces—and soon fell in love. Cockroaches are incredible survivors, devoted parents, and adapt to almost any environment. Nischk even answers the age-old question of whether a cockroach would survive a nuclear explosion. After reading such eye-opening and warm-hearted stories, you’ll think twice before stepping on one!

From cockroaches to crickets, Nischk travels to Ecuador to record cricket sounds, where he finds jungles bursting with a riot of insect life (including bullet ants whose stings are surprisingly painful). As Nischk narrates his (mis)adventures as an entomologist, he shares stories about intriguing insect discoveries, from damselflies who lay eggs deep underwater, to zombie fungi that invade the brains of ants. Brimming with fascinating facts, incredible stories, and unbelievable anecdotes, Of Cockroaches and Crickets will intrigue anyone who has ever loved—or hated!—bugs.

Cover image for Of Cockroaches and Crickets, isbn: 9781771648738

The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

$16.99

The fascinating and heartbreaking account of the first publicly exhibited captive killer whale a story that forever changed the way we see orcas and sparked the movement to save them.

Killer whales had always been seen as bloodthirsty sea monsters. That all changed when a young killer whale was captured off the west coast of North America and displayed to the public in 1964. Moby Doll as the whale became known was an instant celebrity, drawing 20,000 visitors on the one and only day he was exhibited. He died within a few months, but his famous gentleness sparked a worldwide crusade that transformed how people understood and appreciated orcas. Because of Moby Doll, we stopped fearing killers” and grew to love and respect orcas.”

Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

Cover image for The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, isbn: 9781771641944

A Californian's Guide to the Mammals Among Us

$28.00

At its current tally of 212 species, California's mammal list is the largest of all the United States'. This new guidebook joins its sister titles A Californian's Guide to the Birds among Us and A Californian's Guide to the Trees among Us in introducing naturalists of all levels to over forty varieties of the Golden State's fascinating warm-blooded wildlife. Full-color images and evocative descriptions make identification fun and intuitive: a bobcat, for example, has “a Civil War look, with old-fashioned sideburns framing the face in black and white,” while a blue whale is named for its coloration of not “old jeans or dull paint, but a luminous, 'how can water catch on fire?' kind of blue.” Author Charles Hood supplements essential information with strange but true facts like voles' predilection for deer antlers as a source of calcium, and Mexican free-tailed bats' ability to live in gaseous environments that would kill most other animals. With refreshingly pragmatic commentary (“the fact is, even for experienced naturalists, most chipmunks look pretty much alike”) and sound advice for where to see mammals in urban and wilderness settings alike, this lively and even quotable guide will inspire people to connect with their environments wherever they are.

Cover image for A Californian's Guide to the Mammals Among Us, isbn: 9781597144711

The ABCs of California's Native Bees

$38.00

Journey through the world of California native bees, one letter at a time.

"Krystle Hickman's travels across wild landscapes reveal rare and elusive pollinators, each one meticulously photographed and arranged in a brilliant A-to-Z tribute." —Olivia Messinger Carril, coauthor of The Bees in Your Backyard

National Geographic Explorer Krystle Hickman has spent a decade capturing exquisitely detailed photographs of native bees and making exciting discoveries about their behavior in the field. In her debut book of natural history, she offers an intimate look at the daily habits of rare and overlooked native bees in California: those cloaked in green or black or red, that live alone in the ground or sleep inside flowers, that invade nests and pillage resources like infinitesimal conquerors, or that, unlike more generalist honeybees, are devoted exclusively to the pollen of a single type of flower. A committed conservationist and community scientist who knows all too well how precarious the wellbeing of these insects is, Hickman shares her adventures in local native plant gardens and throughout the far reaches of California to bring the beauty of such diverse ecosystems into wondrous bee's-eye view. Meant for all curious readers, this collection of bee stories—one for each letter of the alphabet, matching the first letter of a bee's scientific name—will leave you both wowed and compelled to help save these fascinating beings and the lands they call home.

Cover image for The ABCs of California's Native Bees, isbn: 9781597146821

Bugs in Your Neighborhood

$22.00

A laugh-out-loud all-ages guide to common bugs, in a pocket-size package bursting with fun facts and photos.

Bugs: They are beautiful, mind-bending, adorable, strange, silly, and essential to life as we know it. These wondrous creatures are neighborhood treasures and offer endless adventure. They are also often misunderstood, but Pat Stadille can help you make friends with them! Bugs in Your Neighborhood introduces readers of all ages to a dazzling range of dragonflies, hoppers, flies, beetles, butterflies, and many more fun critters. Find out about the music of grasshoppers and katydids, the special senses of wasps, and the weird eating practices of giant water bugs. Featuring over 400 bugs and over 1,000 photographs and drawings, Bugs in Your Neighborhood packs a wealth of information into a friendly, pocket-size format. This book is the perfect companion for anyone who wishes to know their bug neighbors a little better.

Cover image for Bugs in Your Neighborhood, isbn: 9781597146845

How Not to Be Eaten

$24.95

All animals must eat. But who eats who, and why, or why not? Because insects outnumber and collectively outweigh all other animals combined, they comprise the largest amount of animal food available for potential consumption. How do they avoid being eaten? From masterful disguises to physical and chemical lures and traps, predatory insects have devised ingenious and bizarre methods of finding food. Equally ingenious are the means of hiding, mimicry, escape, and defense waged by prospective prey in order to stay alive. This absorbing book demonstrates that the relationship between the eaten and the eater is a central—perhaps the central—aspect of what goes on in the community of organisms. By explaining the many ways in which insects avoid becoming a meal for a predator, and the ways in which predators evade their defensive strategies, Gilbert Waldbauer conveys an essential understanding of the unrelenting coevolutionary forces at work in the world around us.

Cover image for How Not to Be Eaten, isbn: 9780520952461

Field Guide to California Insects

$16.95

Beautifully illustrated and approachable, this is the only California-specific, statewide book devoted to all groups of insects.

Completely revised for the first time in over 40 years, Field Guide to California Insects now includes over 600 insect species, each beautifully illustrated with color photographs. Engaging accounts focus on distinguishing features, remarkable aspects of biology, and geographical distribution in the state. An accessible and compact introduction to identifying, understanding, and appreciating these often unfamiliar and fascinating creatures, this guide covers insects that readers are likely to encounter in homes and natural areas, cities and suburbs, rural lands and wilderness. It also addresses exotic and invasive species and their impact on native plants and animals. Field Guide to California Insects remains the definitive portable reference and a captivating read for beginners as well as avid naturalists.

Cover image for Field Guide to California Insects, isbn: 9780520963573

Common Spiders of North America

$34.95

This stunning field guide provides a comprehensive resource for identifying and appreciating nearly 500 species of spiders.

Arachnids are among the most diverse groups of terrestrial invertebrates, yet they are among the least studied and understood. This is the most comprehensive field guide to all 68 spider families in North America, with beautiful illustrations of 469 of the most commonly encountered species. Group keys enable accurate identification by web pattern, morphology, and other observable details, and species descriptions include tips to help everyday naturalists identify spiders, as well as their common names, typical habitat, geographic distribution, and behavioral notes. A concise illustrated introduction to spider biology and anatomy explains spider relationships. Featuring 82 gorgeous color plates, this book is an accessible and detailed resource for curious naturalists who want to understand this ubiquitous and ecologically critical component of our biosphere.

Cover image for Common Spiders of North America, isbn: 9780520954502

Just Like Us

$12.99

“Outstanding photography! This book is a valuable contribution to the public’s understanding of our remarkable ‘near relatives.’” —Robert Bateman, wildlife painter and environmental icon

“Just Like Us is an entertaining and informative read that illustrates how one ordinary person can be a catalyst for positive change.” —Jane Goodall, primatologist and bestselling author

"Just Like Us will be a classic and is a must read. The book adds much to what we can learn about ourselves. A beautifully written adventure with great apes, with some of the most difficult and stunning photographs of the great apes ever made." —Thomas Mangelsen, award-winning nature and wildlife photographer and conservationist

A stirring account of hope and survival for the planet's endangered great ape species.

For most of his life, veterinarian Rick Quinn ignored a deep longing to meaningfully protect the endangered animals that fascinated him. Then one day, he read two magazine clippings about the great apes and knew it was time to set aside excuses and find the means to help. Armed with his camera and an insatiable curiosity, Dr. Quinn set off for the front lines of great ape conservation.

Just Like Us is a gorgeous tribute to our not-too-distant relatives as well as the courageous people who are risking their lives to protect them.

In this remarkable memoir, we follow Dr. Quinn’s seven-year journey across seven African countries and Indonesia, where he photographed each great ape species in its natural habitat. Using inspiring stories juxtaposed with stunning photographs, he illuminates the threats to great ape survival as well as the complexity of saving them. The result delivers an empathetic sense that these magnificent beings really are—strikingly so—just like us.

The author will donate all proceeds of your book purchase to Docs4GreatApes.

Cover image for Just Like Us, isbn: 9781954854321

Mammalia of the Duchesne River Oligocene

$90.00

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Illustrations.

Cover image for Mammalia of the Duchesne River Oligocene, isbn: 9798893981254

Early Tertiary Rodents of the Family Paramyidae

$90.00

This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication. 91 figures.

Cover image for Early Tertiary Rodents of the Family Paramyidae, isbn: 9798893980639

Revision of the Tenebrionidae of America, North of Mexico

$95.00

From the first publications of the Transaction of the American Philosophical society, Vol. 1-20, 1818-1902

Cover image for Revision of the Tenebrionidae of America, North of Mexico, isbn: 9798893984736

Myriapoda of North America

$95.00

From the first publications of the Transaction of the American Philosophical society, Vol. 1-20, 1818-1902

Cover image for Myriapoda of North America, isbn: 9798893984729

Finding the Fox

$26.95

An intimate portrait of a mysterious and misunderstood animal.

“Tjernshaugen writes in an easy-to-read style that is full of insight and understanding. I felt like I was sitting beside him as he described fox behavior.” —Rick McIntyre, Yellowstone wolf researcher and author of The Rise of Wolf 8

If you look into the fox's amber eyes, you'll notice vertical pupils. With such feline eyes in a slender canine body, the fox is a relative of the dog and the wolf, but it hunts alone, like a cat. The fox lives close to people, both in the city and in the country, but it’s wild, shy, and secretive.

Taking long walks in the early morning, equipped with wildlife cameras—and sometimes with his dog Topsy by his side—Andreas Tjernshaugen journeys into the forest hoping to encounter the foxes living just outside his small town in Norway. He knows the telltale signs of how to find a fox den, how to identify a pawprint in the snow, and the smells that foxes leave behind. He meets a vixen he named Blackback, and he watches carefully as she and other foxes hunt, play, and live together as families.

Throughout this captivating book, Tjernshaugen investigates the fox’s place in our own cultural history—such as Reynard the Fox, the Scandinavian inspiration for Disney’s Robin Hood, and the fables of Aesop, which depict foxes as sly and cunning, a reputation that may not be fully earned, Tjernshaugen argues. What is true is “the fox is wilder than other wildlife…and largely survives in spite of our plans and regulations, like an outlaw, so I see it as a symbol of freedom and independence.”

Cover image for Finding the Fox, isbn: 9781778400735

The Shark and the Albatross

$17.95

For twenty years John Aitchison has been traveling the world to film wildlife for a variety of international TV shows, taking him to far-away places on every continent. The Shark and the Albatross is the story of these journeys of discovery, of his encounters with animals and occasional enterprising individuals in remote and sometimes dangerous places. His destinations include the far north and the far south, from Svalbard, Alaska, the remote Atlantic island of South Georgia, and the Antarctic, to the wild places of India, China, and the United States. In all he finds and describes key moments in the lives of animals, among them polar bears and penguins, seals and whales, sharks and birds, and wolves and lynxes.

John Aitchison reveals what happens behind the scenes and beyond the camera. He explains the practicalities and challenges of the filming process, and the problems of survival in perilous places. He records touching moments and dramatic incidents, some ending in success, others desperately sad. There are times when a hunted animal triumphs against the odds, and others when, in spite of preparation for every outcome, disaster strikes. And, as the author shows in several incidents that combine nail-biting tension with hair-raising hilarity, disaster can strike for film-makers too.

Cover image for The Shark and the Albatross, isbn: 9781771642194

The Internet of Animals

$28.95

An illuminating account of animal migration and the stunning new science that reveals their infinite, untapped knowledge.

“A loving ode to science itself, told with wit and wonder."—Thor Hanson, author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

What do animals know that we don’t? How do elephants detect tsunamis before they happen? How do birds predict hurricanes? In The Internet of Animals, renowned scientist Martin Wikelski convincingly argues that animals possess a unique “sixth sense” that humans are only beginning to grasp …

All we need to do is give animals a voice and our perception of the world could change forever. That’s what author Martin Wikelski and his team of scientists believe, and this book shares their story for the first time. As they tag animals around the world with minuscule tracking devices, they link their movements to The International Space Station, which taps into the ‘internet of animals’: an astonishing network of information made up of thousands of animals communicating with each other and their environments. Called the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, or ICARUS, this phenomenal project is poised to change our world.

Down on the ground, Wikelski describes animals’ sixth sense first-hand. Farm animals become restless when earthquakes are imminent. Animals on the African plains sense when poachers are on the move. Frigatebirds in South America depart before hurricanes arrive …

As Wikelski shows, animal migratory rhythms are not triggered by genes encoded in their DNA, as previously thought, but by elaborate cultures that are long established. What does this mean for humans? It means that, by paying attention to animal cultures, we can learn more about our environments. We can better prepare for natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Most of all, we can learn to live alongside animals in harmony for the betterment of our future, their future, and the future of the planet.

Cover image for The Internet of Animals, isbn: 9781771649605

Sacred Sendoffs

$14.99

2023 IPPY Gold Award Winner | Animals/Pets

An elegant manifesto for improving life―and death―for all beings on sacred Mother Earth

"If there is one book you choose to read about how to enjoy and improve your relationships with animals and fully appreciate who they truly are, this is the one." ― MARC BEKOFF, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and other books; Professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder

Combining humorous anecdotes and thought-provoking research, Sacred Sendoffs explores human relationships with beloved pets, wild creatures, animal astronauts, marine life, farmed animals, and other sentient beings. Along the way, animal chaplain Sarah Bowen shares insights for sustaining their lives, honoring deaths, and managing the emotions that arise when we lose an animal we love. While many books focus exclusively on pet loss, animal welfare, or environmental issues, Bowen’s ever curious and playful style takes on all three, revealing their unavoidable entanglement. Sacred Sendoffs helps animal lovers uncover practical actions and everyday opportunities for helping the more-than-human world thrive.

“Bowen covers a great deal of ground here, creating a new paradigm for thinking about the way we treat our closest companions and fellow beings. And she offers hope for the future, reminding us that learning to value animals in life and death may be the first step toward saving our beloved planet.” ― Book Review, Spirituality & Health Magazine

Cover image for Sacred Sendoffs, isbn: 9781948626606

When Animals Die

$25.00

A groundbreaking collection that explores human–animal relations and deaths with depth and hope

When Animals Die is an innovative collection of essays that delves into the intricate and uneasy dynamics between humans and other-than-human animals, particularly concerning animal deaths, which are predominantly caused by humans. This groundbreaking book brings together prominent scholars from various disciplines to address the challenging field of animal death studies, incorporating perspectives from social sciences, humanities, biological sciences, and perspectives from beyond academia.

The collection explores profound questions about the experience of animal death for both animals and humans. It examines how humans rationalize animal deaths and utilize deceased animals, and sheds light on the interconnectedness of animal death with issues like race, colonialism, gender, capitalism, and other systems of inequality that humans have established and perpetuated.

By confronting these pertinent issues, When Animals Die seeks to deepen our awareness of the relationship between animal death and humanity’s involvement in it. While grappling with the reality of humans’ impact on the earth, the collection offers hope for an alternative future that does not entail the mutual destruction of human and other-than-human animals.

Cover image for When Animals Die, isbn: 9781479818907

Fireflies, Honey, and Silk

$23.95

The ink our ancestors wrote with, the beeswax in altar candles, the honey on our toast, the silk we wear. This enchanting book is a highly entertaining exploration of the myriad ways insects have enriched our lives–culturally, economically, and aesthetically. Entomologist and writer Gilbert Waldbauer describes in loving, colorful detail how many of the valuable products insects have given us are made, how they were discovered, and how they have been used through time and across cultures. Along the way, he takes us on a captivating ramble through many far-flung corners of history, mythology, poetry, literature, medicine, ecology, forensics, and more. Enlivened with personal anecdotes from Waldbauer's distinguished career as an entomologist, the book also describes surprising everyday encounters we all experience that were made possible by insects. From butterfly gardens and fly-fishing to insects as jewelry and sex pheromones, this is an eye-opening ode to the wonder of insects that illuminates our extraordinary and essential relationship with the natural world.

Cover image for Fireflies, Honey, and Silk, isbn: 9780520944954

Birds of the Sierra Nevada

$39.95

This beautifully illustrated and user-friendly book presents the most up-to-date information available about the natural histories of birds of the Sierra Nevada, the origins of their names, the habitats they prefer, how they communicate and interact with one another, their relative abundance, and where they occur within the region. Each species account features original illustrations by Keith Hansen.

In addition to characterizing individual species, Birds of the Sierra Nevada also describes ecological zones and bird habitats, recent trends in populations and ranges, conservation efforts, and more than 160 rare species. It also includes a glossary of terms, detailed maps, and an extensive bibliography with over 500 citations.

Cover image for Birds of the Sierra Nevada, isbn: 9780520954472

Anatomy of a Beast

$14.95

Part history, part road trip, and part biography, this is the true story of a remarkable group of men whose obsession with Bigfoot turned the giant hominid into an American icon. Award-winning journalist Michael McLeod tells of Bigfoot's rise to tabloid stardom in a fast-paced account that begins with his own journey to investigate a famous 1967 film clip of a Bigfoot in a California forest. McLeod proceeds to uncover a trail of clues reaching from the late nineteenth century, when a few ambitious, imaginative naturalists and explorers synthesized historical and indigenous folklore with Darwinian ideas and speculated that a proto-hominid "missing link" might still be alive in remote areas. That speculation would eventually inspire a colorful cast of loggers, hunters, con artists, and businessmen in the twentieth century to create the modern myth of Bigfoot, all of them angling for a piece of a monster that the media and the public still can't get enough of. Told through vividly narrated interviews and anecdotes, Anatomy of a Beast offers a unique perspective on the deep roots of counterfactual thinking—and how obsession and myth are created out of it.

Cover image for Anatomy of a Beast, isbn: 9780520943162

The Exultant Ark

$38.95

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings.

Cover image for The Exultant Ark, isbn: 9780520948648

Eating Apes

$28.95

Eating Apes is an eloquent book about a disturbing secret: the looming extinction of humanity's closest relatives, the African great apes—chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. Dale Peterson's impassioned exposé details how, with the unprecedented opening of African forests by European and Asian logging companies, the traditional consumption of wild animal meat in Central Africa has suddenly exploded in scope and impact, moving from what was recently a subsistence activity to an enormous and completely unsustainable commercial enterprise. Although the three African great apes account for only about one percent of the commercial bush meat trade, today's rate of slaughter could bring about their extinction in the next few decades. Supported by compelling color photographs by award-winning photographer Karl Ammann, Eating Apes documents the when, where, how, and why of this rapidly accelerating disaster.

Eating Apes persuasively argues that the American conservation media have failed to report the ongoing collapse of the ape population. In bringing the facts of this crisis and these impending extinctions into a single, accessible book, Peterson takes us one step closer to averting one of the most disturbing threats to our closest relatives.

Cover image for Eating Apes, isbn: 9780520938427

Parasites

$34.95

Hidden away within living tissues, parasites are all around us—and inside us. Yet, despite their unsavory characteristics, as we find in this compulsively readable book, parasites have played an enormous role in civilizations through time and around the globe. Parasites: Tales of Humanity’s Most Unwelcome Guests puts amoebae, roundworms, tapeworms, mites, and others at the center of the action as human cultures have evolved and declined. It shows their role in exploration, war, and even terrorist plots, often through an unpredictable ripple effect. It reveals them as invisible threats in our food, water, and luggage; as invaders that have shaped behaviors and taboos; and as unexpected partners in such venues as crime scene investigations. Parasites also describes their evolution and life histories and considers their significant benefits. Deftly blending the sociological with the scientific, this natural and social history of parasites looks closely at a fascinating, often disgusting group of organisms and discovers that they are in fact an integral thread in the web of life.

Cover image for Parasites, isbn: 9780520945784

Introduction to California Birdlife

$15.95

In almost every location and every season, California is a birdwatchers' paradise. One can search Sierra meadows for a Great Gray Owl, the autumn estuary for a Black-bellied Plover, or spring willow thickets for the effervescent song of the Yellow Warbler. Closer to home, backyards, neighborhood parks, and cities abound with many of the state's 600-plus bird species. This beautifully illustrated book, the first based on the relationship between birds and their habitats, is the definitive introduction to California's varied birds and the lives they lead.

Introduction to California Birdlife describes the representative birds in California's seven major bioregions: ocean, seashore, coastal ranges, Central Valley, mountains and foothills, Great Basin, and deserts. It explains key relationships among weather patterns, plant communities, and the ecological rhythms of these habitats and shows how these factors relate to the distribution, behavioral adaptations, and environmental challenges of its birds.

* The perfect book for beginning and intermediate naturalists, and in-depth enough for experienced naturalists who would like to learn more about the habitat affinities, ecological niches, and seasonal cycles of California birds

* 150 color photographs bring to life many of the birds described

* Introduces the basics of avian biology

* Includes a list of all California's known bird species and a glossary of birding terms

Cover image for Introduction to California Birdlife, isbn: 9780520938175

Cutthroat

$55.00

Cutthroat tells the full story of the genuine native trout of the American West. This new edition, thoroughly revised and updated after 20 years, synthesizes what is currently known about one of our most interesting and colorful fishes, includes much new information on its biology and ecology, asks how it has fared in the last century, and looks toward its future. In a passionate and accessibly written narrative, Patrick Trotter, fly fisher, environmental advocate, and science consultant, details the evolution, natural history, and conservation of each of the cutthroat's races and incorporates more personal reflections on the ecology and environmental history of the West's river ecosystems. The bibliography now includes what may be the most comprehensive and complete set of references available anywhere on the cutthroat trout. Written for anglers, nature lovers, environmentalists, and students, and featuring vibrant original illustrations by Joseph Tomelleri, this is an essential reference for anyone who wants to learn more about this remarkable, beautiful, and fragile western native.

Cover image for Cutthroat, isbn: 9780520934627

Watching Giants

$29.95

Personal, anecdotal, and highly engaging, Watching Giants opens a window on a world that seems quite like our own, yet is so different that understanding it pushes the very limits of our senses. Elin Kelsey's colorful first-person account, drawing from her rich, often humorous, everyday experiences as a mother, a woman, and a scientist, takes us to the incredibly productive waters of the Gulf of California and beyond, to oceans around the world. Kelsey brings us along as she talks to leading cetacean researchers and marine ecologists about their intriguing discoveries. We encounter humpback whales that build nets from bubbles, gain a disturbing maternal perspective on the dolphin-tuna issue, uncover intimate details about whale sex, and contemplate the meaning of the complex social networks that exist in the seas. What emerges alongside these fascinating snapshots of whale culture is a dizzying sense of the tremendous speed with which we are changing the oceans' ecosystems—through overfishing, noise pollution, even real estate development. Watching Giants introduces a world of immense interconnectivity and beauty—one that is now facing imminent peril.

Cover image for Watching Giants, isbn: 9780520942219

Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States

$26.95

With over 40,000 described species, spiders have adapted to nearly every terrestrial environment across the globe. Over half of the world’s spider families live within the three contiguous Pacific Coast states—not surprising considering the wide variety of habitats, from mountain meadows and desert dunes to redwood forests and massive urban centers. This beautifully illustrated, accessible guide covers all of the families and many of the genera found along the Pacific Coast, including introduced species and common garden spiders. The author provides readers with tools for identifying many of the region’s spiders to family, and when possible, genus and species. He discusses taxonomy, distribution, and natural history as well as what is known of the habits of the spiders, the characters of families, and references to taxonomic revisions of the pertinent genera. Full-color plates for each family bring to life the incredible diversity of this ancient arachnid order.

Cover image for Field Guide to the Spiders of California and the Pacific Coast States, isbn: 9780520957046

Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California

$34.95

". . . encourage[s] hope and resilience in times of devastating damage."—New York Review of Books

This user-friendly guide is the only complete resource that identifies and describes all the amphibians and reptiles—salamanders, frogs and toads, lizards, snakes, and tortoises and turtles—that live in California. The species are described in richly detailed accounts that include range maps, lifelike color paintings by Robert C. Stebbins, clear drawings of various life stages including eggs, notes on natural history, and conservation status. Easy-to-use keys for every order help identify species, and informative chapters cover more general topics including evolution, habitat loss, and photography. Throughout, anecdotes and observations reveal new insights into the lives of California’s abundant but often hidden amphibians and reptiles.

Cover image for Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California, isbn: 9780520949973

Deep Things out of Darkness

$85.00

Natural history, the deliberate observation of the environment, is arguably the oldest science. From purely practical beginnings as a way of finding food and shelter, natural history evolved into the holistic, systematic study of plants, animals, and the landscape. Deep Things out of Darkness chronicles the rise, decline, and ultimate revival of natural history within the realms of science and public discourse. Ecologist John G. T. Anderson focuses his account on the lives and contributions of an eclectic group of men and women, from John Ray, John Muir, Charles Darwin, and Rachel Carson, who endured remarkable hardships and privations in order to learn more about their surroundings. Written in an engaging narrative style and with an extensive bibliography of primary sources, the book charts the journey of the naturalist’s endeavor from prehistory to the present, underscoring the need for natural history in an era of dynamic environmental change.

Cover image for Deep Things out of Darkness, isbn: 9780520954458

The Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide

$26.95

This is an indispensable reference to one of the most spectacular stretches of California's coastline. Beginning in the north with Point Año Nuevo and ending some 120 miles to the south at Point Sur, Jerry Emory provides a comprehensive guide to the natural, cultural, and historical riches of the greater Monterey Bay shore.

Six regional maps provide detailed information for visitors exploring by car, bike, public transportation, or on foot. Highlights of the area include the elephant seals of Año Nuevo; surfing in Santa Cruz; the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, largest marine sanctuary in the U.S.; the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium; and the breathtaking coastal mountains of Big Sur.

The coast offers beautiful beaches and dunes, excellent tidepooling and birding, glimpses of sea otters, monarch butterflies, and gray whales on their migrating paths, redwood forests and agricultural landscapes, vineyards, parklands, literary landmarks, and towns and cities to explore. Monterey Bay's human history is equally captivating and includes coastal Indians, Spanish missionaries, and Mexican rancheros.

Richly illustrated with 181 color photos, The Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide has helpful "Getting Around" sections providing public access directions and mileage and "Information" sections with useful phone numbers and website addresses.

Cover image for The Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide, isbn: 9780520922334

Giraffe Reflections

$39.95

The most comprehensive book on giraffes to appear in the last fifty years, this volume presents a magnificent portrait of a group of animals who, in spite of their legendary elegance and astonishing gentleness, may not entirely survive this century.

Dale Peterson’s text provides a natural and cultural history of the world’s tallest and second-biggest land animals, describing in detail their biology and behavior. He offers a new perspective on the giraffes’ place in our world, and argues for the stronger protection of these imposing yet endangered creatures and their elusive forest relatives, the okapis.

Some 120 stunning photographs by award-winning wildlife photographer Karl Ammann capture the grace and elegance of Giraffa camelopardalis. Both beautiful and informative, the images document giraffes’ complex interactions with each other and their environment.

Cover image for Giraffe Reflections, isbn: 9780520956964

Mammals of California

$26.95

From river otters and minks to bobcats, pikas, and flying squirrels, California boasts a diverse and intriguing fauna. But many of these animals can be secretive, shy, and nocturnal and observing them in the wild can be difficult. During the past two decades, the first edition of this popular guide introduced thousands to California's mammals by describing techniques for recognizing their presence, and when possible, methods for watching them in their natural habitats. Mammals of California is now completely revised and updated throughout, making it an ideal companion in the field or classroom.

* Includes 144 line drawings, 143 range maps, and 18 illustrated color plates

* Gives valuable overviews of mammal evolution, biology and anatomy, natural history, and conservation

* Features an expanded and updated section on diseases harbored by wild mammals that can affect humans—including Lyme disease and Hanta virus

Cover image for Mammals of California, isbn: 9780520936737

Raptors of California

$16.95

Raptors—the charismatic group of birds that includes hawks, eagles, and falcons—evoke power, swiftness, and grace. Raptors, or birds of prey, gaze calmly about while at rest, exuding confidence and nobility, and, while soaring aloft, they are absolute icons of the California landscape. Featuring descriptions of every diurnal California raptor, this state-of-the-art, beautifully illustrated guide is the first to combine identification of these important birds with a comprehensive discussion of their natural history.

Raptors of California notes well-established field marks in addition to introducing several new pointers that help distinguish especially difficult species. More than a field guide, the book also includes information on raptor anatomy, foraging, reproduction, movement, where and how to observe raptors, human-raptor interactions, raptor conservation, endangered species, caring for injured hawks, falconry, and more. Of special interest is the inclusion of previously unpublished descriptions of raptor behavior and many fascinating anecdotes and vivid observations from the field that provide new insights into the lives of these captivating birds.

* Covers 27 species, with range maps for the 18 species regularly occurring in California

* 104 color figures include photographs and wash drawings illustrating habitats, anatomy, field marks, and behavior

* 12 full-page color plates show the various plumages of each species—including rarities—as well as their appearance in flight

* Highly readable and accessible, even when covering complicated topics such as flight and evolutionary adaptations

Cover image for Raptors of California, isbn: 9780520938021

Introduction to the California Condor

$23.95

The story of the California Condor—an awe-inspiring symbol of wilderness—is one of the most dramatic and contentious in conservation biology. Huge scavengers with wingspans reaching more than nine feet, Condors declined by 1985 to just nine individuals left in the wild. At that point, under a highly controversial program, the last birds were brought into captivity to create a population that could eventually be reestablished in nature. This engaging book, written by two scientists who were intimately involved with the Condor conservation effort, tells the full story of the California Condor, from the bird's evolution and biology to its captive breeding and subsequent releases, and its uncertain future. It introduces the largest soaring bird in the continental United States to a broad audience and at the same time presents an important case study of a critically endangered species.

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Condors suffered from a variety of stresses—from shooting to strychnine poisoning that was an inadvertent side effect of campaigns to exterminate wolves and grizzly bears from California. Condors also faced dramatic declines in their food supply and progressively smaller foraging habitats. But as we are now coming to understand, the most important cause of their decline was lead poisoning caused by the ingestion of the ammunition fragments often present in its carrion food supply, especially in deer that were killed, but not recovered, by hunters. Noel and Helen Snyder delineate in clear fashion the myriad issues facing the Condor today and, looking to the future, convey a measure of hope that we may still achieve viable wild populations of this magnificent denizen of the California landscape.

Cover image for Introduction to the California Condor, isbn: 9780520938182

Wildlife Films

$34.95

If, as many argue, movies and television have become Western culture's premier storytelling media, so too have they become, for most members of society, the primary source of encounters with the natural world—particularly wild animals. The television fare offered nightly by national and cable networks such as PBS and the Discovery Channel provides millions of viewers with their only experience of the wilderness and its inhabitants.

The very films that so many viewers take as accurate portrayals of wildlife, however, have evolved primarily as a form of entertainment, following the established codes and conventions of narrative exposition. The result has been not the representation of nature, but its wholesale reconstruction and reconfiguration according to film and television conventions, audience expectations, and the demands of competition in the media marketplace.

Wildlife Films traces the genealogy of the nature film, from its origins as the "animal locomotion" studies that mark the very beginnings of motion pictures themselves, to the founding of the Animal Planet cable channel that boasts "all animals, all the time." The narrative and thematic elements that unite wildlife films as a genre have their roots not in the documentary film tradition, but in the older traditions of oral and written animal fables as reflections of human society. Derek Bousé contends that classic wildlife films often portray animal protagonists living in families modeled on an ideal of the human nuclear family and working in communities that resemble an ideal of bucolic human society. In these stories—presented as documentaries—animals are motivated by human emotions and conduct relationships according to human customs. This imposition of culturally satisfying narrative patterns upon the lives of animals has not only led to the misrepresentation of the natural world; it has promoted the notion that our values, our moral vision, our models of society and family structure derive from nature, rather than being cultural formations.

Cover image for Wildlife Films, isbn: 9780812205848

Carnivora of the Hagerman Local Fauna (Late Pliocene) of Southwestern Idaho

$90.00

This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.

Cover image for Carnivora of the Hagerman Local Fauna (Late Pliocene) of Southwestern Idaho, isbn: 9798893980318

The Bird Singers

$28.95

“A mesmerizing tale like no other.”—Priyanka Kumar, author of Conversations with Birds

“A beautiful book. The writing about birds—their songs and sounds, what birds mean to us, the wonder and joy they evoke in us—is among the most original, insightful, and enjoyable I’ve read.”—James Macdonald Lockhart, author of Wild Air: In Search of Birdsong

This captivating memoir takes readers into the eccentric world of competitive bird-calling—following the coming-of-age story of two boys who found their voice in the natural world.

This captivating book brings together two birds of a feather: Jean and Johnny, boys from very different worlds growing up in a small village in France. Jean is the genteel pharmacist’s son, dressed in his Sunday best; Johnny’s father is a rough, working-class sheep herder, always with the odor of animals clinging to him. Each year, over three hundred bird species visit their village, which intersects a major migratory flyway.

The two boys’ stories converge when Jean enters a bird-calling contest. He places second, and at only eleven years old becomes a child celebrity on the bird-calling circuit. Then Johnny starts to compete as well. At the annual bird festival, both boys are standouts, and a long, admiring rivalry develops between them, eventually culminating in the European championships.

As they evolve as performers, the two boys’ identities become more distinct: Jean is soft-spoken, while Johnny likes to play to the crowd. While most of their competitors are adult men, hunters who learned to call birds for sport, the two boys are fascinated with the pure beauty of birdsong, and in trying to transcend themselves through imitating birds. Their shared passion develops into an enduring partnership as performers, and they go on to tour the world in concert as the Bird Singers.

This is a story as much about friendship as it is about birdsong. The setting is timeless and bucolic, with long walks to small village schools, games of pick-up soccer, and father-son birding trips. The chapters, which bounce back and forth between the two narrators, are woven through with descriptions of colorful characters in the bird-calling competition circuit and the kind of ornithological detail that can only come from a true passion for birds. There is poetry in the description of the different birds, from common seagulls to thrushes and bluethroats and nightingales, and something like communion in the way Jean and Johnny understand the feathered friends they imitate.

Unique, evocative, and cinematic, The Bird Singers is the story of an unlikely friendship, sparked by a desire to speak with the avian world.

Cover image for The Bird Singers, isbn: 9781778401848

Great Soul of Siberia

$27.95

In The Great Soul of Siberia, renowned tiger researcher Sooyong Park tracks three generations of Siberian tigers living in remote southeastern Russia. Reminiscent of the way Timothy Treadwell (the so-called Grizzly Man) immersed himself in the lives of bears, Park sets up underground bunkers to observe the tigers, living thrillingly close to these beautiful but dangerous apex predators. At the same time, he draws from twenty years of experience and research to focus on the Siberian tigers’ losing battle against poaching and diminishing habitat. Over the two years of his harrowing stakeout, Park’s poignant and poetic observations of the tigers draw a fiercely compassionate portrait of these elusive, endangered creatures.

Cover image for Great Soul of Siberia, isbn: 9781771641142

Birdmania

$29.95

"An exquisitely beautiful book ...These stories about birds are ultimately reflections on the curious nature of humanity itself"—Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk

There is no denying that many people are crazy for birds. Packed with intriguing facts and exquisite and rare artwork, Birdmania showcases an eclectic and fascinating selection of bird devotees who would do anything for their feathered friends.

In addition to well-known enthusiasts such as Aristotle, Charles Darwin, and Helen Macdonald, Brunner introduces readers to Karl Russ, the pioneer of "bird rooms", who had difficulty renting lodgings when landlords realized who he was; George Lupton, a wealthy Yorkshire lawyer, who commissioned the theft of uniquely patterned eggs every year for twenty years from the same unfortunate female guillemot who never had a chance to raise a chick; George Archibald, who performed mating dances for an endangered whooping crane called Tex to encourage her to lay; and Mervyn Shorthouse, who posed as a wheelchair-bound invalid to steal an estimated ten thousand eggs from the Natural History Museum in Tring.

As this book illustrates, people who love birds, whether they are amateurs or professionals, are as captivating and varied as the birds that give flight to their dreams.

Cover image for Birdmania, isbn: 9781771642781

Bird Brains

$26.95

Internationally celebrated nature writer Candace Savage presents the Corvid family— surprisingly bright, brassy, and colorful birds—in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some of the world’s best wildlife photographers.

Birds have long been viewed as the archetypal featherbrains—beautiful but dumb. But according to naturalist Candace Savage, “bird brain,” as a pejorative expression, should be rendered obsolete by new research on the family of corvids: crows and their close relations.

The ancients who regarded these remarkable birds as oracles, bringers of wisdom, or agents of vengeance were on the right track, for corvids appear to have powers of abstraction, memory, and creativity that put them on a par with many mammals, even higher primates. Bird Brains presents these bright, brassy, and surprisingly colorful birds in a remarkable collection of full-color, close-up photographs by some two dozen of the world’s best wildlife photographers.

Savage’s lively, authoritative text describes the life and behavior of sixteen representative corvid species that inhabit North America and Europe. Drawing on recent research, she describes birds that recognize each other as individuals, call one another by “name,” remember and relocate thousands of hidden food caches, engage in true teamwork and purposeful play, and generally exhibit an extraordinary degree of sophistication.

Cover image for Bird Brains, isbn: 9781771644266

A Californian's Guide to the Birds Among Us

$22.00

As its sister title, A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among Us, did for arboreal varieties, this new guidebook introduces casual birders to 120 of California's most easily seen bird species—native and exotic alike—as found in a mix of urban, suburban, and traditionally natural habitats.

Full-color images and clear, direct descriptions make identification easy, and author Charles Hood supplements the essential information with surprising facts and trivia, including endangered-species recovery stories and the world record for grasshoppers eaten by one flycatcher in a single day. In sections addressing which gear to buy, where to go birdwatching, and how to read a birdsong transcription, Hood encourages readers to take ownership of their experiences, no matter their level of ornithological expertise. This accurate, lively, and even quotable guide will inspire people to notice nature more closely and find joy in interacting with the astounding diversity of avian life in California.

Cover image for A Californian's Guide to the Birds Among Us, isbn: 9781597144285

Papa Goose

$24.95

“Papa Goose is destined to become a classic. This book has everything in it I love: great animals beautifully portrayed as individuals; cool science; drama, discovery, and personal transformation.”
—Sy Montgomery, author of Birdology and The Soul of An Octopus

The charming true story of one man’s journey to raise seven goslings in the name of science.

In Papa Goose, Michael Quetting shares the hilarious and moving true story of how he became a father to seven rambunctious goslings—and the surprising things he learned along the way. Starting right at the beginning, with the eggs, his journey takes him from the incubator all the way to the airstrip, where he must attempt to teach the geese to fly as part of an ambitious scientific research initiative for the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, which tracks animal migrations around the world. For the next eleven months, we follow the newly minted dad as he takes the goslings on daily swims in the lake, tracks them down when they go astray, and watches their personalities develop: feisty, churlish, and lovable. Packed with charm and humor, Papa Goose quickly draws us into the adventure as Gloria, Nemo, and the rest of the crew conquer land, water, and air.

Cover image for Papa Goose, isbn: 9781771643627

The Private Lives of Public Birds

$18.00

A book to help the ordinary birdwatcher appreciate the fascinating songs, stories, and science of common birds

Jack Gedney’s studies of birds provide resonant, affirming answers to the questions: Who is this bird? In what way is it beautiful? Why does it matter? Masterfully linking an abundance of poetic references with up-to-date biological science, Gedney shares his devotion to everyday Western birds in fifteen essays. Each essay illuminates the life of a single species and its relationship to humans, and how these species can help us understand birds in general. A dedicated birdwatcher and teacher, Gedney finds wonder not only in the speed and glistening beauty of the Anna’s hummingbird, but also in her nest building. He acclaims the turkey vulture’s and red-tailed hawk’s roles in our ecosystem, and he venerates the inimitable California scrub jay’s work planting acorns. Knowing that we hear birds much more often than we see them, Gedney offers his expert’s ear to help us not only identify bird songs and calls but also understand what the birds are saying. The crowd at the suet feeder will never look quite the same again. Join Gedney in the enchanted world of these not-so-ordinary birds, each enlivened by a hand-drawn portrait by artist Anna Kus Park.

Cover image for The Private Lives of Public Birds, isbn: 9781597145756

The Birds in the Oaks

$26.00

The first book on the birds of California's oaks, from our most lyrical and observant wanderer of the woods.

With charm and delight, The Birds in the Oaks introduces us to the birds who burrow, forage, and soar among California's keystone trees. The mighty oak hosts a multitude of avian denizens—from canopy hoppers to ground nesters to short-billed surface pluckers—who rely on the trees' well-stocked pantry of acorns, insects, and flowers for sustenance and shelter. Spunky kinglets, crimson-eyed towhees, cuddle-craving bushtits, intrepid nuthatches, and impudent wrens are among the many memorable cast members in this pageant of oak-allied birds.

Jack Gedney lyrically conveys the beautiful, comic, and endearing qualities of over fifteen bird species, each profile paired with an illustration by Angelina Gedney. His bird-filled tales of adaptation, ingenuity, and sheer persistence also bring to light the warp and weft of cross-species interdependence. The Birds in the Oaks reveals to us the utter joy of birds, the superabundant world of the oaks, and the innumerable interconnections these living beings create.

Cover image for The Birds in the Oaks, isbn: 9781597146609

Birds and Mammals of the Sierra Nevada

$32.95

Birds and Mammals of the Sierra Nevada chronicles decades of ecological and zoological research conducted in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, tracing its origins to a 1916 expedition by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California. The book provides an in-depth account of wildlife surveys across varied ecosystems, detailing the collection and identification of specimens including birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. From the early "Sequoia Survey" to expanded research conducted by renowned zoologists like Joseph S. Dixon and Adolph Murie, the volume synthesizes a wealth of field data and life-history observations. This work bridges early cross-sectional studies, such as those on Yosemite and Lassen regions, with ecological studies conducted through the mid-20th century, offering a comprehensive view of the Sierra's biodiversity and environmental dynamics.

Prepared under the auspices of the National Park Service and enriched by collaboration with scientists, park staff, and naturalists, this volume goes beyond species descriptions. It incorporates ecological insights, behavioral studies, and critical updates to nomenclature, ensuring accuracy for both professional and casual readers. The publication integrates specimen photographs, detailed accounts of fieldwork, and expertly curated data from museum collections. With contributions from notable figures in vertebrate zoology and botany, and input from dedicated park rangers, the book is an invaluable resource for understanding the rich natural heritage of the Sierra Nevada, aimed at both enhancing public knowledge and supporting future research.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1953.

Cover image for Birds and Mammals of the Sierra Nevada, isbn: 9780520326163

Wings Over Water

$12.99

A beautiful, photo-rich companion book to the internationally distributed IMAX film of the same name, Wings Over Water celebrates the prairie wetlands of North America and the birds that live and breed in this critical habitat.

Covering 300,000 square miles stretching from Canada through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, the prairie wetlands are one of Earth’s most important, yet little-known, ecosystems. More than half of all North American migratory waterfowl and 96 species of songbirds breed and nest there, and more than 60 percent of the continent’s ducks are hatched there. Wings Over Water immerses readers in this awe-inspiring, essential region, using more than 300 breathtaking photos and inspiring essays from some of North America’s foremost conservationists to shine a spotlight on these critical breeding grounds and the need to protect them.

Wings Over Water is a joint venture of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, which works to secure the future of hunting, fishing, and land management; Ducks Unlimited Inc., Wetlands America Trust, and Ducks Unlimited Canada, the world’s largest nonprofit organizations dedicated to conserving North America’s disappearing wetland and waterfowl habitats; and the National Audubon Society, the world’s oldest nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to bird conservation.

Cover image for Wings Over Water, isbn: 9781954854567

Flight of Birds. The Significant Dimensions, Their Departure from the Requirements for Dimensional Similarity, and the Effect on Flight Aerodynamics of that Departure

$90.00

This is a print on demand edition of a hard-to-find journal.

Cover image for Flight of Birds. The Significant Dimensions, Their Departure from the Requirements for Dimensional Similarity, and the Effect on Flight Aerodynamics of that Departure, isbn: 9798893980752

Review of the Splendid Perches, Callanthias (Percoidei: Callanthiidae)

$45.00

The family Callanthiidae contains two genera, Callanthias (with seven species) and Grammatonotus (with six nominal species). Authors William D. Anderson, Jr., G. David Johnson, and Carole C. Baldwin provide characters that distinguish callanthiids from other percoids and that distinguish Callanthias from Grammatonotus, descriptions of Callanthias and its seven species, a key to the species of Callanthias, and comments on other aspects of the biology of the species of the genus. The authors’ initial interest in the splendid perches emanated not from their spectacular coloration but from specific features of their morphology and their bearing on possible relationships to other perciform fishes. Color illustrations.

Cover image for Review of the Splendid Perches, Callanthias (Percoidei: Callanthiidae), isbn: 9780871693921

Ichthyopedia

$60.00

This volume offers brief biographical sketches of many individuals who have added to our knowledge of the science of ichthyology. It defines “ichthyologist” rather broadly in an effort to give credit to those who, in the absence of research or published contributions, otherwise have made significant collections of fishes, illustrations of fishes, or important donations of ichthyological materials to museums or to individual researchers, as well as to those who made major exploratory expeditions possible. One or more references are cited for each account, alowing access to additional information. Many entries also have a photo or portrait. Credits and Index.

Cover image for Ichthyopedia, isbn: 9780871693099

A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur & Reptile Assemblage from South Carolina, USA

$45.00

Describes a new assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and reptile remains from Campanian and Maastrichtian deposits of eastern South Carolina (SC). Six of the 14 localities include new occurrences of theropod and hadrosaur dinosaurs, substantially increasing the known localities in the eastern U.S. that have produced dinosaur remains. The important but seldom-mentioned role that SC played in the early history of studies of North Amer. Cretaceous deposits and faunas is outlined, and the stratigraphic settings of 14 localities are analyzed. Of the 6 localities where dinosaur bones were found, two yielded the majority -- Stokes Quarry, Darlington County, in the mid-Campanian Coachman Formation; and the late Campanian Donoho Creek Formation at Kingstree, Williamsburg County. Illus.

Cover image for A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur & Reptile Assemblage from South Carolina, USA, isbn: 9780871693235

Beyond Price

$80.00

Man has been intrigued by the origin of pearls, sensitive to their beauty, and convinced of their medicinal value for at least 5 cent. A mixture of folklore and observation preceded the earliest scientific inquiries. Fishing and trade commenced in S. Asia, between India and Sri Lanka and around the Persian Gulf. In W. and Central Europe, Inner Asia and China, and N. Amer. Freshwater pearls were probably known and treasured before those of marine origin. A refined nomenclature points to a long familiarity with etymologically related words for ‘pearl’. Pearls were prominent among the luxury products of world trade and were high among the objectives of expeditions to the eastern and western Tropics. Illustrations.

Cover image for Beyond Price, isbn: 9780871690265

On Being a Bear

$24.95

This up-close, captivating look at an iconic animal traces our complex relationship to bears throughout history—and what they can tell us about ourselves.

On Being a Bear draws on history, legends, scientific studies, and the author’s thirty years of observing bears around the world to offer a richly detailed biography of these iconic animals, including the many ways bears have figured in our lives and imaginations.

As author Rémy Marion tells us, some cultures view bears as our wild cousins—as humans cloaked in fur—while others cast bears as cuddly characters in cartoons or seek to eradicate their grizzled forms from civilization. Scientists have made new discoveries into bears’ varied diets, their powerful sense of smell, and a mother bear’s stubborn patience with her cubs. Bears play a vital role in our ecosystems, and new studies into bear hibernation could lead to medical breakthroughs for humans. Offering these and more astonishing insights, On Being a Bear brings readers face-to-face with these long admired, feared, and misunderstood animals, and sets the record straight through a combination of thrilling science and expert storytelling.

Cover image for On Being a Bear, isbn: 9781771646994

A Mouse in a Cage

$0.00

Questions the treatment of laboratory animals in biomedical research

Laboratory animals are often used to develop medical treatments: vaccines, antibiotics, and organ transplants have all relied upon animal testing to ensure safety and success for human benefit. Yet the relationship between the scientific community's dependence on laboratory animals and the recognition of the need to treat these animals with respect and compassion has given rise to a profound tension.
As animals are increasingly understood to have rights and autonomy, Carrie Friese posits that, while care and compassion for a distant other who suffers are central to humanitarianism, the idea of a distant other itself, which has shaped work with laboratory animals both historically and today, has enacted forms of highly problematic paternalism, creating a double bind. Focusing on the lives of laboratory mice and rats in the United Kingdom, and on the people who take care of, and often kill, these animals, Friese gives the name of “more-than-human humanitarianism” to contradictory practices of suffering and compassion, killing and sacrifice, and compassion and consent that she witnessed in a variety of animal facilities and laboratories.

Friese proposes a new approach to the treatment of laboratory animals that recognizes the interconnectedness of all species and how human actions impact the welfare of other species and the planet as a whole. A Mouse in a Cage is an essential contribution to the ongoing conversation about the ethical treatment of animals.

A Mouse in a Cage

$0.00

Questions the treatment of laboratory animals in biomedical research

Laboratory animals are often used to develop medical treatments: vaccines, antibiotics, and organ transplants have all relied upon animal testing to ensure safety and success for human benefit. Yet the relationship between the scientific community's dependence on laboratory animals and the recognition of the need to treat these animals with respect and compassion has given rise to a profound tension.
As animals are increasingly understood to have rights and autonomy, Carrie Friese posits that, while care and compassion for a distant other who suffers are central to humanitarianism, the idea of a distant other itself, which has shaped work with laboratory animals both historically and today, has enacted forms of highly problematic paternalism, creating a double bind. Focusing on the lives of laboratory mice and rats in the United Kingdom, and on the people who take care of, and often kill, these animals, Friese gives the name of “more-than-human humanitarianism” to contradictory practices of suffering and compassion, killing and sacrifice, and compassion and consent that she witnessed in a variety of animal facilities and laboratories.

Friese proposes a new approach to the treatment of laboratory animals that recognizes the interconnectedness of all species and how human actions impact the welfare of other species and the planet as a whole. A Mouse in a Cage is an essential contribution to the ongoing conversation about the ethical treatment of animals.