Koala: The Extraordinary Life of an Enigmatic Animal

Koala: The Extraordinary Life of an Enigmatic Animal PDF Author: Danielle Clode
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324036842
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
A New Scientist Best Popular Science Book of the Year "This is the book I’ve been waiting for." —Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus An Australian biologist delves into the extraordinary world of koalas, from their ancient ancestors to the current threats to their survival. Koalas regularly appeared in Australian biologist Danielle Clode’s backyard, but it was only when a bushfire threatened that she truly paid them attention. She soon realized how much she had to learn about these complex and mysterious animals. In vivid, descriptive prose, Clode embarks on a delightful and surprising journey through evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology to understand where these enigmatic animals came from and what their future may hold. She begins her search with the fossils of ancient giant koalas, delving into why the modern koala has become the lone survivor of a once-diverse family of uniquely Australian marsupials. Koala investigates the remarkable physiology of these charismatic creatures. Born the size of tiny “jellybeans,” joeys face an uphill battle, from crawling into their mother’s pouch to being weaned onto a toxic diet of gum-tree leaves, the koalas’ single source of food. Clode explores the complex relationship and unexpected connections between this endearing species and humans. She explains how koalas are simultaneously threatened with extinction in some areas due to disease, climate change, and increasing wildfires, while overpopulating forests in other parts of the country. Deeply researched and filled with wonder, Koala is both a tender and inquisitive paean to a species unlike any other and a call to ensure its survival.

Koala: The Extraordinary Life of an Enigmatic Animal

Koala: The Extraordinary Life of an Enigmatic Animal PDF Author: Danielle Clode
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324036842
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
A New Scientist Best Popular Science Book of the Year "This is the book I’ve been waiting for." —Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus An Australian biologist delves into the extraordinary world of koalas, from their ancient ancestors to the current threats to their survival. Koalas regularly appeared in Australian biologist Danielle Clode’s backyard, but it was only when a bushfire threatened that she truly paid them attention. She soon realized how much she had to learn about these complex and mysterious animals. In vivid, descriptive prose, Clode embarks on a delightful and surprising journey through evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology to understand where these enigmatic animals came from and what their future may hold. She begins her search with the fossils of ancient giant koalas, delving into why the modern koala has become the lone survivor of a once-diverse family of uniquely Australian marsupials. Koala investigates the remarkable physiology of these charismatic creatures. Born the size of tiny “jellybeans,” joeys face an uphill battle, from crawling into their mother’s pouch to being weaned onto a toxic diet of gum-tree leaves, the koalas’ single source of food. Clode explores the complex relationship and unexpected connections between this endearing species and humans. She explains how koalas are simultaneously threatened with extinction in some areas due to disease, climate change, and increasing wildfires, while overpopulating forests in other parts of the country. Deeply researched and filled with wonder, Koala is both a tender and inquisitive paean to a species unlike any other and a call to ensure its survival.

Koala

Koala PDF Author: Danielle Clode
Publisher: W. W. Norton
ISBN: 9781324074496
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An Australian biologist delves into the extraordinary world of koalas, from their ancient ancestors to the current threats to their survival.

The Inadequate Environment

The Inadequate Environment PDF Author: Thomas C.R. White
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364278299X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
Ecology is characterized by a rapidly growing complexity and diversity of facts, aspects, examples, and observations. What is badly needed is the development of common patterns, of rules that, as in other sciences such as physics, can more generally explain the increasing complexity and variability we observe. Tom White, being one of the "seniors" in ecology, makes such an attempt in his book. the pattern he shows and explains with numerous examples from the entire animal kingdom is a universal hunger for nitrogen, a misery that drives the ecology of all organisms. He advocates that the awareness of this fundamental role that the limitation of nitrogen plays in the ecology of all organisms should be as a much part of each ecologis's intellectual equipment as is the awareness of the fact of evolution by means of natural selection. His claim is that not "enery" but "nitrogen" is the most limited "currency" in the animal world for the production and growth of their young.

Extinct Madagascar

Extinct Madagascar PDF Author: Steven M. Goodman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022615694X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
The landscapes of Madagascar have long delighted zoologists, who have discovered, in and among the island’s baobab trees and thickets, a dizzying array of animals, including something approaching one hundred species of lemur. Madagascar’s mammal fauna, for example, is far more diverse, and more endemic, than early explorers and naturalists ever dreamed of. But in the past 2,500 or so years—a period associated with natural climatic shifts and ecological change, as well as partially coinciding with the arrival of the island’s first human settlers—a considerable proportion of Madagascar’s forests have disappeared; and in the wake of this loss, a number of species unique to Madagascar have vanished forever into extinction. In Extinct Madagascar, noted scientists Steven M. Goodman and William L. Jungers explore the recent past of these land animal extinctions. Beginning with an introduction to the geologic and ecological history of Madagascar that provides context for the evolution, diversification, and, in some cases, rapid decline of the Malagasy fauna, Goodman and Jungers then seek to recapture these extinct mammals in their environs. Aided in their quest by artist Velizar Simeonovski’s beautiful and haunting digital paintings—images of both individual species and ecosystem assemblages reproduced here in full color—Goodman and Jungers reconstruct the lives of these lost animals and trace their relationships to those still living. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of Simeonovski’s artwork set to open at the Field Museum, Chicago, in the fall of 2014, Goodman and Jungers’s awe-inspiring book will serve not only as a sobering reminder of the very real threat of extinction, but also as a stunning tribute to Madagascar’s biodiversity and a catalyst for further research and conservation.

Mammalian Sexuality

Mammalian Sexuality PDF Author: Alan F. Dixson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426182
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
The first detailed account of post-copulatory sexual selection and the evolution of reproduction in mammals.

Landers Film Reviews

Landers Film Reviews PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Motion pictures
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description


Country Life

Country Life PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Country life
Languages : en
Pages : 908

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Book Description


Tracking the Vanishing Frogs

Tracking the Vanishing Frogs PDF Author: Kathryn Phillips
Publisher: Penguin Mass Market
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
In her novel-like ecological study, Phillips details scientists' efforts in wetlands, woodlands, rain forests, and laboratories to understand why so many species of frogs are vanishing. She clearly describes the environmental and human factors that threaten these underappreciated creatures and draws a fascinating, real-world picture of how science and scientists work. Photos.

Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand

Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand PDF Author: Marcus Chown
Publisher: Diversion Books
ISBN: 1635765935
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A mind-bending journey through some of the most weird and wonderful facts about our universe, vividly illuminating the hidden truths that govern our everyday lives. Fact: You could fit the whole human race in the volume of a sugar cube. Fact: The electrical energy in a single mosquito is enough to cause a global mass extinction. Fact: You age more quickly on the top floor than on the ground floor. So much of our world seems to make perfect sense, and scientific breakthroughs have helped us understand ourselves, our planet, and our place in the universe in fascinating detail. But our adventures in space, our deepening understanding of the quantum world, and our leaps in technology have also revealed a universe far stranger than we ever imagined. With brilliant clarity and wit, bestselling author Marcus Chown examines the profound science behind fifty remarkable scientific facts that help explain the vast complexities of our existence. “The tone is consistently light and breezy...An addictive, intriguing, and entertaining read...A handy guide for anyone yearning to spice up their conversational skills.”—Booklist “Heavy stuff lightly spun―just the thing for the science buff in the house.”―Kirkus Review

The Secret Life of Wombats

The Secret Life of Wombats PDF Author: James Woodford
Publisher: Text Publishing
ISBN: 1921834900
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Whitley Award winner for Best Popular Zoology Book. With his usual brilliance James Woodford explores the wombat's bizarre evolutionary history and perilous future. This is popular science writing at its best: an irresistible subject in the hands of an irrepressible author.