Download or read book Antipredator Defenses in Birds and Mammals written by Timothy M. Caro and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-09 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tim Caro explores the many & varied ways in which prey species have evolved defensive characteristics and behaviour to confuse, outperform or outwit their predators, from the camoflaged coat of the giraffe to the extraordinary way in which South American sealions ward off the attacks of killer whales.
Download or read book The North American Porcupine written by Uldis Roze and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Long and sympathetic watching, radio tracking, chemical analysis are all part of this naturalist's ingenious and peaceable arsenal of inquiry into the lives of porcupines."--Scientific American
Download or read book Animal Vigilance written by Guy Beauchamp and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animal Vigilance builds on the author's previous publication with Academic Press (Social Predation: How Group Living Benefits Predators and Prey) by developing several other themes including the development and mechanisms underlying vigilance, as well as developing more fully the evolution and function of vigilance. Animal vigilance has been at the forefront of research on animal behavior for many years, but no comprehensive review of this topic has existed. Students of animal behavior have focused on many aspects of animal vigilance, from models of its adaptive value to empirical research in the laboratory and in the field. The vast literature on vigilance is widely dispersed with often little contact between models and empirical work and between researchers focusing on different taxa such as birds and mammals. Animal Vigilance fills this gap in the available material. - Tackles vigilance from all angles, theoretical and empirical, while including the broadest range of species to underscore unifying themes - Discusses several newer developments in the area, such as vigilance copying and effect of food density - Highlights recent challenges to assumptions of traditional models of vigilance, such as the assumption that vigilance is independent among group members, which is reviewed during discussion of synchronization and coordination of vigilance in a group - Written by a top expert in animal vigilance
Download or read book Escaping From Predators written by William E. Cooper, Jr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a predator attacks, prey are faced with a series of 'if', 'when' and 'how' escape decisions – these critical questions are the foci of this book. Cooper and Blumstein bring together a balance of theory and empirical research to summarise over fifty years of scattered research and benchmark current thinking in the rapidly expanding literature on the behavioural ecology of escaping. The book consolidates current and new behaviour models with taxonomically divided empirical chapters that demonstrate the application of escape theory to different groups. The chapters integrate behaviour with physiology, genetics and evolution to lead the reader through the complex decisions faced by prey during a predator attack, examining how these decisions interact with life history and individual variation. The chapter on best practice field methodology and the ideas for future research presented throughout, ensure this volume is practical as well as informative.
Download or read book Avoiding Attack written by Graeme D. Ruxton and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2004-10-21 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the evolution of the mechanisms by which prey avoid attack by their potential predators and questions how such defences are maintained through natural selection. Topics covered include camouflage, warning signals and mimicry.
Download or read book The Nine Banded Armadillo written by W. J. Loughry and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2024-02-19 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The word armadillo is Spanish for “little armored one.” This midsize mammal that looks like a walking tank is a source of fascination for many people but a mystery to almost all. Dating back at least eleven million years, the nocturnal, burrowing insectivore was for centuries mistaken for a cross between a hedgehog and a turtle, but it actually belongs to the mammalian superorder Xenarthra that includes sloths and anteaters. Biologists W. J. Loughry and Colleen M. McDonough have studied the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) for more than twenty years. Their richly illustrated book offers the first comprehensive review of everything scientists know about this unique animal. Engaging both scientists and a broader public, Loughry and McDonough describe the armadillo’s anatomy and physiology and all aspects of its ecology, behavior, and evolution. They also compare the nine-banded armadillo with twenty or so other, related species. The authors pay special attention to three key features of armadillo biology—reproduction, disease, and habitat expansion—and why they matter. Armadillos reproduce in a unique and puzzling manner: females always give birth to litters of genetically identical quadruplets, a strategy not found in any other vertebrates. Nine-banded armadillos are also the only vertebrates except for humans known to contract leprosy naturally. And what about habitat expansion? The authors suggest that the armadillo’s remarkable spread across the southeastern United States may be the consequence of its most notable feature: a tough, protective carapace. Biologists, evolutionists, students, and all those interested in this curious creature will find The Nine-Banded Armadillo rich in information and insight. This comprehensive analysis will stand as the definitive scientific reference for years to come and a source of pleasure for the general public.
Download or read book Progress in Botany written by Ulrich Lüttge and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With one volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of the plant sciences. The present volume includes reviews on physiology, ecology and vegetation science.
Download or read book Social Predation written by Guy Beauchamp and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2013-12-07 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic literature on predation dealt almost exclusively with solitary predators and their prey. Going back to Lotka-Volterra and optimal foraging theory, the theory about predation, including predator-prey population dynamics, was developed for solitary species. Various consequences of sociality for predators have been considered only recently. Similarly, while it was long recognized that prey species can benefit from living in groups, research on the adaptive value of sociality for prey species mostly emerged in the 1970s. The main theme of this book is the various ways that predators and prey may benefit from living in groups. The first part focusses on predators and explores how group membership influences predation success rate, from searching to subduing prey. The second part focusses on how prey in groups can detect and escape predators. The final section explores group size and composition and how individuals respond over evolutionary times to the challenges posed by chasing or being chased by animals in groups. This book will help the reader understand current issues in social predation theory and provide a synthesis of the literature across a broad range of animal taxa. - Includes the whole taxonomical range rather than limiting it to a select few - Features in-depth analysis that allows a better understanding of many subtleties surrounding the issues related to social predation - Presents both models and empirical results while covering the extensive predator and prey literature - Contains extensive illustrations and separate boxes that cover more technical features, i.e., to present models and review results
Download or read book The Imaginary of Animals written by Annabelle Dufourcq and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the phenomenon of animal imagination and its profound power over the human imagination. It examines the structural and ethical role that the human imagination must play to provide an interface between humans’ subjectivity and the real cognitive capacities of animals. The book offers a systematic study of the increasing importance of the metaphors, the virtual, and figures in contemporary animal studies. It explores human-animal and real-imaginary dichotomies, revealing them to be the source of oppressive cultural structures. Through an analysis of creative, playful and theatric enactments and mimicry of animal behaviors and communication, the book establishes that human imagination is based on animal imagination. This helps redefine our traditional knowledge about animals and presents new practices and ethical concerns in regard to the animals. The book strongly contends that allowing imagination to play a role in our relation to animals will lead to the development of a more empathetic approach towards them. Drawing on works in phenomenology, contemporary animal philosophy, as well as ethological evidence and biosemiotics, this book is the first to rethink the traditional philosophical concepts of imagination, images, the imaginary, and reality in the light of a zoocentric perspective. It will appeal to philosophers, scholars and students in the field of animal studies, as well as anyone interested in human and non-human imaginations.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 2662 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Three Volume Set has engaged with great success the efforts of many of the best behavioral biologists of the 21st century. Section editors drawn from the most accomplished behavioral scientists of their generation have enrolled an international cast of highly respected thinkers and writers all of whom have taken great care and joy in illuminating every imaginable corner of animal behavior. This comprehensive work covers not only the usual topics such as communication, learning, sexual selection, navigation, and the history of the field, but also emerging topics in cognition, animal welfare, conservation, and applications of animal behavior. The large section on animal cognition brings together many of the world's experts on the subject to provide a comprehensive overview of this rapidly developing area. Chapters relating to animal welfare give a full view of behavioral interactions of humans with companion animals, farm animals, and animals in the wild. The key role of animal behavior in conservation biology receives broad attention, including chapters on topics such as the effects of noise pollution, captive breeding, and how the behavioral effects of parasites interacts with conservation issues. Animal behavior in environmental biology is highlighted in chapters on the effects of endocrine disruptors on behavior and a large number of chapters on key species, such as wolves, chimpanzees, hyenas and sharks. Clear, accessible writing complements a wealth of information for undergraduate college students about the essential concepts of animal behavior and the application of those concepts across the field. In-depth coverage of concepts, methods, and exemplar organisms serves the needs of graduate students and professionals in the field. From the use of behavior in assessing the welfare of pigs to the social behavior of insects, from animal empathy to bat brains, this authoritative reference, with its in-depth introductory articles, rich array of illustrations, interactive cross-referenced links, and numerous suggested readings, can guide the student or the professional to an expanded appreciation of the far-flung world of animal behavior. An invaluable tool for teaching and a source of enrichment and detail for any topic covered in an animal behavior course, the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior is the definitive reference work in its field and will be for years to come. Comprehensive work which covers the usual topics along with emerging areas of animal behavior This encyclopedia contains clear, accessible writing and is well illustrated, including an online video, complimenting a wealth of information As an online reference, this work will be subject to period updating. This ensures that the work always remains current Contains in-depth introductions to the material that make each well-illustrated section come alive with the best the new content the discipline has to offer Glossary includes a compendium of behavioral terms that form a succinct mosaic of virtually every concept and phenomenon related to animal behavior Section editors, drawn from around the world, represent the best and the brightest among today's behavioral biologists and have recruited a broad range of internationally recognized experts Editors-in-Chief are experienced scientists and writers who between them have authored or edited eight books and teach courses in animal behavior at their respective universities
Download or read book Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene written by Morten Tønnessen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-04-13 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term “Anthropocene”, the era of mankind, is increasingly being used as a scientific designation for the current geological epoch. This is because the human species now dominates ecosystems worldwide, and affects nature in a way that rivals natural forces in magnitude and scale. Thinking about Animals in the Age of the Anthropocene presents a dozen chapters that address the role and place of animals in this epoch characterized by anthropogenic (human-made) environmental change. While some chapters describe our impact on the living conditions of animals, others question conventional ideas about human exceptionalism, and stress the complex cognitive and other abilities of animals. The Anthropocene idea forces us to rethink our relation to nature and to animals, and to critically reflect on our own role and place in the world, as a species. Nature is not what it was. Nor are the lives of animals as they used to be before mankind´s rise to global ecological prominence. Can we eventually learn to live with animals, rather than causing extinction and ecological mayhem?
Download or read book Advances in the Study of Behavior written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2022-04-28 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in the Study of Behavior, Volume 54 highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on Mobbing in animals: a thorough review and proposed future directions, Learned components of courtship: a focus on gestures, choreographies and construction abilities, Sexual selection in the true bugs, and Brain-behavior relationships of cognition in vertebrates: lessons from amphibians, Pre-Copulatory and Copulatory Courtship in Male-Dimorphic Arthropods. - Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors - Presents the latest release in Advances in the Study of Behavior - Updated release includes the latest information on Advances in the Study of Behavior
Download or read book Evolution of Sleep written by Patrick McNamara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and biological anthropology and to biomedical researchers studying sleep medicine.
Download or read book Zoobiquity written by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory depiction of what animals can teach us about the human body and mind, exploring how animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and heal patients of all species. "Full of fascinating stories.” —Atul Gawande, M.D. Do animals overeat? Get breast cancer? Have fainting spells? Inspired by an eye-opening consultation at the Los Angeles Zoo, which revealed that a monkey experienced the same symptoms of heart failure as human patients, cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz embarked upon a project that would reshape how she practiced medicine. Beginning with the above questions, she began informally researching every affliction that she encountered in humans to learn whether it happened with animals, too. And usually, it did: dinosaurs suffered from brain cancer, koalas can catch chlamydia, reindeer seek narcotic escape in hallucinogenic mushrooms, stallions self-mutilate, and gorillas experience clinical depression. Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers have dubbed this pan-species approach to medicine zoobiquity. New York Times Bestseller An O, The Oprah Magazine “Summer Reading” Pick A Discover Magazine Best Book
Download or read book Zoobiquity written by Dr. Barbara N. Horowitz and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engaging science writing that bravely approaches a new frontier in medical science and offers a whole new way of looking at the deep kinship between animals and human beings. Zoobiquity: a species-spanning approach to medicine bringing doctors and veterinarians together to improve the health of all species and their habitats. In the tradition of Temple Grandin, Oliver Sacks, and Neil Shubin, this is a remarkable narrative science book arguing that animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and ultimately heal human patients. Through case studies of various species--human and animal kind alike--the authors reveal that a cross-species approach to medicine makes us not only better able to treat psychological and medical conditions but helps us understand our deep connection to other species with whom we share much more than just a planet. This revelatory book reaches across many disciplines--evolution, anthropology, sociology, biology, cutting-edge medicine and zoology--providing fascinating insights into the connection between animals and humans and what animals can teach us about the human body and mind.
Download or read book Sociobiology of Caviomorph Rodents written by Luis A. Ebensperger and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully integrative approach to the socibiology of caviomorph rodents Brings together research on social systems with that on epigenetic, neurendocrine and developmental mechanisms of social behavior Describes the social systems of many previously understudied caviomorph species, identifying the fitness costs and benefits of social living in current day populations as well as quantified evolutionary patterns or trends Highlights potential parallels and differences with other animal models
Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare written by D. S. Mills and published by CABI. This book was released on 2010 with total page 701 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The practical focus of this authoritative, comprehensive encyclopedia promotes the understanding and improvement of animals' behaviour without compromising welfare. It will be an essential resource for practising veterinarians, researchers and students in zoology and ethology, and for all those working with and interested in animals and their welfare. --Book Jacket.
