Zoology and animal sciences

This is a tale of human obsession, one intrepid tuna, the dedicated fisherman who caught and set her free, the promises and limits of ocean science and the big truth of how our insatiable appetite for bluefin transformed a cottage industry into a global...

The second book by the bestselling author of Extraordinary Insects Trees clean air and water; hoverflies and bees pollinate our crops; the kingfisher inspired the construction of high-speed trains. In Tapestries of Life, bestselling author Anne...

‘Fascinating’ Greta Thunberg‘Extraordinary’ Merlin Sheldrake‘A must-read’ New Scientist‘Enthralling’ George Monbiot‘Brilliant’ Philip Hoare Wildlife filmmaker Tom Mustill had always liked whales. But when one breached onto his kayak, nearly killing him,...

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural worldA squirrel...

The only title available on Australian Dragon Lizards including the most recent understanding of their origins and life history.Australia's mostly hot dry continent is home to nearly 800 described species and the seven Australian families represent four...

For most of us, shrimps, prawns and lobsters immediately brings to mind something edible and tasty and many are small inconspicuous inhabitants living on our shores and in shallow water.This guide includes a description of each animal...

Have you ever wondered how a sheepdog, police horse, leopard or octopus is trained? Carrots and Sticks brings behavioural science to life, explaining animal training techniques in the language of learning theory. The first sections on instinct and...

'For the first time, fish became our companions and a corner of many a Victorian parlour was given over to housing tiny fragments of their world enclosed in glass.'The experience of seeing a fish swimming in a glass tank is one we take...

Historically, grief and spirituality have been jealously guarded as uniquely human attributes. Although nonhuman animal grief has been acknowledged in recent times, the potency of the feeling has not been recognised as equal to human grief. Both academic...

Obaysch: A Hippopotamus in Victorian London is the story of Obaysch the hippopotamus, the first 'star' animal to be exhibited in the London Zoo. In 1850, a baby hippopotamus arrived on English shores, allegedly the first in Europe since the...

Nature's Sexual Spectrum is a celebration of the astonishing diversity of sexual behaviour, biology and reproduction found in nature. From penguins to primates, same-sex behaviours and courtship are more widespread in the natural world than many people...

Victoria's South-West is an iconic region of Australia that includes the exceptional landscape features of the Grampians-Gariwerd, the Victorian Volcanic Plain with crater lakes and cones, the forests of the Great Dividing Range, and Melbourne...

Miniature Lives provides a range of simple strategies that people can use to identify and learn more about the insects in their homes and gardens. Featuring a step-by-step, illustrated identification key and colour photographs, the book...

Mayflies are one of the world's most diverse, abundant and important aquatic insects. Famous for their brief adult life spans, mayflies play a key role in the ecology of aquatic and associated terrestrial ecosystems, and are critical...

Amphibians are one of the world's most rapidly declining fauna groups. In an era of devastating climate change, habitat destruction and irreplaceable loss of biological diversity, it has never been more important to have effective resources for...

Although not closely related, quail, buttonquail and the Plains-wanderer have much in common. Quail, Buttonquail and Plains-Wanderer in Australia and New Zealand examines 14 species of these small, secretive ground-dwelling birds, including Old World and...

Though many are harmless and even beneficial, invertebrates are some of the world's most feared and dangerous creatures.Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates describes the health threats posed by invertebrate groups worldwide, from...

Pest animals are just one of many factors that influence the desired outcome from managing natural resource based systems, whether for production or conservation purposes. Others factors include diseases, weeds, financial resources, weather and fire...

 Longhorn Beetles - Cerambycidae are one of the most easily recognised groups of beetles, a family that worldwide encompasses over 33,000 species in 5,200 genera. With over 1,400 species classified in 300...

This handy pocket guide allows the non-specialist to identify major insect and arachnid pests found in stored cereal grains, grain products and grain legumes. It describes most storage pests found worldwide rather than concentrating on Australia and...

Falcons are stunning and iconic birds. Australia has six falcon species, with two endemic to the continent and two others endemic to the Australasian region. They are important indicators of the health of our ecosystems, due to their position at the top...

Australia's coral reefs stretch far and wide, covering 50 000 square kilometres from the Indian Ocean in the West to the Pacific Ocean in the East. They have been viewed as a bedrock of coastal livelihoods, as uncharted and perilous nautical...

Age range 6 to 9A reindeer treks a continent under unimaginable weather extremes. One tiny bird flies non-stop for nine days, while another flies from the north to south pole (and back!) every year. A whale swims around an entire hemisphere.Animal...

Feather and Brush traces the history of bird art in Australia - from the simple engravings illustrating accounts of the earliest European voyages of discovery to the diversity of artwork available today. It explores the early European approach, in which...

Dragonflies and damselflies are conspicuous insects: many are large and brightly coloured. They are also valuable indicators of environmental wellbeing. A detailed knowledge of the dragonfly fauna is therefore an important basis for decisions about...

Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviours - from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from...

Australia is home to more than 240 species of frogs, many of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The Photographic Field Guide to Australian Frogs provides readers with the tools to confidently identify 242 species and five recognised...

This Second Edition of Australian Bird Names is a completely updated checklist of Australian birds and the meanings behind their common and scientific names, which may be useful, useless or downright misleading! For each species, the authors examine the...

Raptors are popular and iconic birds, and are important ecologically, with some species listed as threatened. Yet they are among the most difficult birds to identify. This fully updated Third Edition of the popular and award-winning field guide Birds of...

Most living carnivorous marsupials lead a secretive and solitary existence. From tiny insect eaters to theformidable Tasmanian Devil, Secret Lives of Carnivorous Marsupials offers rare insight into the history andhabits of these creatures from their...

Insects of South-Eastern Australia is a unique field guide that uses host plants and behavioural attributes as the starting point for identifying insects. Richly illustrated with colour photographs, the different species of insects found in Australia's...

This field guide to introduced dung beetles in Australia covers all species found in Australia, including two newly introduced species. It will enable farmers, Landcare workers and the interested public to identify and learn about the...

Winner of the 2019 Whitley Award for Natural HistoryVictoria's reptile population is not often encountered by urban dwellers, with many species rare or threatened. You may have glimpsed a skink darting into the undergrowth, a snake slithering along a...

Stan Coren’s groundbreaking The Intelligence of Dogs meets Bernd Heinrich’s classic Mind of the Raven in this astonishing, beautifully illustrated look at the uncanny intelligence and emotions of crows.Playful, social, and passionate, crows have brains...

A richly illustrated guide to wasps around the world.Wasps have been around since before the dinosaurs and are one of the world's largest insect groups. More than 150,000 species have been identified, and while the black-and-yellow insect with a cinched...

There are more than fifteen thousand butterfly species in the world, fluttering through a wide variety of habitats. Bright and beautiful, butterflies also have fascinating life histories and play an important role in our planet's ecosystems. The Lives of...

Birds are the most consistently inventive builders, and their nests set the bar for functional design in nature. Describing how birds design, engineer and build their nests, Avian Architecture deconstructs all types of nests found around the world using...

A fun, pocket-size AZ treasury about sharks, featuring fascinating, little-known facts and captivating illustrationsSharkpedia is an entertaining and enlightening celebration of sharks featuring close to 100 entries, based on the latest knowledge and...

Ray Troll's newbook Spawn Till You Die: The Fin Art ofRay TrollFor more than fourdecades, this celebrated Alaskan artist has been luring, hooking, and landingfans around the world with his mesmerizing renditions of the inhabitants ofPlanet Ocean, past...

A beautifully illustrated guide to the natural history and breathtaking diversity of spiders around the world.Spiders are dominant predators in virtually every terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. A marvel of evolution with species numbering in the tens...

A lavishly illustrated, large-format reference book by two preeminent experts on North American shorebirdsMore than half a century has passed since the publication of The Shorebirds of North America, Peter Matthiessen's masterful natural history of what...

Ants come alive on this fabulously illustrated journey into the heart of a bustling colony.Ants share a vibrant and complex communal life and remarkable abilities to communicate with each other. The Ant Collective presents the world of ants as you have...

A richly illustrated guide to the world's frogs that includes species from every family.With more than 7,600 known species, frogs exhibit an extraordinary range of forms and behaviours, from those that produce toxins so deadly that they could kill a...

Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners takes readers inside a world seldom seen even by beekeepers, shedding light on twenty of the most compelling mysteries of honey bee behaviour.Thomas Seeley has devoted a lifetime to the study of honey bees and...

Gorillas are among the most recognizable of the large charismatic mammals, but climate change and poaching has brought them to the brink of extinction. Greg Cummings was the executive director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund for seventeen years. He...

An eye-opening volume of research andphotographs 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...

An authoritative, marvelously illustrated field guide to the velvet ants of North AmericaVelvet Ants of North America is a beautiful photographic guide to the species of the wasp family Mutillidae found in the United States and Canada. Featuring hundreds...

A stunningly illustrated guide to these extraordinary creatures from a world-renowned paleontologist. Paleobiology has advanced from a speculative subject to a cutting-edge science. Today, researchers are applying the latest forensic technologies to the...