Manual of Exotic Pet Practice


Book Description

The only book of its kind with in-depth coverage of the most common exotic species presented in practice, this comprehensive guide prepares you to treat invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles, birds, marsupials, North American wildlife, and small mammals such as ferrets, rabbits, and rodents. Organized by species, each chapter features vivid color images that demonstrate the unique anatomic, medical, and surgical features of each species. This essential reference also provides a comprehensive overview of biology, husbandry, preventive medicine, common disease presentations, zoonoses, and much more. Other key topics include common health and nutritional issues as well as restraint techniques, lab values, drug dosages, and special equipment needed to treat exotics. Brings cutting-edge information on all exotic species together in one convenient resource. Offers essential strategies for preparing your staff to properly handle and treat exotic patients. Features an entire chapter on equipping your practice to accommodate exotic species, including the necessary equipment for housing, diagnostics, pathology, surgery, and therapeutics. Provides life-saving information on CPR, drugs, and supportive care for exotic animals in distress. Discusses wildlife rehabilitation, with valuable information on laws and regulations, establishing licensure, orphan care, and emergency care. Includes an entire chapter devoted to the emergency management of North American wildlife. Offers expert guidance on treating exotics for practitioners who may not be experienced in exotic pet care.




Walker's Marsupials of the World


Book Description

Authoritative and engaging, this volume from the Walker's Mammals series focuses on marsupials, pouched animals whose unusual method of reproduction—between egg laying and placental birth—places them in a unique category among mammals. A comprehensive guide to the biology and distribution of marsupials, this book includes common and scientific names, size and physical traits, habitat and ecology, behavior and social interactions, reproduction, life span, and conservation. The text is coupled with illustrations from the collections of leading photographers and the world's greatest museums. An introduction by marsupial expert Christopher R. Dickman describes the evolution and current status of marsupials and reveals why they add so much intrigue to the natural world.




Secret Lives of Carnivorous Marsupials


Book Description

Most living carnivorous marsupials lead a secretive and solitary existence. From tiny insect eaters to the formidable Tasmanian Devil, Secret Lives of Carnivorous Marsupials offers rare insight into the history and habits of these creatures – from their discovery by intrepid explorers and scientists to their unique life cycles and incredible ways of hunting prey. Secret Lives of Carnivorous Marsupials provides a guide to the world’s 136 living species of carnivorous marsupials and is packed with never-before-seen photos. Biogeography, relationships and conservation are also covered in detail. Readers are taken on a journey through remote Australia, the Americas and dark, mysterious New Guinea – some of the last truly wild places on Earth. The book describes frenzied mating sessions, minuscule mammals that catch prey far larger than themselves, and extinct predators including marsupial lions, wolves and even sabre-toothed kangaroos.




A Fragile Balance


Book Description

"The extraordinary story of these fascinating animals, A Fragile Balance, provides up-to-date information on marsupials without losing sight of the unique set of circumstances that led them to diversify Down Under. Covering all marsupial species in Australia, the book uses an evolutionary and natural history framework to interpret their biological traits. The general chapters on biology, evolution, natural history, cultural history and conservation are bounded by feature treatments of six species of note. A Fragile Balance is the first book to emphasize interactions among marsupials, and between marsupials and their environment, as well as between humans and marsupials. The text is completed by accounts of all known species, each including a basic biological and ecological description, a range map and a measure of conservation status."--BOOK JACKET.




What Is a Marsupial?


Book Description

Describes the physical characteristics, behavior, and habitat of the main types of marsupials and the differences between them and placental mammals, including reproduction, gestation, and birth.




A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Lord Howe Island


Book Description

Lord Howe Island has Australia's highest diversity and endemicity of land snails. These beautiful but vulnerable creatures are not as readily observed or as well understood as the bird or plant life of the island, but play a vital role in the terrestrial ecosystem. For the first time, the native and endemic land snails of Lord Howe Island are shown together in this illustrated guide, designed for anyone from enthusiastic nature lovers to land snail specialists. Features of the guide include a pictorial guide to families and a dichotomous key for easy identification, and detailed descriptions of each genus and species, including distribution maps and photographs of the shell and (where available) the live animal. All descriptive terms are explained and illustrated in the introductory material and in the glossary.




The Developing Marsupial


Book Description

Marsupials are excellent objects for studies on developmental processes in all mammals including humans. Marsupials are very immature at birth and undergo most of their development in a pouch where they can be manipulated in a variety of ways without affecting the mother. Most of these studies are on systems which largely mature before birth in eutherian mammals and are consequently difficult to investigate. Attention is also drawn to certain features peculiar to adult marsupials: e.g., they continue to grow throughout adult life, valuable for studies on growth mechanisms, and furthermore the composition of marsupial milk changes radically through lactation, most important in studies of hormonal regulation of milk composition and secretion.




Marsupial Sue


Book Description

Sue doesn't want to be a kangaroo! She's sure there's something out there much better for her to be, so she goes off to explore. And sure enough, there are lots and lots of choices out there--but Sue's in for a surprise when she finally realizes that maybe a kangaroo is exactly what she wants to be.




Life of Marsupials


Book Description

Over the past half a century research has revealed that marsupials – far from being ‘second class’ mammals – have adaptations for particular ways of life quite equal to their placental counterparts. Despite long separate evolution, there are extraordinary similarities in which marsupials have solved the challenges of living in such environments as deserts, alpine snowfields or tropical rainforests. Some can live on grass, some on pollen and others on leaves; some can glide, some can swim and others hop with extraordinary efficiency. In Life of Marsupials, one of the world’s leading experts explores the biology and evolution of this unusual group – with their extraordinary diversity of forms around the world – in Australia, New Guinea and South America. Joint winner of the 2005 Whitley Medal. Included in Choice Magazine's 2006 Outstanding Academic Titles list.




What is a Mammal?


Book Description

This delightful book shows children the ways in which mammals are different from other living things. Fascinating examples are featured, from mammals that lay eggs or have a pouch to human beings.