To understand an animal no one sees, Patten conducted more than one hundred interviews with biologists, conservation groups, state wildlife managers, houndsmen, and professional trackers. Slowly, a picture of the lion's elusive nature emerged. Ghostwalker presents a complete picture of mountain lions in the West today, uncovering the intimacies of their secretive lifestyle as well as the issues they face in our changing world.

To millions of people in Miami and beyond, Ron Magill is the face and voice of all things' wildlife. ─Mireya Mayor, PhD and National Geographic Explorer

Editors' Pick
#1 Best Seller in Biology of Cats, Lions & Tigers

Discover the true and incredible survival story of K'wasi, the lion cub who overcame unimaginable odds

Magnificently documented by wildlife expert Ron Magill. K'wasi's story is told by world renowned wildlife photographer and Zoo Miami's Goodwill Ambassador, Ron Magill who documented and photographed every stage of K'wasi's remarkable roller coaster life. Join Ron and his half-a-century career as he helps us all understand the life lessons the animal kingdom has for us.

A survival story of grit and resilience. The story of K'wasi the lion cub is one of heartbreak and triumph. He was born to Asha at Zoo Miami in late 2013 and captured the heart of the nation as an incredibly cute lion cub. K'wasi was orphaned in March 2014 when his mother tragically died. K'wasi's remarkable journey takes him from the untimely death of his mother to magnificent star of Lion Country Safari.

Animals have feelings too. Society has only recently accepted the incredible emotional intelligence of dogs, pigs, and chimpanzees. But through K'wasi's remarkable story, Ron Magill details how evolved the animal kingdom truly is--lions in particular. Funny, engaging, touching, and thrilling, The Pride of a Lion teaches us about family, resilience, and the meaning of life.

Inside find:

• Gripping accounts of K'wasi's triumphs against extreme adversity
• Ron Magill's stunning wildlife photography capturing K'wasi's remarkable life
• Profound insights into the emotional intelligence and complex social dynamics of the lion kingdom

A fan of The Lion King, or liked The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life, The Soul of an Octopus, or The Good Good Pig? Then you'll love The Pride of a Lion.

Most accounts of the natural evolution of wolves place it over a span of about 15,000 years, but within a decade, Belyaev and Trut's fox breeding experiments had resulted in puppy-like foxes with floppy ears, piebald spots, and curly tails. Along with these physical changes came genetic and behavioral changes, as well. The foxes were bred using selection criteria for tameness, and with each generation, they became increasingly interested in human companionship. Trut has been there the whole time, and has been the lead scientist on this work since Belyaev's death in 1985, and with Lee Dugatkin, biologist and science writer, she tells the story of the adventure, science, politics, and love behind it all. In How to Tame a Fox, Dugatkin and Trut take us inside this path-breaking experiment in the midst of the brutal winters of Siberia to reveal how scientific history is made and continues to be made today.

To date, fifty-six generations of foxes have been domesticated, and we continue to learn significant lessons from them about the genetic and behavioral evolution of domesticated animals. How to Tame a Fox offers an incredible tale of scientists at work, while also celebrating the deep attachments that have brought humans and animals together throughout time.

Pocket Guide to the Mammals of Costa Rica is the first guide to provide comprehensive coverage of every currently known mammal species found in Costa Rica. From the Central American Silky Anteater to the West Indian Manatee, Fiona A. Reid and Gianfranco Gómez Zamora introduce readers to over 200 species inhabiting the country and its waters. This pocket guide features:
- 60 plates with full-color illustrations and over 100 photographs
- An illustrated introduction covering the history of mammalogy in Costa Rica, how to find mammals, and more
- Up-to-date species accounts, range maps, and natural history vignettes
Lavishly illustrated and highly portable, the Pocket Guide to the Mammals of Costa Rica is indispensable for biologists, eco-tourists, and naturalists eager to learn more about the mammalian fauna of this small but biologically rich country.

In this illuminating introduction to the world of bats, Tony Hutson reveals the secrets of these extraordinary creatures.

Beginning with their anatomy, Hutson explores how bats' unique characteristics have enabled them to evolve to fill a wide variety of habitats and niches. He examines their different life cycles, dietary strategies, migration patterns, and unique feats of echolocation. And he also discusses their predators, parasites, the man-made threats to their ecosystem, and how the viruses harbored by bats can have an impact on humans.

Bats also features an appendix of bat families that details the number of genera and species and their distribution and diet.

Unequivocally: yes. In The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, cetacean biologists Hal Whitehead, who has spent much of his life on the ocean trying to understand whales, and Luke Rendell, whose research focuses on the evolution of social learning, open an astounding porthole onto the fascinating culture beneath the waves. As Whitehead and Rendell show, cetacean culture and its transmission are shaped by a blend of adaptations, innate sociality, and the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live: a watery world in which a hundred-and-fifty-ton blue whale can move with utter grace, and where the vertical expanse is as vital, and almost as vast, as the horizontal.

Drawing on their own research as well as a scientific literature as immense as the sea--including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience--Whitehead and Rendell dive into realms both humbling and enlightening as they seek to define what cetacean culture is, why it exists, and what it means for the future of whales and dolphins. And, ultimately, what it means for our future, as well.

In Different, world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal draws on decades of observation and studies of both human and animal behavior to argue that despite the linkage between gender and biological sex, biology does not automatically support the traditional gender roles in human societies. While humans and other primates do share some behavioral differences, biology offers no justification for existing gender inequalities.

Using chimpanzees and bonobos to illustrate this point--two ape relatives that are genetically equally close to humans--de Waal challenges widely held beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and common assumptions about authority, leadership, cooperation, competition, filial bonds, and sexual behavior. Chimpanzees are male-dominated and violent, while bonobos are female-dominated and peaceful. In both species, political power needs to be distinguished from physical dominance. Power is not limited to the males, and both sexes show true leadership capacities.

Different is a fresh and thought-provoking approach to the long-running debate about the balance between nature and nurture, and where sex and gender roles fit in. De Waal peppers his discussion with details from his own life--a Dutch childhood in a family of six boys, his marriage to a French woman with a different orientation toward gender, and decades of academic turf wars over outdated scientific theories that have proven hard to dislodge from public discourse. He discusses sexual orientation, gender identity, and the limitations of the gender binary, exceptions to which are also found in other primates.

With humor, clarity, and compassion, Different seeks to broaden the conversation about human gender dynamics by promoting an inclusive model that embraces differences, rather than negating them.

Blue tigers, king cheetahs, black cougars, spotted lions...
water leopards, rainbow jaguars, transcaucasian demon cats,
mexican onzas, surviving saber-tooths, feline mega-marsupials, and more.

Mystery Cats of the World Revisited investigates the breadth and depth of the mystery cat phenomenon around the world. What are these enigmatic cat-like animals that have been glimpsed in wild and lonely areas of the world? Are they exotic wild animals that have escaped from captivity, or just common creatures improperly observed? Or could some be genuinely elusive cat forms still unknown to science or supposedly long extinct? According to scientific conventions, these mystery cats cannot exist, but they have attracted increasing attention from natural historians and the public worldwide.

This fully illustrated work is an updated, greatly-expanded edition of Karl Shuker's very first book, Mystery Cats of the World, a classic of the cryptozoological literature, now highly sought after by collectors and lauded by cryptozoologists and mainstream zoologists alike for its scrupulously scientific, objective analyses. This new edition examines many new mystery cats reports as well as revisits those previously featured in the original 1989 edition. As such, it remains the only indisputably definitive work on mystery cats in existence.

In Different, world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal draws on decades of observation and studies of both human and animal behavior to argue that despite the linkage between gender and biological sex, biology does not automatically support the traditional gender roles in human societies. While humans and other primates do share some behavioral differences, biology offers no justification for existing gender inequalities.

Using chimpanzees and bonobos to illustrate this point--two ape relatives that are genetically equally close to humans--de Waal challenges widely held beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and common assumptions about authority, leadership, cooperation, competition, filial bonds, and sexual behavior. Chimpanzees are male-dominated and violent, while bonobos are female-dominated and peaceful. In both species, political power needs to be distinguished from physical dominance. Power is not limited to the males, and both sexes show true leadership capacities.

Different is a fresh and thought-provoking approach to the long-running debate about the balance between nature and nurture, and where sex and gender roles fit in. De Waal peppers his discussion with details from his own life--a Dutch childhood in a family of six boys, his marriage to a French woman with a different orientation toward gender, and decades of academic turf wars over outdated scientific theories that have proven hard to dislodge from public discourse. He discusses sexual orientation, gender identity, and the limitations of the gender binary, exceptions to which are also found in other primates.

With humor, clarity, and compassion, Different seeks to broaden the conversation about human gender dynamics by promoting an inclusive model that embraces differences, rather than negating them.

Snakes is a comprehensive introduction to the biology and natural history of this ecologically diverse and important group of animals. From garter snakes and vipers to boas and pythons, authors David Gower, Katie Garrett, and Simon Maddock showcase the variety and complexity of a group that includes more than four thousand living species.

Snakes inhabit almost every part of the globe. While some live only in the water, others are found primarily in the treetops of rain forests or underground in deserts. This book reveals the myriad ways snakes have adapted to such diverse habitats and the workings of their unique behavior--how they are able to move so gracefully even without limbs, swallow meals several times the size of their heads, and survive without eating for months. Along the way, readers will also learn about the latest research on new species, taxonomic changes, and conservation status. With stunning color illustrations throughout, Snakes is an indispensable guide to these fascinating and awe-inspiring creatures.

Alternately portrayed as a scourge and as a high value commodity, the thylacine's ecology and behavior were known only anecdotally. In recent years, its taxonomic position, ecology, behavior and body size have all been re-examined scientifically, while advances in genetics have presented the potential for de-extinction.

With 78 contributors, Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger presents an evidence-based profile of the thylacine, examining its ecology, evolution, encounters with humans, persecution, assumed extinction and its appearance in fiction. The final chapters explore the future for this iconic species - a symbol of extinction but also hope.

Features:

• Includes a diverse range of author contributions.
• Covers the thylacine from evolution to extinction to fiction.
• Presents the best evidence to date for the species' post-1936 survival.
• The authors are generously allocating all their royalties from the sale of this book to support research into Devil Facial Tumor Disease, a devastating and contagious disease now threatening the wild population of Tasmanian devil - the world's current largest marsupial carnivore.

A Zen master and butcher by profession once said that until he understood the body he had repeatedly to sharpen his knives. After his illumination over the import of joint spaces, he never had to sharpen his implements again.

Carving Nature at Its Joints surveys a variety of mammals from the mole to the rhinoceros. It offers fresh perspectives on anatomy, behavior, development, and evolution and explores Dr. Theodore Grand's methods for getting beyond-beneath, below, behind, and past-conventional top-down reductionist approaches.

You will discover:

• why language is the primary wrinkle in the fabric of science;
• why traditional disciplines are self-limiting;
• why parts and wholes are less problematic for physical than for biological and social sciences;
• why the buck stopped at Aristotle's laws of formal logic;
• why we are wedged between opposed cognitive systems.

The Badgers of Wytham Woods will appeal to a broad audience of professional academics (especially carnivore and mammalian biologists), researchers and students at all levels, governmental and non-governmental wildlife bodies, and to the natural historian fascinated by wild animals and the remarkable processes of nature they exemplify.

The grey wolf is one of the world's most polarizing and charismatic species. Respected, adored, or held in awe by many as an icon of wilderness, wolves have also sparked fear and hatred when they have come into conflict with human presence. Not surprisingly, they are one of the most intensively studied mammalian species in the wild.

The World of Wolves offers a fresh and provocative look at current trends in wolf and wildlife management. Representative case studies, from geographically and culturally diverse areas of the world, highlight the existing interconnections between wolves, their prey, their habitat, their ecosystems and people, and the role of science in policy formation and wolf management. In addition, the studies involve many issues (for example, population genetics and livestock husbandry practices) that are entry points into larger aspects of ecology and evolution.

This book will appeal to conservationists, scientists, wildlife managers, and anyone seeking a better understanding of wolves and their co-existence with us.

Praise for the first edition:

Rarely does one encounter scientific writing that is at the same time authoritative, full of well-documented data, and yet as readable as this book. It is good literature as well as good science. Readers almost feel as though they are looking over the shoulder of the observer, feeling his discomfort at the cold and rain, his excitement when something new and unexpected happens, and sharing in the sadness over the demise or misfortune of an animal that had long ago become a friend.--Quarterly Review of Biology

The variety, power, and pleasure of modern natural history shines brightly in this book. 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 AmericanThe North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is universally recognizable, yet has a complex biology that continues to fascinate. This large-bodied, slow-moving herbivore is found in coniferous and mixed forested areas through much of the northern and western United States and in Canada. The porcupine would be ill equipped to avoid any sort of predator were it not for its most distinguishing feature--a unique natural defensive system of thousands of sharp, barbed, multipurpose quills, which are marvels of evolutionary adaptation.Intrigued by the porcupines after he discovered them gnawing at the plywood of his Catskills cabin, the biologist Uldis Roze has spent twenty-five years tracking and studying this solitary animal. His firsthand observations are a revelation; throughout the second edition of his classic work on the subject, he shows how much can be learned by following a porcupine in the woods. Quill design, defensive reactions, foraging, reproduction, and life cycle are among the topics illuminated by Roze in this fine example of forest ecology.Roze's comprehensive knowledge of this important mammal will interest wildlife managers in addition to a wide audience of natural history readers. The penultimate chapter, in which the author rehabilitates an orphaned porcupine he names Musa, teaching her to climb trees and forage, show the scientific insights that come from such pursuits--such as the discovery of clay-eating in the porcupine diet--but also the pure joy and excitement of gaining a window into the world of the porcupine. Roze's writing beautifully unites scientific research with a naturalist's fascination with the outdoor world and the lives of his subjects: Each animal he encounters is a teacher, a storyteller of the woods, a complexifier and adorner of the world.