Reviews (2)

Mammals from the Down Under
I've been doing alot of research on illustrating various Australian Mammals and found that this book is the most compacted of all reference materials. You get the whole animal to view. So many times when cross researching you find yourself struggling to figure out what the animals feet really looks like, this book I find is really helpful.

THE field guide
Peter Menkhorst's book is widely regarded as THE field guide to the mammals of Australia. Compact and easy to use, with fantastic illustrations by Frank Knight, its a must for anyone interested in identifying Australia's diverse mammalian fauna. ... Read more

Book Description

The Princeton Field Guide to the Birds of Australia is a handy, portable manual for identification of Australian birds all over the country. In paintings of extraordinary beauty and precision, Nicolas Day captures the details of all 770 bird species in Australia. More than 2000 color illustrations are accompanied by distribution maps, descriptive drawings, and essential field information edited by Ken Simpson. This book has been expanded to provide even more new illustrations and information than earlier editions. There are 20 new color plates. The identification section has been completely reordered to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge about the classification and evolutionary relationships of Australia's bird families. The distribution maps have been entirely redrawn and updated, and numerous black-and-white illustrations have been added. All readers--occasional or avid birdwatchers, ornithologists or students--will find The Princeton Field Guide to the Birds of Australia an invaluable companion, whether they require readily accessible information in the field or reliable reference material for the desk. Features include: ^IEvery bird species of Australia illustrated in over 2000 painted images Simple-to-use Key to Families Field information and distribution maps adjacent to each painting of a species Data on abundance and movement for each species Handbook section giving detailed information on bird behavior, feeding, breeding, evolution, and taxonomy A rare bird bulletin describing fifteen rare and vagrant species Information for bird-watchers on the five Australian island groups ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent drawings and ecological info, but a bit large
I used two field guides on my trip to Australia last year.I primarily used the Simpson guide and occasionally referred to the Pizzey guide.I found the Simpson guide to be quite helpful, with excellent drawings, range maps that were placed alongside each species, and interesting ecological information about each ornithological order at the end of the book.My main criticisms of the Simpson guide are that I thought the Pizzey guide did a better job at depicting the subtle features that separate the honeyeater species, and the Simpson guide was too large to fit into a jacket or pants pocket.Despite these criticisms, I thought the Simpson guide was a very good birding field guide.I have a friend who will be traveling to Australia soon, and I will be buying the Simpson guide as a gift to her.

Indispensible guide to Australian Birds
I used this guide on a recent trip to Australia and found it to be an excellent companion.The illustrations are accurate and the text draws attention to the most important ID features.The maps seem to be wellresearched and accurate.Unlike most Field Guides this guide includes ahandbook section which gives a potted biography, family by family ofbehaviour and ecology.This handbook section always provided someinteresting extra detail of birds seen.In conlusion, a great field guide,well illustrated and researched. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the completely revised seventh edition of Australia's best field guide, with more than 500,000 copies sold over its lifetime. In 132 color plates of remarkable beauty and precision, Nicolas Day has captured the details of all of Australia's 760 birds. Succinct text by Ken Simpson and other experts gives key points of identification, as well as information about the birds' abundance and patterns of movement. Every species text is accompanied by a detailed map showing the boundaries of breeding and non-breeding populations.

This updated edition includes sixteen new or revised color plates, all new distribution maps with subspecies shown, and more than 900 black-and white-illustrations. The Vagrant Bird Bulletin has been extended to include 74 species, while a useful breeding summary for every species gives immediate information regarding their annual breeding cycle.

All readers, whether beginners or experienced birdwatchers, ornithologists, students or travelers, will find Simpson & Day's Birds of Australia an unrivalled companion to discovering the unique birdlife of this remarkable continent.

* Field guide section that offers key points of identification using the latest classification system
* 132 superb full color plates showing all Australian bird species, including 16 new or revised plates
* All new distribution maps with subspecies shown
* More than 900 black and white line illustrations, many new or redrawn
* Extended breeding information
* Vagrant Bird Bulletin with 74 species
* Updated core library for beginner birdwatchers

Reviews (1)

Peterson Down Under
This book never left my side while I was in Oz, although at times I thought about leaving it behind. My biggest complaint would be size; this book is a bit too large to be a proper field guide. It is as thick as Nat'l Geo, but about an inch longer in width and height. The plates were more than adequate, however few birds were shown in juv. plumage. Good text descriptions, notes on behaviors, and birds in flight usually shown. Very Peterson-esque. Half of the book is a handbook at the back. Plenty of good life history info. on the birds, but not necessary in the field. If only the handbook came as a seperate supplement . . .

One last note: I did not see another book either in stores or in another birder's hand while in Australia that I thought was as good or better than this guide. ... Read more

Book Description

Taming the Great South Land is the first full-length landscapehistory of an entire continent occupied by one nation. It is also, in WilliamLines's telling, a brutal and controversial story. Examining the ways Europeansociety rapidly, radically transformed Australia's physical and humanlandscapes, the author writes candidly of repeated environmentaldevastationfrom the early slaughter of seals and whales to the destructivespread of sheep, through gold rushes and land settlement to British nucleartests and the modern mining and timber industries. Lines shows how Enlightenment ideas of progress, economic growth, anddevelopment were reconstructed on Australian soil, and how the promise of theconquest of nature became a mockery in fact, resulting in the mass dislocationand destruction of indigenous populations. This shocking narrative, thoroughly researched and accessibly written, combinesenvironmental, social, and political history to hard-hitting effect. ... Read more

Book Description

Anyone interested in reptiles is interested in Australia. Reptiles of Australia is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide available to every one of its crocodiles, turtles, monitor lizards, dragons, snakes, skinks, geckos, and other lizards. A vast expanse of land and coastline encompassing tropical, temperate, and arid environments, Australia is home to a rich and unique reptile fauna--nearly three times as many species as in North America. With the current count at 836 described species, and with many more unnamed, it is a fauna as diverse as any in the world. Compact and accessible, this guide features a full-color photograph of each species and authoritative text that describes key identification traits. Thumbnail outlines of each family group further enable easy identification.

Australia is a mosaic of habitats, each element of which is the favored environment for a distinctive reptile species: warm, shallow, turbid seas fringed with mangroves, clear coral reefs, freshwater wetlands, tropical rainforests and savannahs, arid stony plains and ranges, sandridge deserts, alpine areas, and cool southern forests and heaths. A square mile of desert covered with spinifex grasses may support more reptile species than an area of comparable size anywhere in the world.

Attractive, portable, and affordable, Reptiles of Australia is the ideal home or traveling companion for all reptile enthusiasts, whether pet owners, amateur herpetologists, or specialists of this spectacular aspect of natural history.

* A portable, accessible, user-friendly guide to all the reptiles of Australia
* 930 full color photos, at least one for each species
* Text describes key identification traits
* Thumbnail sketches of each family group enable easy identification
* Distribution maps for each species

Reviews (1)

Australia
All the reptiles known on the Australian continent is covered. It is rather easy to identify them and it is a landmark for every reptile fan. ... Read more

Book Description

Once the world's largest marsupial predator, the doglike Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) ranged across Australia and as far north as New Guinea. After humans introduced dingoes to the area 4,000 years ago, the misnamed "tiger" was driven to extinction everywhere except the island of Tasmania. With the arrival of European settlers there in the 1800s, however, its days became numbered. Unsubstantiated tales of its blood-thirst and its unnaturally savage attacks on sheep led to the creation of "extermination societies" and ultimately to the introduction of a law in 1886 that mandated the destruction of the species. Hunted indiscriminately for fifty years, Tasmanian tigers were granted a reprieve in 1936, when the government was persuaded to protect the species. But it was too late: the last specimen died in a Hobart zoo two months later.

In Tasmanian Tiger, David Owen tells the tragic story of the thylacine, from its evolutionary origins and its physical and behavioral characteristics to its ill-fated encounter with European civilization and the ongoing fascination with the "Tassie Tiger" as a potent symbol of wildlife conservation. Elegantly written and full of interesting facts and first-hand stories from those who saw the animal in the wild, Tasmanian Tiger offers a compelling account of how fear and ignorance doomed an entire species over the course of a century. And in recounting numerous recent sightings of the thylacine in Tasmania, Owen explores the power that this once-despised creature continues to hold on the imagination today. Indeed, as described in this book, serious efforts are being undertaken to bring back the Tasmanian tiger through cloning, a controversial project that raises a number of ethical questions for scientists and conservationists everywhere. For both those familiar with the thylacine and those discovering this remarkable animal for the first time, Tasmanian Tiger is a poignant cautionary tale of human folly and the fragility of the natural world. ... Read more

Book Description

Dinosaurs of Darkness opens a doorway to a fascinating former world which existed in Australia more than 100 million years ago--when it was a polar region joined to Antarctica and plunged into darkness much of the year. The way we have come to know about this lost world--so different from any that exists on Earth today--makes for a fascinating story. The authors, who played crucial roles in this discovery, describe their efforts to collect the fossils indispensable to our knowledge of this realm and the laboratory work that unlocked their secrets. Dinosaurs of Darkness is an intriguing personal account of the way scientific research is actually conducted and how hard it is to mine the knowledge of this remarkable life of the past. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A mixed verdict
One really has to give two reviews for this book. As a chronicle of fieldwork, it rates a 4. These folks had to face some of the most difficult excavating imaginable - tunneling through hard rock often being pounded by surf!

Unfortunately, they give us very little on their thoughts about the lives of the dinosaurs they found other than that their star hypsilophodont probably had unusually acute vision, and fail in that respect where "Digging Dinosaurs" and "Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs" succeed so wonderfully. One gets the impression that they rushed this book out before fully completing their research, which is a shame because this could have been a very good book indeed if there had been a bit more about the dinosaurs themselves. For fans of dino behavior this really is only a 2. ... Read more

Book Description

This revised edition of the classic field guide to Australian birds represents the most up-to-date, comprehensive and stunningly illustrated handbook available.

Features include:

Updated essential information on 778 species of birds
250 full-color plates (many revised especially for this edition), with more than 2,500 individual portraits
Field marks highlighted in the text and illustrations to help birdwatchers distinguish between similar species
Full details of breeding and nesting habits, voice characteristics, habitats and range of each species
More than 700 distribution maps
Stunning new cover artwork

Book Description

Here is the story, in words, photographs, and drawings, of a two-and-a-half-year expedition to the south coast of Australia. The Cousteau team-including scientists, divers, cameramen, and sailors-studied the behavior and biology of the much-feared but little-known great white shark. Myths and lore about the great white are dispelled, leaving an indelible image of a powerful predator of the seas.

125 illustrations in full color, 9 x 113/4" ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A great author for a great book
This book is fascinating. What most do not know is that Mose Richards wrote this entire book, while Cousteau supplied the inspiration and pictures. This book has excellent writing and fabulous photography. An excellent read. Props to the author, Mose Richards!

Jaws!
A very informative book about the great white. The photos are amazing. This Shark is one of the most interesting animals alive. A real predator.

I hail thee, Great White Shark!
For surviving for 400 million years.For refusing to submit yourself to mankind's aquariums and corporate SeaWorlds.For never allowing your secrets of mating or birth to become known to the prying eyes of man.Fornot even leaving a skeleton for science to attempt to examine.For beingthe Master of the Seas, without even using mechanical aids to assist you,like we, the Humans,the Wimps, the Know-Nothings, the Arrogant Pestilenceof the World must resort to to even attempt to conquer you.Keep fighting,Terrible, Beautiful Lordly Ones.We offer you humble, unworthy obeisancein the form of this book, under the aegis of your most dutiful admirer,Jacques Cousteau, Poseidon rest his soul.Never has your grace nor yourfearful symmetry appeared to such great advantage.Keep cruising.Mayyour fins glide through the oceans long after the peasants have ceased tocrawl upon the earth--or dared to trawl upon the waters!

A must read book! Two thumbs up!
I am a great fan of the Cousteus and I also love sharks. This book encompasses all aspects of the Great White shark, as well as what it's like being a scientist studying them. I loved this book. This book gives a newperspective to the life of the Great White and really helps remove the badname of the White Shark. If you love sharks, you will probably like thisbook a good bit!

Incredible photographs.
I was lucky enough to see Jean-Michel preview the documentary in San Francisco in 1993.The book is an excellent documentation of their dives and research of the Great White Shark.The book has wonderful, and frightning, photos of the Great Whites encountered on their journies to Australia.This book does not represent all of the research done during the project, and that is its only draw back.I would highly recommend this book for all White Shark enthusiasts and those wanting to learn more about this beautiful creature. ... Read more

Book Description

The first reference of its kind, this book represents good biology, well-founded systematics, accessible biogeography, geological history of corals, and one of the finest collections of coral photographs to be found anywhere. Hailed as the single most important reference on reef corals, this book is useful in describing corals in all areas of Oceania and Southeast Asia. It provides a means of identifying almost 1,000 species of coral, a reliable nomenclature, up-to-date information on distribution and abundance, and authoritative notes on structure and biology. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great book, don't expect any captive system info
This is a tremendous book that will certainly dominate my coffee table for years to come. It might be useful when referring to various species (e.g. when buying mail-order) but it does not contain any aquarium care information- a task that is best left in another volume. If you are interested in the subject, however, I highly recommend this book.

the best reference ever!
This is the greatest coral book ever written! It is a masterpiece and includes some of the best underwater coral photography ever published. It is mostly a pretty version of Dr. Veron's 5 vol scientific journals, and is a little hard to see it's true use in the reef keeping hobby, because it talks about corals strictly out on the wild reef, but if you take the requirements of the animal in the wild and apply it to your home aquarium you can not fail. This book is also the best for identifing all of those mystery stony corals you have in your tank. There is not one stony coral on the reef that this book does not discuss. If you have stony corals or plan to have them in the future then this book is a must have on your list. The price tag is a little high I know, but worth every cent. The great pictures alone make it a great coffee table book and worth the price right there,if you love corals don't pass this book up!

The greatest SPS coral reference at hand
Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific is by far the best reference for coral reference on the market today. This book is for the serious Reef Aquarium Hobbiest or Marine Biologist. While this book does not give reference to aquarium conditions, it does provide the reader with a comprehensive review of the major SPS corals not given in any other puiblication that I have found. If you are are an SPS reef aquarium hobbiest. You need this book

Verons Coral of australia and indo-pacific is by far the beo
Corals of Australia and Indo-Pacific is the ultimate resource for stony (SPS) Corals I have found to date. I am a reef aquarium hobbiest and I use Verons book almost exclusively to identify species of aquarium coral. The book is also extremely helpful in requard to the taxonomy of the SPS. ... Read more

Book Description

Many of Australia's fungi are brightly colored, some flourescent; some are elegant, others squat; some are fragrant, more still are highly toxic. This book showcases many of these species in all their splendor.

More than two-thirds of the text is devoted to species descriptions. The illustrations for identification include beautiful watercolors by Kay Smith, as well as color photographs and line drawings. This is a major revision of Tony Young's Common Australian Fungi, a Naturalists' Guide, with new illustrations and completely revised species list and keys to reflect recent taxonomic changes. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A few miles into the scorched, dusty interior of Australia along the Stuart Highway, naturalist Edward Kanze began counting carcasses. "Kangaroos stare blindly into headlights," he writes, "and the big rigs, drunk on momentum, smash them mile after bloody mile."Kanze, on what he compares at great length to Homer's Odyssey, treks around Australia in a 1980 Toyota Corolla with his wife, packing along a library of natural-history books and a predilection for avian, reptilian, and mammalian mating habits. The author of The World of John Burroughs, as well as of a nature guide to New Zealand, he visits every state in Australia in six months, meeting with park rangers, herpetologists, professional birders, and grumpy crocodile-hunter-types on a quest to intimately know the continent's bizarre wildlife.

Kanze's list of finds is immense, with birds as diverse as orange-bellied parrots, the endangered glossy black cockatoo, crimson rosellas, and deadly Cassowaries, which Kanze describes as "an Emu with a stoop, dark, stocky, with a gaudy red necklace of exposed flesh," and that the Park Service warns has trampled several people.But Kanze's adventures are not limited to birdwatching; in fact, his true pursuit is finding the majority of Australia's 40 species of kangaroos. At first they appear in such scant numbers that he marvels at a single spotting. Soon enough though, the 'roos appear in such great abundance that he shifts his focus to the duck-billed platypus outside of Canberra, the mudskippers in the coastal rainforests near Brisbane, the pythons in Lake Barrine, and the "freshies" (freshwater crocodiles) at Edith Falls.

Going beyond the Attenborough-toned walk in the field, Kanze touches on the realities of the Aboriginal plight, the invasion of the European settler, and the desecration of the Australian landscape. He even pays a visit to an asbestos mining town where passers-through are warned not to breathe the particulate-thick air.By the time Kanze and his wife are plenty full of each other, their broken-down Corolla, and the search for the rufous-banded honeyeaters, the pied herons, the hairy-nosed wombats, the white-browed crakes, the pratinoles, the cane toads, the tree kangaroos, the giant lizards, and the flying marsupials, they have sated their list, and the reader, with Australia's remarkable and often-elusive wildlife. --Lolly Merrell ... Read more

Reviews (7)

great book on Australian natural history
I read this book just after having finished Bill Bryson's travel book on Australia, "In A Sunburned Country," and the contrast could not be more vivid. Bryson focused mainly on the cities, towns, and people of Australia, and I believe he only saw a few kangaroos in his entire sojourn there. Though he did cover some natural history, most of his work was focused on the human history and culture of Australia. Kanze on the other hand on his massive journey around Australia with his wife Debbie spent very little time in cities, trying to avoid urban areas for the most part, and saw a great deal of wildlife, including probably hundreds of kangaroos. In fact, the principal reason they flew to Australia, bought a car, and spent the better part of a year driving around the continent/country (including Tasmania) was to see a bewildering array of plants, animals, and natural landscapes in the "bush."

The author introduces the reader to a many animals, some familiar, many not. We meet a wide variety of kangaroos, including the "big four," the common wallaroo (known as the "euro" in Western Australia), the red kangaroo, the eastern grey, and the western grey, as well as the musky rat-kangaroo, most "primitive" of kangaroos, smaller than a housecat, distinct in that hops on four feet rather than two, carries nest material with its tail, and is the only kangaroo that raises two young at a time rather than the usual one . They encounter the sugar glider, a marsupial that is strikingly similar to the flying squirrel of North America, one that feeds on the excretions of sap-feeing insects and eucalyptus resin, something few marsupials can digest. A wide variety of parrots (the continent possesses fifty-six species) also amazes the Kanzes when they encountered them in virtually any setting, from rain forest to desert to the middle of large cities. They meet koalas several times, a strange animal that Kanze informs us actually for a time grew more common after English settlement, as Aborigine hunting of them declined as their own populations retreated before the Europeans, only to suffer in turn when koalas caught the fancy of London furriers. They run into the ubiquitous termite mounds of Queensland, thousands of which tower over the landscape up to eight feet in height, vital to the local ecology as they serve the function of earthworms, which are unable to survive the monsoonal inundations of the local landscape. Interestingly, we learn that at least some termite species build their mounds with their broad fronts parallel to the earth's magnetic poles, one end pointing to magnetic south, the other magnetic north, with the mounds thus situated to soak up morning and afternoon sunshine but only present a thin edge to the blistering midday sun. They meet the potentially dangerous cassowary, a huge flightless bird able to run thirty miles an hour, jump five feet into the air, and disembowel a man with the slash of a talon. Advised to hide and freeze should they encounter one in the forest, the Kanzes run into an overcurious youngster and its protective parent at one point, a situation that could have ended in disaster. Told that if one froze they might be missed, as their eyesight is poor, a comment that to me brought to mind "Jurassic Park," a thought the author apparently shared. Kanze roots around underwater with a snorkel and mask for the elusive Arafura file snake, not formerly described until 1980, a snake with unusually loose but rough skin that uses to grip slippery fish, a water snake that hunts, sleeps, breeds, and gives birth without leaving the water. Among the many other animals they meet and describe for the reader are the manatee-like dugong, honey possums (the only terrestrial mammal to subsist entirely on pollen and nectar), Tasmanian devils, the hated alien cane toad, a wide variety of native frogs, bowerbirds, bandicoots, platypuses, flying foxes, dingoes, echidnas (also know as spiny anteaters), lyrebirds, sunbirds, and a wide variety of reptiles including sea turtles, pythons, many poisonous snakes, goannas (among the largest lizards alive today, goanna being the Australian name for a monitor lizard, the name probably a corruption of "iguana"), and crocodiles (both freshwater and saltwater varieties).

I learned a lot about Australian wildlife and landscapes and some about Australian history and culture and really enjoyed the book, but do offer a few small complaints. Kanze repeatedly compares his journey throughout Australia to that of Odysseus and his trials that were described in "The Odyssey." While sometimes the comparisons were apt and even mildly humorous, sometimes they seemed a bit forced and even slightly tedious, with occasional asides into Greek mythology that seemed out of place. Second, many times Kanze mentions taking pictures of a variety of animals throughout his journey, yet there is only the cover picture; nowhere are there are photographs in the book. I would have liked to have seen a few pictures at least of landscapes.

Having said that though, this is a very good Australian travel and natural history book, one I would recommend.

Australia's nature vividly described
Ed Kanze's Kangaroo Dreaming should provide a healthy counterbalance to "Survivor II" with its kitschy evocation of aboriginal ceremony and the Australian landscape. In the popular show, the only genuine elements were the landscape of the outback itself and the glimpses of wildlife. In Kanze's clear-eyed view of the same landscape, the aborigines, like our Native Americans, displaying the "ugly and all-too-universal result of western mercantile culture mixing with a tribal society." The aborigines encountered near Alice Springs - unsmiling, clutching whiskey bottles - provide one of the human portraits that truly makes Kanze's book stand out among travelogues of natural history. But as always, Kanze's eye for flora and fauna predominates and his descriptive powers are masterful: "Suddenly, bubbles appeared in the water before me. I cocked my camera, switched on the flash, and held my breath. There - there -there - I was struck dumb by my good fortune. A black, rubbery bill wider than a duck's pushed through the surface immediately before me. It was followed by webbed feet, a hairy face with beady black eyes, and a furry brown body about the size of a muskrat's. I fiddled with the camera. The platypus was so close that my lens could not focus." The frame of Kanze's story is a nine-month, 25,000-mile odyssey he and his wife Debbie took around the rim of, and to the center of, Australia. (In fact, the author has used the sections of The Odyssey itself to parallel their journey.) Along the way they meet friendly and helpful nature enthusiasts - as well as characters they'd as soon never see again. For those of us who will visit "the America on the other side of the world" (Melville's phrase) only via the armchair, the Kanzes make irresistible, funny and erudite traveling companions.

A terrific read!
For one who has not been to Australia yet, reading about this wildlife journey has been great fun. The author gives his readers a real sense of the joy of discovery and excitement of the search. Along the way, he imparts a great amount of fascinating information about the countryside and the people encountered during their travels.

I highly recommend Kanze's book for armchair travelers who have an interest in wildlife, or those who may be contemplating such an adventure for themselves. The view of Australia, its people, and its wildlife is extraordinary!

Riding With the Kanze's
Great armchair rideabout through the land down under! Witty and intelligent, Kanze has a knack for making one feel as if he and his wife were sitting in rockers in your den telling these tales. He is able to balance intelligence and knowledge with humor and candor of his own foibles. I want to go to Australia!

Great read!!
It is always a delight to read any of Mr. Kanz's books and this newest offering is just a joy. Travel is always an adventure and to be guided through the space of Australia by Mr. Kanze and his wife is a rare treat. He expertly weaves the natural history with the constant joys and uncertanty of meeting new people. People, places, nature, and new sights are what travel is about and these two have given the reader the chance to share in their wonder and adventure. BRAVO

Be sure to check out his other books. You won't be disappointed. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1982, Rachel Smolker traveled to Monkey Mia, a remote spot in western Australia where she’d heard wild dolphins regularly interact with people. She had no intention of staying long; she simply wanted to see if the rumors were true. That initial trip changed Smolker’s life; it commenced a fifteen-year scientific obsession that has culminated in this fascinating scientific adventure story–the first-ever intimate account of dolphin life in the wild.

To Touch A Wild Dolphin is a seminal work that radically alters our fundamental understanding of these enigmatic creatures. Learning to identify scores of dolphins by their dorsal fin, Smolker and her team of scientists were able to conduct close and consistent studies that revealed the dolphin to be even more intelligent than we’d previously suspected. And while they were every bit as playful as we’ve known them to be, they also proved to have a dark and alarmingly violent side. But more than just a document on dolphins, this book is a touchingly personal look at the life of a scientist, at the rigors and sacrifices but also the wonders and joys of unending days in the field. Written with prose poetic and pristine, this book is nothing short of a landmark. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

to see dolphins in action
Also check out - Captain Jon Explores the Ocean (also on amazon).

Amazing
Ever since I was a little girl, I've always been fascinated by dolphins. My career goal is to work with dolphins, in any shape or form, but particularly in the research aspect. I picked up this book while browsing the library one day and fell completly in love with it. It definitely reconfirmed my dream of working with these wonderful creatures, but I also learned a lot about their behaviors and personalities. It also shows that dolphins are not all the same--they actually have unique personality traits. I was so awed by this book that I gave in and decided to buy it--I should receive it in a couple days so I'm looking forward to reading it until it is worn out!! I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is curious about dolphins. Happy reading!

A touching and amazing story
This story is an amazing book. You will get atached to these characters, while learning about dolphins. A wonderful read for the dolphin lover, or for the nature lover. A must have.

A memoir of personal and scientific discovery
A biology student with a romantic view of dolphins, Smolker was instantly hooked by hearing of wild dolphins who communed with humans at a remote beach in Western Australia. Already frustrated by the limitations of studying captive dolphins, her first visit to Monkey Mia was the beginning of a 15-year research project that illuminated many aspects of dolphin social life, including insights into communication and the controversial discovery of male sexual aggression.

"To Touch a Wild Dolphin" blends personal and scientific observations in a memoir of discovery. Off to a rocky start with no money and occasional run-ins with the locals, Smolker begins to cultivate a deep appreciation for the harsh beauty of Shark Bay while learning to recognize the regular visitors and the larger numbers of dolphins who disdain the shore.

Observing a fast, intelligent, streamlined animal that conducts its life in the sea presents special difficulties. Even in a boat, it's easy to lose the subject and from the surface it's impossible to see all interactions and body language. Smolker communicates her excitement as, over the years, she and her colleagues sort out social relationships, discover the intricate bonds formed between male pairs or trios and the flowing alliances that arise most often around sexual opportunism.

They cobble together refinements for recording dolphin communication, much of which occurs beyond our hearing range, catalog clicks and whistles, and discover the individual dolphin's "signature." They discover tool-using behaviors passed down from mother to child - sponges worn over the face to protect against scorpion stings, for instance, and explore a theory that dolphin use sound to stun fish. Observing maternal bonds, they realize that dolphins have a very high infant and fetal mortality rate, but the reasons remain obscure.

For each question answered, a hundred more arise.

Smolker's approach is anecdotal and engaging, introducing the reader to many individuals and following their lives over years. There are births and deaths, hilarity and tragedy, triumph and disappointment. But most of all, Smolker arouses a sense of wonder and a strong curiosity to know more.

phoshoop phoohoof pfhooo
The title of this review contains phonetic representations of what different dolphin breathing sounds are like during varying activities.

This book will inevitably be compared to Jane Goodall's outstanding work of describing the chimpanzees at the Gombe Preserve in Africa. Clearly, Ms. Smolker was conscious of that pioneering work, and she is at pains to address the same areas. The comparisons extend to actually describing how wild dophin behavior compares to wild chimpanzee behavior. I am unaware of any other book that summarizes long-term field observations of wild dolphin behaviors as this one does. Anyone who wants to learn more about dolphins or the benefits of measuring behaviors directly should read this book.

Ms. Smolker opens the book by posing a series of interesting questions. She notes that dolphins have "extraordinarily large brains," the largest in the animal kingdom as a percentage of body weight after humans. Such large brains have a large energy cost, so they must bring some benefit. "How are they smart?" Then, "how smart are they?" Her experience of 15 years in observing dolphins "taught me not only about them, but about myself and my fellow humans." I agree with that observation, coming away from this book with a greatly enhanced understanding of human, dolphin, and chimpanzee behavior that makes each one more meaningful to me.

At the western end of Australia lies Shark Bay (appropriately named, it seems). For at least 50 years, dolphins have been known to come into one part of its shallow waters (Monkey Mia beach in Red Cliff Bay) to beg for fish (much like a tame dog would beg for a treat). Many of these dolphins can be handled as well as fed.

Learning about this area from Elizabeth Gawain, Ms. Smolker began her treks halfway around the world from the University of California (Santa Cruz) in 1982. When she arrived (after a harrowing journey including much hitchhiking and camping out in the Australian Outback), what she found astonished and pleased her. There were seven easily identifiable dolphin individuals whom she could touch and observe.

Over the years, working on a shoestring and with a lot of grit, the effort expanded to include boats, hydrophones, and assistants. As a result, over 400 dolphin individuals were identified and observed in some detail over time.

In this pioneering research, many lessons emerged. The lifespan of a bottlenosed dolphin can now be estimated at around 50 years. Babies are fed by their mothers for 4-6 years, and females can give birth around once every four years. They appear to use tools (in this case sponges on their noses, which appear to help avoid abrasion and stings from other sea creatures).

Of particular significance is evidence of male cooperation in stable social groups, in mate-herding trios, and in creating commonalities of language. This cooperation is highly unusual in the animal world, being most similar to the boundary patroling that male chimpanzees do. Females also form social groups, but cooperate less.

Fishing is apparently highly developed with the use of both sound and physical agility (tail slaps) to disorient and stun the prey. Groups cooperate to make it easier to catch fish. They can also learn to beg for food from people, as the book describes.

Ms. Smolker's conclusion is that the advanced dolphin brain is used to keep track of and develop social relationships. This social skill is then used to extend the effectiveness of the individual dolphin in surviving.

The book also makes an eloquent plea for being more careful about wild dolphins. During the study period, many dolphins apparently died prematurely. Some were killed by fishing nets and many by human sewage contamination from the beach where they are fed. She concludes that the dolphin's appeal "is ultimately the dolphins' greatest hope for preservation."

Starting a family caused her to leave the field work in recent years. She looks forward to taking her husband and children to Australia to feel "the thrill of touching a wild dolphin."

Throughout the book, you will enjoy getting to know the dolphins by name and by their personalities as many stories are recounted. The book also contains many impressive color photographs that allow you to see the individual dolphins, their behaviors, and the geography that is described in the book.

Ms. Smolker has a simple, unassuming writing style that is engaging. She obviously went through many deprivations to do her work. She scatters in tales of the discomfort to give you a sense of what the work is like. I admire her courage and her perseverance in doing this work. And I also envy her the joy of her experiences and discoveries.

But the main focus is on the dolphins, and the issues that are created by humans interacting with dolphins. Your percpetions of dolphins will never be the same after learning what their lives are like (and it's not quite like Flipper). In the process, you will learn a lot about the basic behaviors that seem to allow dolphins, chimpanzees, and humans to prosper.

After you read this book, you should spend some time thinking about how you can accomplish more by cooperating with others than you can by yourself. How can you facilitate this cooperation? How can you encouarge others to cooperate with each other and with you?

Stand together with other people and other species, so that each can reap greater benefits! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

BLAND
Have ordered many books by Gerald R. Allen, and was not impressed with this one. Was returned.

Good reference for diver and angler
I am a scuba diver who has a passionate to any kind of marine life. This book is not a complete reference, however, if you need to know a specific fish's name you found in Indonesia and other area nearby then this is the book you must have. ... Read more