Curious kids will be enthralled with this dip-into and dip-out-of book loaded with quirky facts about reptiles. Even reluctant readers will be fascinated with the fun facts and eye-catching images and design on each page. Reptiles never looked so enticing!
This book brings the world of reptiles to life with eye-catching photos and captivating information about turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and their scaly-skinned kin. Readers will learn how reptiles survive in many habitats, from hot deserts to tropical forests and even under the sea. They’ll get an up-close look at reptiles’ amazing senses, tricky defenses, and wide variety of strategies for moving around, catching and eating food, and bearing young. What makes a reptile a reptile? (scaly skin, cold-blooded, vertebrates, young look like small adults) Taxonomy (four living groups: turtles and tortoises; lizards and snakes; crocodilians; tuatara) The world through reptile senses (examples of special senses such as snakes’ ability to taste air with the tongue and detect infrared heat, chameleons’ ability to move eyes independently) Strategies for getting and eating food – some reptiles eat plants (turtles, iguanas), others eat meat. Hunters use many different strategies, including constriction (boas) and venom (many other snakes, gila monster, komodo dragon). Chameleon shoots its long tongue out to catch prey . The egg-eating snake unhinges its jaw to swallow eggs. Defenses – camouflage (chameleons) and mimicry, shells (turtles), venom, warnings (rattlesnake), and specific “wow” examples such as losing a tail (skinks), squirting blood from eyes (horned lizard), and unfurling a giant skin flap around its head (frilled lizard) Adaptations for different habitats – dealing with extreme heat and lack of water (scaly skin keeps water in, thorny devil collects water from dew with grooves on its spikes). Others are adapted for freshwater or marine life, or for life in the trees. Amazing moves – geckos’ ability to grip with their feet, “flying” geckos and snakes, basilisk lizard that runs on water. Reproduction – most reptiles lay eggs, a few bear live young; most don’t take care of offspring but some do guard eggs or young. Temperature of eggs, rather than genetics, determines whether offspring are male or female. Conservation – threats, endangered species, and a few examples of how people are helping to protect reptiles. Invitations to explore – sidebars throughout give readers tips for investigating reptiles where they live. Fast facts – eye-catching boxes provide information for fact-collectors: the smallest and largest reptiles, the fastest and slowest, the number of species today vs. in ancient times when reptiles “ruled.”
This volume in the Greenwood Guides to Biomes of the World focuses on deserts, the seemingly desolate—but actually quite lively—regions that are home to some of the most interesting and beautiful flora and fauna in the world. Desert Biomes examines three different types of biomes: warm/hot deserts (such as the Mojave and Sahara deserts), cold deserts (such as Patagonia in South America), and the West Coast Fog Desert biomes, which occur on certain regions of the western edge of major continents. The volumes examines how these biomes are unique in terms of their vegetation, geographical distribution, soil, challenges posed by the environment, adaptation of the plants and animals to the environment, and conservation efforts. Maps, photos, diagrams, drawings, and tables accompany the text, as do sidebars that highlight habitats, species, and ecological relationships. The volume includes a bibliography of accessible resources for further research.
**Selected for Doody’s Core Titles® 2024 in Veterinary Medicine** Known as "the bible" of herpetological medicine and surgery, Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery, 3rd Edition edited by Stephen Divers and Scott Stahl provides a complete veterinary reference for reptiles and amphibians, including specific sections on practice management and development; taxonomy, anatomy, physiology, behavior, stress and welfare; captive husbandry and management including nutrition, heating and lighting; infectious diseases and laboratory sciences; clinical techniques and procedures; sedation, anesthesia and analgesia; diagnostic imaging; endoscopy; medicine; surgery; therapy; differential diagnoses by clinical signs; specific disease/condition summaries; population health and public health; and legal topics. Well-organized and concise, this new edition covers just about everything related to reptiles and amphibians by utilizing an international array of contributing authors that were selected based on their recognized specialization and expertise, bringing a truly global perspective to this essential text!
"A comprehensive illustrated guide by international experts. An authoritative and definitive text by 70 international experts. More than 600 color photographs taken by the world's leading wildlife photographers. 360 magnificent full-color paintings by specialist wildlife illustrator Dr David Kirshner. Distribution maps and special feature boxes. Up-to-date information on the status of endangered species."--Page 4 cover