Hoofed mammals (ungulates) are the most abundant large mammals in the world. They are also plentiful in British Columbia, which is home to nine wild native species: moose, elk, caribou, bison, mountain goat, two species of deer and two of sheep. There are also several introduced species. In Hoofed Mammals of British Columbia, David Shackleton presents a comprehensive summary of the most up-to-date information on these ungulates. In the well-illustrated introduction, he discusses their evolution and biology, survival adaptations, and social organization. He also covers conservation issues, tracking, and taxonomy. In the species accounts, he describes each species and subspecies and discusses their natural history: habitat, diet, behaviour, reproduction, life expectancy, and mortality factors, and predators. Each account includes a distribution map and data on taxonomy, recent population estimates, conservation status, and traditional aboriginal use. Excellent illustrations and two keys help identify each species by its external features or its skull. Hoofed Mammals of British Columbia is the third of six handbooks on the mammals of British Columbia, a Royal B.C. Museum project to update and expand the classic treatment by Ian McTaggart-Cowan and Charles Guiguet, The Mammals of British Columbia, last revised in 1965.
This is the story of hand rearing two baby elephants in 1986; a time before internet, email or cell phones. A touch of the wild in the heart of the city is how we described the place where elephant escapades filled the days and nights; an oasis five kilometres from the centre of Harare. Milk and prridge in buckets; handfulls of horse cubes at the ready and elephant trunks always investigating. Nothing escaped the attention of the elephants from bad tempered bushpigs and head butting eland to watering cans, wheelbarrows and feathers. Rundi and Muku, two elephants that changed the lives of everyone involved with them: gentle giants in the heart of the city.
Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork and on the research of many other scientists, the author describes and explains the behavior of four major groups of mammals. Hoofed Mammals: Antelopes and Other Ruminants; Hoofed Mammals: Nonruminants; Carnivores, and Primates