You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
A celebration of a magnificent creature: the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). This subspecies has distinct features that are the result of thousands of years of evolution, making it perfectly suited to the deserts and mountains of Arabia. An essay by wildlife conservationist Andrew Spalton charts the animal’s epic journey from Africa to Arabia over the course of half a million years, highlighting its history and its current, critically endangered status. Imagery of the Arabian leopard as a symbol of strength, freedom and fearlessness has been found in ancient rock art, mosaics and paintings over the centuries, cementing its position as a revered and respected animal in Saudi Arabia and the world.
This illustrated volume brings together scientific data and camera trap photography to capture the secret life of the wild animals of the remote and inaccessible Dhofar Mountains Chain. It tells the story of Oman's vital conservation work that hopes to bring the unique and elusive creature back from the brink.
A history of wildlife in China, tracing the changes the country’s fauna and flora have endured from the rise of the earliest civilizations to the present. China is home to one of Earth’s largest and most diverse mix of plant and animals. Many are among the rarest creatures alive, some now surviving only in captivity. An unfortunate few went extinct early this century. How did this come to pass? Great Joy Under Heaven tells the history of dozens of species spread across the breadth of China: from the taiga of Manchuria to the burning deserts of the far west, from the bamboo forests of Sichuan to the tropical island of Hainan, and from the Roof of the World down the Long River to the sea. Spanning the ancient expulsion of rhinos and elephants from the Chinese heartland to the disappearance and return of the elaphure and takhi, this volume recounts the drastic effects of humanity on the wildlife of China over the past 4,000 years and the ongoing struggles to save and restore some of what has been lost.
This textbook explores the mystery of human origins in the Arabian Peninsula, the lost Southern Crescent where humanity took its first steps toward civilization. Under Arabia’s surface of sand and stone lies a primordial realm of rolling grasslands, freshwater lakes, and river floodplains. This book aims to restore a critical missing chapter in the prehistory of our species that played out in this forgotten place of plenty. The author has carried out more than twenty years of fieldwork in Yemen and Oman, weaving his research together into an unorthodox tapestry of archaeology, environmental science, genetics, and Middle Eastern mythology. This volume peers beneath Arabia’s abandoned deserts, revealing a land that once served as a bridge between prehistoric worlds. This textbook is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students as well as all readers who are interested in learning about Arabian prehistory.
A riveting collection of photographs that captures wild animals in their native habitats. In Candid Creatures, the first major book to reveal the secret lives of animals through motion-sensitive game cameras, biologist Roland Kays has assembled over 600 remarkable photographs. Drawing from archives of millions of color and night-vision photographs collected by hundreds of researchers, Kays has selected images that show the unique perspectives of wildlife from throughout the world. Using these photos, he tells the stories of scientific discoveries that camera traps have enabled, such as living proof of species thought to have been extinct and details of predator-prey interactions. Each image ...
This book describes in detail numerous geological sites throughout the mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Eastern Arabia. The region is well known for its oil and gas reserves in the desert interior, and Permian-Mesozoic shelf carbonates exposed in the mountains of the Musandam peninsula, Jebel al-Akhdar and Saih Hatat, where deep wadi canyons provide impressive three-dimensional views into the crust. The region has numerous globally important geological sites, including the world’s largest and best-exposed ophiolite complex, the Semail Ophiolite, which is a vast thrust sheet of Cretaceous ocean crust and upper mantle emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin. Other...
The inspiration for this book came from our ten years of journeys and wanderings through the varied landscapes of Arabia, and in particular through those of its hospitable southeastern corner, Oman. We owe a particular debt to Sultan Qaboos University, which during this time has provided us with both a stimulating working environment and a home. Transliteration of Arabic place and other names into English script is a task fraught with difficulties. We have followed 'accepted' spellings wherever these were not contrary to our common sense, and in other cases we have rendered names into Roman English script using phonetic spellings. Our main task in this respect was to ensure conformity betwee...
This book explores how houses are created, maintained and conceptualized in southern Oman. Based on long-term research in the Dhofar region, it draws on anthropology, sociology, urban studies and architectural history. The chapters consider physical and functional aspects, including regulations governing land use, factors in siting houses, architectural styles and norms for interior and exterior decorating. The volume also reflects on cultural expectations regarding how and when rooms are used and issues such as safety, privacy, social connectedness and ease of movement. Houses and residential areas are situated within the fabric of towns, comparison is made with housing in other countries in the Arabian peninsula, and consideration is given to notions of the ‘Islamic city’ and the ‘Islamic house’. The book is valuable reading for scholars interested in the Middle East and the built environment.