You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Bright colors, enlarged fins, feather plumes, song, horns, antlers, and tusks are often highly sex dimorphic. Why have males in many animals evolved more conspicuous ornaments, signals, and weapons than females? How can such traits evolve although they may reduce male survival? Such questions prompted Darwin's perhaps most scientifically controversial idea--the theory of sexual selection. It still challenges researchers today as they try to understand how competition for mates can favor the variety of sex-dimorphic traits. Reviewing theoretical and empirical work in this very active field, Malte Andersson, a leading contributor himself, provides a major up-to-date synthesis of sexual selecti...
"This book is about the differing spatial distribution of males and females in species of hooved mammals. This behavior, wherein males and females live separately for long periods of time, has been observed in many species, but the causes of it remain uncertain"--
The first International Conference on the Biology of Deer Production was held at Dunedin, New Zealand in 1983. That meeting provided, for the first time, a forum for those with interests in either wild deer management or farmed deer production to come together. Scientists, wild deer managers, domestic deer farmers, veterinarians, venison and antler product producers, and others were able to discuss common problems and to share their knowledge and experience. The relationships formed at that meeting, and the information amassed in the resulting Proceedings, sparked new endeavors in cervid research, management, and production. A great deal has taken place in the world of deer biology since 198...
Since the first drawings left on walls of ancient caves, human beings have been fascinated with that unique phenomenon of the animal kingdom, the presence of horns and antlers. From the mythical ''unicorn'' exercising the power over life and death to the perceived aphrodisiacal and other medical properties of rhinoceros horns and growing antlers, these conspicuous protuberances have had a significant place in the history of mankind. Part of that ancient interest in antlers and horns was due to their value as sym bols of masculinity; this interest persists today in trophy hunting, an honorable tradition carried on for centuries in many countries of the world. This book, which deals with evolu...
Synthesizing studies of parental care in a wide variety of animals, this book is the first attempt to provide general answers to the following important questions: Why does the extent of parental care vary so widely between species? Why do only females care for eggs and young in some animals, only males in others, and both parents in a few? To what extent is parental care adjusted to variation in its benefits to offspring and its costs to parents? How do parents divide their resources between their sons and daughters? In this book separate chapters examine the evolution of variation in egg and neonate size, of viviparity and other forms of bearing, and of differences in the duration of incub...
Mountain goats have been among the least studied of North American ungulates, leaving wildlife managers with little information on which to base harvest strategies or conservation plans. This book offers the first comprehensive assessment of the ecology and behavior of mountain goats, setting forth the results of a remarkable 16-year longitudinal study of more than 300 marked individuals in a population in Alberta, Canada. The authors’ thorough, long-term study allowed them to draw important conclusions about mountain goat ecology—including individual reproductive strategies, population dynamics, and sensitivity to human disturbance—and to use those conclusions in offering guidance for...
"This book is well worth buying for its detailed summaries of the 25 studies, many of which are classic long-term projects, and for its insights into the factors determining reproductive success."—William J. Sutherland, TREE "A must read for anyone interested in evolution, mating/social systems, and population ecology."—John L. Koprowski, IJournal of Insect Behavior
Think of deer and the image that pops into most American's minds is that of a white-tailed deer, the most common large mammal in North America. Most Europeans are more familiar with red deer. It may surprise many people to know that there are actually about 50 species of deer found throughout the world. Here, readers will find nontechnical, expert information about the wide range of diverse deer species. Did you know that elk and caribou are deer? Or that the earliest fossils of deer are 15 to 20 million years old? Have you ever wondered whether deer swim, play, or see color? How do deer avoid predators and survive the winter? Do deer make good pets or carry contagious diseases? George A. Fe...
The largest of all seals, elephant seals rank among the most impressive of marine mammals. They are renowned for their spectacular recovery from near-extinction at the end of the nineteenth century when seal hunters nearly eliminated the entire northern species. No other vertebrate has come so close to extinction and made such a complete recovery. The physiological extremes that elephant seals can tolerate are also remarkable: females fast for a month while lactating, and the largest breeding males fast for over one hundred days during the breeding seasons, at which times both sexes lose forty percent of their body weight. Elephant seals dive constantly during their long foraging migrations,...