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Tupai: A Field Study of Bornean Treeshrews (Organisms and Environments)

by: Louise H. Emmons
en

0520222911  9780520222915  9780585391588 

 

 

Tupai: A Field Study of Bornean Treeshrews (Organisms and Environments)
By Louise H. Emmons


 


Book Description:

Treeshrews suffer from chronic mistaken identity: they are not shrews, and most are not found in trees. These squirrel-sized, brownish mammals with large, dark, lashless eyes were at one time thought to be primates. Even though most scientists now believe them to belong in their own mammalian order, Scandentia, they still are thought to resemble some of the earliest mammals, which lived alongside the dinosaurs. This book describes the results of the first comparative study of the ecology of treeshrews in the wild. Noted tropical mammalogist Louise H. Emmons conducted this pathbreaking study in the rainforests of Borneo as she tracked and observed six species of treeshrews. Emmons meticulously describes their habitat, diet, nesting habits, home range, activity patterns, social behavior, and many other facets of their lives. She also discusses a particularly interesting aspect of treeshrews: their enigmatic parental care system, which is unique among mammals.



Summary: Fantastic field study
Rating: 5

If not one of the best field mammalogists in the world today (and she most likely is), Emmons is certainly one of the best "field research" writers. Her style and descriptions are fantastic to read, neither too fluffy nor detached and uninteresting. She includes both the highlights and the unfortunate accidents of her field seasons, providing a reality and a "sense of being there" that's difficult to find in articles or other people's writing. I'm no treeshrew researcher, and probably never will be, but found Tupai to be a fascinating book and yet another model by Emmons on how to do quality field research.