Australian Mammals Biology And Captive Management

This authoritative volume represents a complete and comprehensive guide to the husbandry of Australian marsupials and other mammals. Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management dedicates a chapter to each group of animals including the platypus, the echidna, carnivorous marsupials, numbats, bandicoots and bilbies, koalas, wombats, possums and gliders, macropods, bats, rodents and the dingo. For each animal group the following information is covered: Biology; Housing; Capture and restraint; Transport; Diet; Breeding; Artificial rearing; and Behaviour and behavioural enrichment. The book provides a complete literature review of all known information on the biology of each group of animals and brings information on their biology in the wild into captive situations. Also, for the first time, it provides practical guidelines for hand-rearing, and has been extensively reviewed by zookeepers and veterinarians to incorporate the most up-to-date information and techniques. Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management provides practical guidance for zoo-keepers, veterinarians, zoologists, researchers and students. Winner of the 2004 Whitley Medal. Shortlisted in the Scholarly Reference section of the 2004 Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing.

Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals provides an update on Australian mammal medicine. Although much of the companion volume, Medicine of Australian Mammals, is still relevant and current, there have been significant advances in Australian mammal medicine and surgery since its publication in 2008. The two texts together remain the most comprehensive source of information available in this field. This volume is divided into two sections. The first includes comprehensive chapters on general topics and topics relevant to multiple taxa. Several new topics are presented including: wildlife health in Australia and the important role veterinarians play in Australia’s biosecurity systems; medical aspects of native mammal reintroductions and translocations; disease risk analysis; wildlife rehabilitation practices in Australia with an emphasis on welfare of animals undergoing rehabilitation; management of overabundant populations; immunology; and stress physiology. The second section provides updates on current knowledge relevant to specific taxa. Several appendices provide useful reference data and information on clinical reference ranges, recommended venipuncture sites, chemical restraint agent doses and regimens, a drug formulary and dental charts. Written by Australian experts, Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals is clinically oriented, with emphasis on practical content with easy-to-use reference material. It is a must-have for veterinarians, students, biologists, zoologists and wildlife carers and other wildlife professionals. This volume also complements, updates and utilises the resources of other books such as Radiology of Australian Mammals (Vogelnest and Allan 2015), Pathology of Australian Native Wildlife (Ladds 2009), Haematology of Australian Mammals (Clark 2004) and Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management (Jackson 2003), all CSIRO Publishing publications.

In Medicine of Australian Mammals, more than 30 experts present the most current information available on the medical management of all taxa of Australian native mammals. This comprehensive text is divided into two parts. The first includes chapters on general topics relevant to the medical management of captive and free-ranging Australian native mammals such as: veterinary considerations for the rescue, treatment, rehabilitation and release of wildlife; veterinary aspects of hand-rearing orphaned marsupials; marine mammal strandings and the role of the veterinarian; and wildlife health investigation and necropsy of Australian mammals. The second part covers the medicine of specific taxa of Australian native mammals. Detailed information on taxonomy, distribution, biology, anatomy, physiology, reproduction, husbandry, nutrition, physical and chemical restraint, clinical pathology, hand-rearing, diseases, zoonoses, therapeutics, reproductive management and surgery is included. This practical, one-source reference is complemented by detailed photographs and illustrations, as well as tables listing reproductive and physiological data, diets, haematology and biochemistry values, and drug formularies. Appendices include a checklist of the mammals of Australia and its territories and a guide to the identification of common parasites of Australian mammals. Medicine of Australian Mammals is clinically oriented and is a must-have for veterinary clinicians, no matter how experienced. The book will also be of use to veterinary students, researchers, biologists, zoologists, wildlife carers and other wildlife professionals.

"This volume grew from a symposium held by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales in September 1986."--Pref.

Adored for its large fluffy ears, spoon-shaped nose and bright button eyes, the koala is universally recognised and revered as an Australian icon. But it hasn't always been so. After coexisting successfully with Aborigines for thousands of years, the koala was considered sloth-like by the early Europeans and valued for little more than its fur, and by the early twentieth century millions of koalas had been hunted, driving the species to near-extinction. Yet the koala is also one of the most well-adapted and resilient of Australia's marsupials, described by some as a triumph of evolution. How does it survive, and thrive even, on such indigestible fare as eucalyptus leaves, laden as they are with enough toxic phenols to kill most other animals? In this fascinating story of the koala, respected biologist and author Stephen Jackson examines not only the ecology, behaviour and history of this extraordinary animal, but also ongoing threats such as disease and habitat loss, and the controversial debate about how to best manage the remaining populations of Australia's favourite marsupial.