From fleet-footed cheetahs to howling wolves, and from playful dolphins to earth-shaking elephants, the world of animals is wonderfully diverse. This popular and newly expanded series continues traveling the planet to study these and other fascinating animals. Beautiful photos are paired with accessible text to examine the featured animal's appearance, behaviors, and life cycle. Each book also presents a folk story that helps explain a defining feature or behavior.

After completing his conquest of the Persian empire, Alexander the Great maneuvered his army across the Hindu Kush and into India. During his two years there, he traveled from dry frigid mountains to humid tropical lowlands and then back across one of the most punishing deserts on the planet. He fought a series of desperate battles against strange foes mounted on war-elephants, suffering wounds that nearly killed him. And when he eventually turned homeward, he brought with him specimens of a rare, magical species, a bird that could speak with a human voice.

Introduced to Europe by Alexander, parrots were quickly embraced by Western culture as exotic and astonishing, full of marvelous powers, and close to the gods. Over the centuries they would become objects of veneration or figures of folly, creatures prized for their wit—or their place on the dinner table. Ultimately, they would become emblematic of the West's interaction with the world at large. Identifying a deeply rooted obsession with these beautiful and loquacious birds, Bruce Thomas Boehrer provides the first account of parrots and their impact on the Western world.

Parrot Culture: Our 2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird traces the unusual history of parrots from their introduction in the Graeco-Roman world as items of oriental luxury, through the great age of New World exploration, to the contemporary ecological crisis of globalism. Boehrer identifies the poignant irony in the way parrots became ubiquitous as symbols and mascots, while suffering near extinction at the hands of those who desired them. Exploring their presence and meanings in the art, literature, and history of Western civilization, Parrot Culture also celebrates the beauty, intelligence, and personality of these birds, whose fate will say as much about us and the world we have created as it will about them.

Amazons are one of the groups of parrots most appreciated by pet lovers and bird breeders. They are easy to tame and train; they can be bred; and they are one of the least expensive groups of the larger parrots. The authors have written this book from first hand experience, and each bird is surveyed from its life and capture in the wild, through importation, quarantine, and acclimation, to the requirements for keeping it as a pet and breeding it in captivity. In a systematic treatment, each species or subspecies is discussed, with a range map for each and a supplemental gallery of photographs. The photos are remarkable and comprehensive, and makes identification of each subspecies simple and accurate. Instances of captive breeding are followed by assessments of the characteristics of each particular subspecies.

From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our intelligence and happiness throughout our lives.

We’ve all seen the happiness in the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing with glee across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless and all-consuming. And, most important, it’s fun.

As we become adults, taking time to play feels like a guilty pleasure—a distraction from “real” work and life. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. In fact, our ability to play throughout life is the single most important factor in determining our success and happiness.

Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and conducting more than six thousand “play histories” of humans from all walks of life—from serial murderers to Nobel Prize winners. Backed by the latest research, Play explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem solve, and more. Play is hardwired into our brains—it is the mechanism by which we become resilient, smart, and adaptable people.

Beyond play’s role in our personal fulfillment, its benefits have profound implications for child development and the way we parent, education and social policy, business innovation, productivity, and even the future of our society. From new research suggesting the direct role of three-dimensional-object play in shaping our brains to animal studies showing the startling effects of the lack of play, Brown provides a sweeping look at the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the importance of this behavior. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.

One of the more nonconformist figures in the animal kingdom, the parrot is linked to humans by its ability to speak—a trait many have found unsettling, though this discomfort is offset by its gorgeous plumage, which makes it one of the most popular members of the avian family. Unlike previous studies that have treated parrots as simply a curious oddity, Paul Carter offers here in Parrot a thoughtful yet spirited consideration of the natural and cultural history of parrots, discussing parrot portraiture, the role and significance of parrots' mimicry in human culture, and parrot conservation, as well the parrot's role in literature, folklore and mythology, film, and television worldwide.

Parrot takes three different approaches to the squawker: the first section, "Parrotics," examines the historical, cultural, and scientific classification of parrots; "Parroternalia," the second part, looks at the association of parrots with the different languages, ages, tastes, and dreams of society; and, finally, "Parrotology" investigates what the mimicry of parrots reveals about our own systems of communication. Humorously written and wide-ranging in scope, this volume takes readers beyond pirates and "Polly wants a cracker" to a new kind of animal history, one conscious of the critical and ironic mirror parrots hold up to human society.
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This guide includes all 39 species of North American hawks and other diurnal raptors, including eagles, falcons, and vultures. Color paintings and photographs show each species in various color morphs and plumages, which are aso described in detail.

The Healthy Bird Cookbook: A Lifesaving Nutritional Guide and Recipe Collection is the perfect solution to all of your bird's nutritional needs. It provides 150 creative, healthy, and easy-to-make recipes that are appropriate for almost all species of pet birds. The book also offers a thorough, extensive section on avian nutrition that clearly explains the roles of pellets and seeds, the food groups, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in your bird's diet. You can take comfort in the quality and nutritional value of these original recipes—-the author is an avian expert who spent ten years consulting with veterinarians and doing hands-on research to compose them.

The Healthy Bird Cookbook features: —-150 recipes that are easy to make and healthy —-Illustrations of many of the delicious dishes included —-A thorough nutritional guide, including sections on special diets, specific nutritional needs, and foods to avoid —-Helpful hints, cooking tips, and safety suggestions throughout —-Many recipes that are great for people, too!

The Healthy Bird Cookbook: A Lifesaving Nutritional Guide and Recipe Collection is the perfect solution to all of your bird's nutritional needs. It provides 150 creative, healthy, and easy-to-make recipes that are appropriate for almost all species of pet birds. The book also offers a thorough, extensive section on avian nutrition that clearly explains the roles of pellets and seeds, the food groups, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids in your bird's diet. You can take comfort in the quality and nutritional value of these original recipes—-the author is an avian expert who spent ten years consulting with veterinarians and doing hands-on research to compose them.

The Healthy Bird Cookbook features: —-150 recipes that are easy to make and healthy —-Illustrations of many of the delicious dishes included —-A thorough nutritional guide, including sections on special diets, specific nutritional needs, and foods to avoid —-Helpful hints, cooking tips, and safety suggestions throughout —-Many recipes that are great for people, too!

If you think your parrot can't shoot a basket or bowl a stike, think again! Using the information in The Click That Does the Trick, you'll be able to train your bird to perform over 30 entertaining tricks, including shooting a basket, bowling, roller-skating, waving, and more. Training your bird is not only entertaining, but it actually helps build a better relationship between the two of you. You'll spend more time together and come to know and trust each other. And, both you and your bird will have fun. Training your bird reduces his level of boredom and gets him mentally and physically active.

Good Parrotkeeping offers everything a parrot keeper needs to know about caring for his or her feathered friend. Written by an expert on parrot care, nutrition, and training, this all inclusive guide provides in-depth, all-inclusive coverage of topics vital to proper parrot care, including behavior, housing, feeding, training, and health care. The book features almost every species of parrot that is in the pet hobby (over 300 in total), including parakeets, cockatiels, macaws, cockatoos, lovebirds, and conures, and organizes them by their keeping parameters. As some parrots are more closely related than others, a detailed parrot chart notes their suitability as pets and ranks the birds by level of noise, messiness, ability to talk, and other qualities parrot keepers need to know when deciding which birds are most appropriate for their home. Numerous tip boxes discuss how to make toys, solve behavior problems, and keep a parrot happy and healthy. Full-color photos, sidebars, and tip boxes illustrate key points throughout the authoritative text. The full spectrum of informative coverage makes Good Parrotkeeping a one-stop guide for bird hobbyists of every experience level-beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

A routine surgical procedure performed by avian veterinarians is laparoscopy in order to determine the sex of an individual bird. Here, the veterinarian is inserting the laparoscope trocar into a Blue-fronted Amazon. —M. Vogel