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Book Review
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Please post your reviews of books about big cats and animals in general starting with the newest:
"Wild Cats of The World" by Dr.Luke Hunter This is a new book that was slotted for release 29/09/2015 but a bit of delay happened and it is finally available. I have not had the chance to read it from cover to cover yet but my first impression is very positive, a great book by the same title by Mel and Fiona Sunquist remains one of the main references on the ecology of wild cats, this book brings and important updating to the knowledge of the ecology and conservation of felids. Hunter has excellent credentials, his Ph.D. dissertation on the reintroduced cheetahs and lions to Phinda game reserve in South Africa is well-written, he has field experience with all of Africa big cats and he presents that in his books, he is currently the president of Panthera the leading conservation organization of big cats. The book is a great source of information especially for the less known species, I was slightly disappointed in the sense that there was little detail in the areas of morphology and feeding ecology, for example when he writes about tigers he states that the weight of a male tiger is 100-261 kg basically just stating the range versus the measurements, averages, and sources. Feeding ecology is described without analyzing different studies. The book has great photographs and illustrations and it is a must for any big cats library/collection. 
Good idea @Dr Panthera. I don't have the full book yet, only the full chapters of the tiger and the lion, and a few single pages.
On the positive side, I can say that the data is accurate and summarize most of the modern documents. About tigers, it take in count the modern feeding studies quoting the range of 60-250 kg from Hayward et al. (2012) and the social behavior take in count the paper of the male tiger in the tiger society. It also discuss the subspecies issue and present the new idea that only two subspecies actually exist, but overall, it is just a summary and did not quote direct sources, I found them because I have read those papers before. I think it is a positive chapter that gives new fresh air in some points about this cat, but we most remember that all this data is in only 9 pages, so from my point of view, the book of 2002 from the Sunquist is still, the maximum about the great cats, and particularly the tiger. In this book, Dr Hunter shows that there are no breeding evidence of tigers in all Indochina, expect from some few areas of Thailand, Burma and Malaysia, this is a sad true that have been ignored by many "popular" books and internet webpage that still quote the baseless figure of 1,500 for this population/subspecies. The negative side is directly the morphological department. I have found that the body measurements are based entirely in the table about tigers from Sunquist & Sunquist (2002), and he STILL quote the head-body length for lions and tigers of 250 and 300 cm respectively. From my point of view, I think it is a shame that at this day, there are modern books that still quote such ridiculous sizes. On the weights, he quotes the maximum figure of 272 kg for the lion (obviously from Nowell & Jakcson-1996) and the figure of 261 kg of the Nepalese male. He make the mistake in saying that the weight of 325 kg is from captive tigers, specially when we know that the figure came from a wild Amur male tiger reported by Baikov (Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002). Sadly, the figure of "over 270 kg" from the two Nepalese tigers from Dr Dinerstein is not in a "wild-cat" book but in a "Rhino-book", so very few people in the cat-field know it. Finally, in the skull department, it seems that he used the document of Yamaguchi et al. (2009) about the cranial volume of tigers and lions like a source for the great cats, which is good in many ways. Sadly, when we examine the tiger, we found that the maximum figure is of 379 mm, which shows that he ignored the figures of Mazák (1983) which constitute a big mistake from his part. I think that such a large book can't be judged by a single or two chapters, but it will be good what changes present in comparison with the book of 2002 from the Sunquist. By the way, I have the book of 2014 from the same authors (The Wild Cat Book), but I can only say that is a faint shadow in comparison with they opera prima of 2002. It is even shorter in content that the book of Dr Hunter. 
Morphology simply isn't a worthy enough subject to examine too deeply in modern day books about animals, as disappointed as we all are this fact is sadly not going to change.
I have finally finished reading the book, over all it is an awesome book , I particularly liked the following:
1-Amazing amount of information about the little known cats, particularly the small cats. 2-Up to date info , even more informative than Sunquist's with most species accounts thorough and well researched. 3- The book is not addressed to scientists and conservationists who are keen on knowing the details of the studies and the sources of information, the Panthera organization president is trying here to educated everybody about all cats and draw attention to their plight. 4-There is so much knowledge about big cats especially the better studied species lions ,tigers ,leopards,cheetahs, and pumas that cramming everything in 9-10 pages is impossible, but finding 10 page worth of info about say the Iberian lynx was amazing. 5-Morphology is not an area of importance to scientific research or conservation issues...the biology of a 100 kg Sundarban tiger is not different from a 220 kg Chitwan tiger that much, and both need protection. What I would love to see is a compilation of all available scientific readings with details for every species. I thank Dr.Hunter for his effort and I hope you all get to enjoy this great source of info. 
Many thanks for the initiative and the informing contributions, Dr. Panthera. Good move.
Most unfortunately, my trade is old books. I will discuss two I recently read in the tiger extinction thread. If I finish a new one (I bought a few some months ago), I will visit this thread. 
In regards to morphology, I certainly think it serves real scientific validation. Morphology is used to determine needs for a specific animal. Muscle % distribution will determine an animals needs i:e: to climb, needs to accomplish certain feats for hunting, speed, bite, etc.
Its especially helpful when comparing and contrasting similarly sized cats as well, learning where their strength and weaknesses are and how we can help these strengths by conserving the areas that contribute to them. Like anything else, its one part of a huge biological umbrella, it can be used to greatly educate us. My 2 cents (11-24-2015, 09:59 PM)Pckts Wrote: In regards to morphology, I certainly think it serves real scientific validation. Morphology is used to determine needs for a specific animal. Muscle % distribution will determine an animals needs i:e: to climb, needs to accomplish certain feats for hunting, speed, bite, etc. I definitely agree. This is the reason I collect data about wild and captive specimens of one species. The conclusion is there are significant differences. However. This thread is about recent books. Morphology could be discussed in a new thread in the Premier League. You can start it. (11-24-2015, 12:39 PM)peter Wrote: Many thanks for the initiative and the informing contributions, Dr. Panthera. Good move. Old books are still good reads Peter, what needs to be clear though is that scientific knowledge is constantly being reviewed and updated and what we knew in 1815 is not what we know in 2015 and so on, with the magic of the internet and Amazon I am purchasing some little known yet excellent books from India, South Africa, Russia and Latin America that enrich my predominantly North American/West European extensive library
Over the next few weeks I will post my favorite five books about each of the big cats...possibly the favorite ten for lions and tigers since these are better studied than the others.
(11-27-2015, 02:08 AM)Dr Panthera Wrote:(11-24-2015, 12:39 PM)peter Wrote: Many thanks for the initiative and the informing contributions, Dr. Panthera. Good move. Agreed on the constant upgrade of knowledge and the magic of the internet. Interested in the reviews.
"Lion" G.L.Smuts 1982
Butch Smuts gives us an excellent insight on the Kruger lions in this book, it was written in lay language and addressed the general population versus biologists, Smuts was researching zebras in Kruger in the late 1960's and started studying lions soon after, previous books were from East Africa ( Guggisberg, Schaller, Bertrand, and Rudnai) or the Kalahari ( Eloff) this book was about the Kruger lions a distinct and important population. I particularly liked the following: 1- Smuts was the first to describe a detailed guide to determining the age of lions 2- He pioneered the techniques of darting , collaring, and measuring lions with determining their empty weight 3-He accurately measured the stomach contents of killed lions, with the most he found 30 kg of Impala meat in a male lion, other scientists gave adjustments of anything between deducting 7 kg and 45 kg , but he showed that the maximum reasonable amount for a gorged lion to be 30 kg 4-He also gave a great chart showing the growth rate of both lionesses and male lions from birth to age ten, in which it shows that males grow faster than females in years one to three , females attain their maximum size by age four, males continue to grow till age seven , old lions start to lose condition after age nine and they do so quicker than lionesses. 5- He provided the biggest scientific, accurate, adjusted weight data in big cats research, 388 different lions of both genders over age four, this is an inclusive , accurate large sample that averaged male weight at 189 kg and females at 126 kg, he included all lions over four...he did not select just the resident lions or the biggest lions ( 225 kg male, 152 kg female) or excluded nomads nor problem or sick animals, every lion measured included. 6- He predicted that the good rain seasons will shift the lions top prey in eaten biomass in the Central district in Kruger from ( giraffe, wildebeest , zebra, Impala, warthog in that order ) to become ( Buffalo, wildebeest,zebra, giraffe , and kudu in that order) 7- He described the lion-spotted hyena interactions in Kruger noting that hyenas there seldom form groups larger than three and eat mainly Impala and wildebeest calves and scavenge a big percentage of their diet, unlike their cousins in Savannah habitat where larger packs increase mean prey size and challenges to lions. 8- He also pointed out that most large mammals are larger in Southern Africa than farther north in the continent while conceding that excellent habitat in Tanzania and Kenya can yield some exceptions. All in all it was a great and informative read and I highly recommend it. 
@Dr Panthera, could you elaborate on his method of determining stomach content? Was it simply figuring out how much left of the kill?
(12-07-2015, 10:52 AM)tigerluver Wrote: @Dr Panthera, could you elaborate on his method of determining stomach content? Was it simply figuring out how much left of the kill? No, emptying stomach contents of lions that just died ( were culled or died during darting ). Figuring out how much left of a kill of a known weight and applying Bertram scale of bully fullness offer less accurate methods but at least can be used for live lions.
Book Review: " Tigers of The World " first edition 1987, Ronald Tilson, Ulyssess Seal, and others.
One of the best books ever written about tigers that contributed greatly to our knowledge of this awesome animal. The book starts with a chapter about the extinction of the Java and Bali tigers by John Seidensticker and why we should rescue other tiger populations from such fate, it has an excellent chapter about tiger genetics and its relations with other pantheras on molecular level again by an excellent geneticist Stephen O'Brien, the book then moves to discussing the status in the wild of all tigers including the South china tigers that were clinging in to survival ( and sadly went extinct since) , and the status in captivity ( which was important to me at the time as I worked with captive tigers) where information about tiger husbandry, raising in captivity, reproduction in captivity, veterinary care for tigers, treatment of ill tigers were described, then the reproductive biology of tigers . There is an excellent chapter about white tigers and an excellent analysis on whether they play any role in tiger conservation or not. The final chapters in the book are about man-tiger conflict and management of tigers all over the world. This book is a treasure of information, written by people who specialize in studying tigers to an audience who studies tigers scientifically and is interested in the multiple graphs, charts, and discussions. I enjoyed re-discovering the book now as I did almost 27 years ago. I particularly liked the following : * The role of the declining numbers of the Rusa deer in the extinction on Java and Bali tigers * The genetic distance among big cats and among tiger subspecies for example the genetic distance between Bengal and Amur tigers is 0.007 where as it is 0.027 between a Caucasian human and an African extraction human Between a tiger and a lion it is 0.093, a leopard 0.034, and a jaguar 0.070 * The sad history of decline and eventual extinction of wild south china tigers, from an estimated 4000 in 1949 to 40 by 1987 to none by now * Some good info about Malaysian tigers , including high male:female ratio ( 3:2 ) and some morphological data showing the largest tiger to be around 157 kg. Males averaged 117 kg and females 91 kg excluding sub-adults. * A review of the success of Project Tiger in India, and while the results were encouraging a growth of the number of tigers in the country from 1827 in 1972 to 4000 in 1984 we are back where we started from ( or a bit better) * White tigers, their history, how all descended from Mohan, a white cub captured in Rewa, India in 1951 and a normal colored wild-caught female, the authors present the pros and cons of white tiger conservation and discuss the problems with white tigers ( premature death, low fertility, inbreeding, high occurrence of stillbirths, susceptibility to disease, reduced litter size, body deformities, crossed-eyes ) , Edward Maruska from the Cincinnati zoo in the USA states that the zoo bred 52 white tigers between 1970 and 1986 and the those perceived 'defects' were not significantly more than what is seen with orange tigers.
Book Review: "Tigers of The World " Second Edition 2010 Ronald Tilson, Philip Nyhus, and others.
The long awaited follow-up to the excellent first edition is worth the wait, a compendium on ecology, science, politics, and conservation ot the tiger in the twenty first century. The book starts with a summary of what we know about the ecology of the tiger by the best tiger scientist Dr.Mel Sunquist and continues to disuss the genetics of a tiger, its subspecies and taxonomy, The second chapter discusses tigers problems and solutions across its landscape, the third chapter highlights tools for understanding tigers, The fourth describes the status of wild tigers over the world, the fifth and final chapter examines the future of tigers and poses the grim question: Will Panthera tigris be extinct in our lifetime ? The book is a collaboration of prominent tiger scientists from the Asian countries where it originates as well as from western universities and institutes, it is the "Bible" of tiger conservation nowadays. I enjoyed the book particularly: * Sunquist's beautiful summary of the ecology of tigers, accurate, thorough, and well-backed by evidence from studies, he also provides some unpublished data from Sriyanto regarding the diet of Sumatran tigers ( 39% wild boar, 29.7% sambar, 15.5% pig-tailed macaques , 10.4% muntjac). * The genetic separation of Malaysian tigers (P.t.jacksoni) from Indochinese tigers (P.t.corbetti) and why they are a different subspecies despite similarity in skull morphology, size, and pelage. They do have their unique alleles that classify them as a separate subspecies. * The scientific answer to the long debated question who is the biggest cat? The lion or the tiger? Dr.Kitchener and Dr.Yamaguchi estimated the average weight of all wild lions to be 175 kg for males and 120 kg for females and for wild tigers to be 160 kg for males and 115 kg for females, so on the species levels lions are slightly larger, having said that the percentage of large male tigers (225 to 270 kg) is more than that of male lions in the same category. * Great description of the different sub-species of tigers * Great description of the current distribution of tigers, the different TCL ( tiger conservation landscapes) and the potential for tigers in each of them. * Tigers persist in only 7% of their historic range, and only 5% of the range is class I TCL ( where tigers may live for the next ten tiger generations around 35 years) * The high number of captive tigers in the USA and China...tiger tragedy * TCLs that have over 100 tigers are less than 15 and they are a priority, extending this to class II and class III could save tigers from extinction * Description of new technology in tiger research ( e.g. camera trapping, telemetry, scent -matching dogs) * Specific tiger conservation needs in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, and Russia . |
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