TERRALOG: Turtles of the World, Vol. 4 - East and South Asia(v. 4) [Hardcover]

Holger Vetter (Author), Peter Paul Van Dijk (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2006

This volume of TERRALOG is a portrayal of the Chelonians of East and South Asia. Most members of the families Geoemydidae and Trionychidae inhabit the geographic range covered in this book, from Pakistan to Japan and from Russia to Indonesia. The diversity of the South and East Asian Chelonian fauna is even more enriched by numerous forms that have meanwhile been identified as hybrids. A great many of these forms are portrayed in a separate chapter. With a total of 600 color photographs and color distribution maps for all species, this volume of TERRALOG is a unique reference for everyone, from the hobbyist to the scientist. This makes it a fascinating photographic overview of the amazing diversity of East and South Asian turtles and Tortoises. 160 pages, Harcover.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Verlag A.C.S. GmbH.; 1 edition (May 31, 2006)
• Language: English, German
• ISBN-10: 3936027927
• ISBN-13: 978-3936027921
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very fun and somewhat useful..., December 19, 2006

By 

Michael B. Anders - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TERRALOG: Turtles of the World, Vol. 4 - East and South Asia(v. 4) (Hardcover)

This book is a visual treat, not a technical reference. Overall picture content is very nice. There is some consistency to photo format in this volume, and many of the photos are useful aids in identification. Fair use of plastral shots is made in this volume.

Range maps are provided but in many cases are inaccurate. A number of habitat photos are provided and are useful. Additional habitat photos should have taken the place of the blob-ish range maps.

The senior author took the liberty to split species in the family Geoemydidae (Bataguridae/Emydidae) into many, MANY genera, making them unrecognizable to people unaware of revisions that haven't gained wide use. The scientific naming in this volume is very contrary to the objective of making animal id simpler!

Husbandry information in this volume is the same as others. It's not sufficient.

There is an extra section in this book that pictures the multitude of known Asian hybrid turtles. Photo quality and angles in this section are consistently fair to excellent, but the size is very small - 12 photos per page vs. 6. Regrettably, no confirmation for each hybrid's claimed parentage is given.

This book will not be useful for distinguishing subspecies, but it will do a fair job supplementing a key at the species level. The book is of no use for husbandry. I found the hybrids section alone to be worth the purchase price.