Herpetology (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

~ Robin M. Andrews (Author), John E. Cadle (Author), Martha L. Crump (Author), Alan H. Savitzky (Author), Kentwood D. Wells (Author), F. Harvey Pough (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this revised edition of Herpetology, the authors provide the only treatment of amphibians and reptiles that integrates information about evolutionary relationships with ecology, behavior, and physiology and provide up-to-date references to the primary literature. KEY TOPICS The book is broken down into four parts and explores these specific questions: what are amphibians and reptiles; how do they work; what do they do; and what are their prospects for survival. MARKET This book is ideal for professionals such as zoo and aquarium curators, animal keepers, reptile and amphibian hobbyists, wildlife managers and conservationists who are looking for an integrated approach to the ecology, behavior, morphology, and physiology of amphibians and reptiles, presented in a phylogenetic and organismal context.

From the Back Cover

In this revised edition of Herpetology, the authors provide the only treatment of amphibians and reptiles that integrates information about evolutionary relationships with ecology, behavior, and physiology and provide up-to-date references to the primary literature. The book is broken down into four parts and explores these specific questions: what are amphibians and reptiles; how do they work; what do they do; and what are their prospects for survival. MARKET This book is ideal for professionals such as zoo and aquarium curators, animal keepers, reptile and amphibian hobbyists, wildlife managers and conservationists who are looking for an integrated approach to the ecology, behavior, morphology, and physiology of amphibians and reptiles, presented in a phylogenetic and organismal context.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 612 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (August 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130307955
• ISBN-13: 978-0130307958
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,630,593 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of what's available, October 21, 1998

By	R. Burke - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Herpetology (Hardcover)

Despite some fairly serious errors and omissions, this book is the best academic treatment of the field of herpetology yet written. It is a multi-authored text which allows people to write on what they know best, rather than making authors stretch well beyond their fields of expertise. This unfortunately means there's a lot of repetition between chapters, and some flat-out contradictions. It does a fairly good of reviewing the literature in a number of sub-fields of herpetology, and so provides more up-to-date reviews than you're likely to find in "Biology of the Reptilia". It is a good choice for a herpetology course for undergraduates--in fact I plan to use it for such a course in summer 1999. Amazing omissions: dinosaurs!! birds!! biogeography!! Notable inclusions: good chapters on foraging ecology, classification (too short), & thermoregulation.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Herp Textbook, May 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Herpetology (Hardcover)

I have just finished an undergradute course which used this book as the main text. I agree with the previous reviewer that there is considerable overlap and occasional contradiction. The early chapters tend to use a lot of technical jargon, and seem to be written for people who already understand the material. I was not so impressed with phylogenic descriptions which frequently failed to discuss unifying characteristics within families. Later sections, including locomotion, water balance, and mate selection are well written. This book would benefit from a glossary, more relevant tables and figures, and a more inclusive index. Overall, editing is rather sketchy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent conceptually, January 23, 2006

By	Henry C. Astley (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Herpetology (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

It's certainly not complete or perfect, and as a reviewer notes, contains some omissions and errors. However, while a textbook should strive to be as good as possible in those areas, it's no substitute for the primary literature in peer-reviewed journals and shouldn't be viewed as such, and instead should be seen as more of a conceptual introduction, in which I feel it does well. It avoids the tempting parade-of-taxa style, and instead focuses on the important concepts uniting reptiles and to an extent all animals, such as osmoregulation, feeding, locomotion, reproductive strategies, etc.

The section dealing with my primary focus, locomotion, is rather sparse, and contains some outdated information, but nothing that can't be corrected with a quick read through the literature. With any luck, my own work will be in the next edition.