Thailand (Traveller's Wildlife Guides) - (Travellers' Wildlife Guides) by Les Beletsky & David L Pearson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Thailand holds a special place in the minds of the world's nature-lovers as a paradise of splendid tropical forests, untrammeled ocean beaches, and spectacular underwater coral grottos. Nature travellers to Thailand want to experience these stunning habitats and catch glimpses of exotic wildlife--gibbons and elephants, hornbills and storks, gliding lizards and cobras, brightly colored reef fishes and marine invertebrates. In this book is all the information you need to find, identify, and learn about Thailand's magnificent animal and plant life. ? Identifying and location information on the most frequently seen animals. ? Full-color illustrations of nearly 600 of Thailand's most common insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and coral fish. ? Up-to-date information on the ecology, behavior, and conservation of the animals. ? Information on Thailand's habitats and on the most common plants you will encounter. ? Brief descriptions of Thailand's most frequently visited parks and reserves. Easy-to-carry, entertainingly written, beautifully illustrated - you will want to have this book as constant companion on your journey.

Review Quotes

... provides a valuable stepping stone for exploring Thailand's diversity.

...admirable series of well-written and attractively illustrated guides 'aimed at environmentally conscious travellers'... Thailand follows the established layout in having chapters on ecotourism, geography and habitats, parks and reserves, and how to use the book (explaining ecology and natural history). A separate chapter is then devoted to each of the animal groups, terrestrial and aquatic, surveyed. That on birds is about 60 pages long and ends, as do several others, with an 'Environmental close-up, ' in this case a discussion of frugivory. Of the 970 bird species recorded in Thailand, 186 are illustrated here (by David Nurney) and the brief texts opposite comprise ID, Habitat (including symbols) and Region.

"Pearson and Beletsky have written an extremely readable and informative volume dealing with Thailand...This guide will be useful to all nature lovers traveling to Thailand. Highly recommended."

Anything but typical, Thailand (Traveller's Wildlife Guide) is the most comprehensive `all-in-one' natural history manual available for Thailand. Other books focus on individual taxa like birds, mammals, reptiles or orchids, still others on specific locations like national parks or beaches. Traveller's Wildlife Guide is different. Realizing that most of us have no room in our backpacks for a whole library, Pearson and Beletsky have written with great care, synthesizing and distilling Thailand in a manageable and useful field guide. They have taken a broad brush to the country's fauna, flora, ecosystems, and protected areas. The result is a work useful for both the casual traveler and the seasoned naturalist. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Thailand's natural history.--Bill Schaedla, Country Director of WWF Thailand Office & Honorary Editor, Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society

About the Author

Les Beletsky is a professional wildlife biologist and university zoology teacher. Prior to taking up writing wildlife guides he conducted many years of field research on the ecology and behavior of birds. He is the author of numerous books, including Costa Rica, Belize, Ecuador, and Peru in this series.

David L. Pearson is a research professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He is co-author of The New Key to Ecuador and the Galapagos and of Ecuador in this series. Les Beletsky is a professional wildlife biologist and former university zoology teacher. Prior to taking up writing wildlife guides, he conducted many years of field research into the ecology and behavior of birds. He is the author of numerous books, including Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru in this series.