Bats: A World of Science and Mystery by M. Brock Fenton, an emeritus professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario, & Nancy B. Simmons, a curator-in-charge at the American Museum of Natural History, is their nature science book, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher the University of Chicago Press.
This is their featured Free eBook of the Month selection for October, and is a lavishly photo-illustrated accessibly-written quasi-textbook about bats, focusing mainly on their biology and how their bodies and flight and echolocation abilities work, but also covering their origins and evolution and related historical scientific discoveries, with little anecdotes scattered throughout of the authors’ encounters with the creatures while studying them in the wild over the past few decades.
Offered worldwide through the month of October, available directly from the publisher’s website.
Currently free @ [the university’s dedicated promo page] (https://press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html) (ePub available with download options for both Adobe Digital Editions and Readium DRM, follow instructions provided on download link page, requires newsletter signup with valid email address), and you can read more about the book on its regular catalogue page.
Description
There are more than 1,300 species of bats—or almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species. But before you shrink in fear from these furry “creatures of the night,” consider the bat’s fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat can eat several thousand insects in a night. Bats also pollinate and disperse the seeds for many of the plants we love, from bananas to mangoes and figs.
Bats: A World of Science and Mystery presents these fascinating nocturnal creatures in a new light. Lush, full-color photographs portray bats in flight, feeding, and mating in views that show them in exceptional detail. The photos also take the reader into the roosts of bats, from caves and mines to the tents some bats build out of leaves. A comprehensive guide to what scientists know about the world of bats, the book begins with a look at bats’ origins and evolution. The book goes on to address a host of questions related to flight, diet, habitat, reproduction, and social structure: Why do some bats live alone and others in large colonies? When do bats reproduce and care for their young? How has the ability to fly—unique among mammals—influenced bats’ mating behavior? A chapter on biosonar, or echolocation, takes readers through the system of high-pitched calls bats emit to navigate and catch prey. More than half of the world’s bat species are either in decline or already considered endangered, and the book concludes with suggestions for what we can do to protect these species for future generations to benefit from and enjoy.
From the tiny “bumblebee bat”—the world’s smallest mammal—to the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, whose wingspan exceeds five feet, A Battery of Bats presents a panoramic view of one of the world’s most fascinating yet least-understood species.
With Blackjack and Hookers 