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Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification
- 1st Edition - December 7, 2007
- Authors: Thomas Allen Jefferson, Marc A. Webber, Robert L. Pitman
- Language: English
- Hardback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 3 8 3 8 5 3 - 7
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 0 5 5 7 8 4 - 7
With coverage on all the marine mammals of the world, authors Jefferson, Webber, and Pitman have created a user-friendly guide to identify marine mammals alive in nature (at sea or… Read more
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Request a sales quoteWith coverage on all the marine mammals of the world, authors Jefferson, Webber, and Pitman have created a user-friendly guide to identify marine mammals alive in nature (at sea or on the beach), dead specimens “in hand”, and also to identify marine mammals based on features of the skull. This handy guide provides marine biologists and interested lay people with detailed descriptions of diagnostic features, illustrations of external appearance, beautiful photographs, dichotomous keys, and more. Full color illustrations and vivid photographs of every living marine mammal species are incorporated, as well as comprehendible maps showing a range of information. For readers who desire further consultation, authors have included a list of literature references at the end of each species account. For an enhanced understanding of habitation, this guide also includes recognizable geographic forms described separately with colorful paintings and photographs. All of these essential tools provided make Marine Mammals of the World the most detailed and authoritative guide available!
* Contains superb photographs of every species of marine mammal for accurate identification * Authors’ collective experience adds up to 80 years, and have seen nearly all of the species and distinctive geographic forms described in the guide * Provides the most detailed and anatomically accurate illustrations currently available * Special emphasis is placed on the identification of species in “problem groups,” such as the beaked whales, long-beaked oceanic dolphin, and southern fur seals * Includes a detailed list of sources for more information at the back of the book.
Marine biologists, laypeople interested in a guide to marine mammals.
Dedication
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Need for This Guide
Marine Mammal Identification and How to Use This Guide
Notes on the Format of the Species Accounts
Notes on the Dichotomous Keys
Request For Feedback from Users
Chapter 2: Basic Marine Mammal Biology
What is a Marine Mammal?
Types of Marine Mammals
Evolutionary History
Zoogeography, Distribution, and Migration
Anatomy and Physiology
Life History and Reproduction
Feeding Ecology
Predation/Parasites/Disease
Behavior and Social Organization
Standings
Exploitation and Conservation
Chapter 3: Taxonomic Groupings Above the Species Level
Order Cetacea— Whales, dolphins, and porpoises
Suborder Mysticeti—Baleen whales
Family Balaenidae—Right and bowhead whales
Family Neobalaenidae—Pygmy right whale
Family Balaenopteridae—Rorquals
Family Eschrichtiidae—Gray whale
Suborder Odontoceti—Toothed whales
Family Physeteridae—Sperm whale
Family Kogiidae—Pygmy and dwarf sperm whales
Family Monodontidae—Narwhal and beluga whale
Family Ziphiidae—Beaked whales
Family Delphinidae—Marine dolphins
Family Phocoenidae—Porpoises
Family Platanistidae—South Asian river dolphin
Family Iniidae—Boto
Family Lipotidae—Baiji
Family Pontoporiidae—Franciscana
Order Sirenia—Manatees and dugongs
Family Trichechidae—Manatees
Family Dugongidae—Dugong
Order Carnivora—Carnivorous mammals (including pinnipeds, marine otters, and polar bears)
Family Mustelidae—Otters
Family Ursidae—Bears
Suborder Pinnipedia—Seals, sea lions, and walruses
Family Otariidae—Eared seals
Family Odobenidae—Walrus
Family Phocidae—True seals
Chapter 4: Cetaceans
Chapter 5: Pinnipeds
Recognizable geographic forms
Chapter 6: Sirenian and Other Species
Recognizable geographic forms
Chapter 7: Extinct Species
Chapter 8: Dichotomous Identification Keys
Chapter 9: Summaries of Characters for Similar Species
Glossary of Technical Terms
References
Index—Common Names
Index—Scientific Names
- No. of pages: 592
- Language: English
- Edition: 1
- Published: December 7, 2007
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Hardback ISBN: 9780123838537
- eBook ISBN: 9780080557847
TJ
Thomas Allen Jefferson
Dr. Thomas Jefferson’s main interests are the development of marine mammal identification aids, and the systematics and population ecology of the more poorly known species of dolphins and porpoises. His work since receiving his PhD in 1983 has been related to conservation and management of marine mammals threatened by human activities. His current primary research focuses on the conservation biology of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) populations in Hong Kong and surrounding waters. I am also working on other projects looking at the systematics and ecology of these species throughout their ranges. In addition, I am involved in many other projects, including those on the conservation of the critically endangered vaquita (Phocoena sinus) and on the taxonomy and population ecology of common dolphins (Delphinus spp.)
Affiliations and expertise
Clymene Enterprises, CA, USAMW
Marc A. Webber
Marc Webber is a marine mammal specialist with an undergraduate and graduate degree from San Francisco State University. He has worked as a biologist and refuge manager for non-profit organizations and the US government for his entire career in places all over the country. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Webber has worked with stranded marine mammals, conducted marine mammal and seabird studies by ship and aircraft for NMFS and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in the North and South Pacific, North Atlantic, and Arctic, studied Monk Seals in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Northern Fur Seals at San Miguel and the Pribilof Islands, Walrus in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, Harp Seals in Russia, and Dusky Dolphins in New Zealand. He has done extensive work with stranded marine mammals, co-authored many journal articles and book chapters, and conducted marine mammal and seabird ship and aircraft surveys over most oceans of the world.
Affiliations and expertise
Golden Gate Cetacean Research, Corte Madera, CA USARP
Robert L. Pitman
Robert L. Pitman is a marine biologist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California,
and has published extensively on marine birds and mammals. Since 1976 he has averaged 6 months a year
at sea on research vessels operating in all the world’s oceans. His current research interests include ecology
and systematics of killer whales in Antarctica and Australia.
Affiliations and expertise
NOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA USARead Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification on ScienceDirect