animal

Paris on Horseback was written and illustrated by French author and cartoonist known as Crafty, whose real name was Victor Eugène Geruzez (1840-1906), specializing in books on horses and hunting. The contents of the book are divided into sections: "Cavalry of Paris," "At the Bois de Boulogne," "At the Races," and "The Art of Falling from the Horse." These satirical and witty observations highlight the transactions and tricks that surrounded acquiring a horse from a Parisian horse dealer. It takes a comical view of French society, the racing world, the horse show, and dressage.

The Kreuterbuch of Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), first published in 1557, is an early example of a bestseller—the book remained in print in various forms through 1783, which is a testament to its popular appeal. Although the name Kreuterbuch literally translates to “herb book,” and most of it is indeed about plants, a great deal of the book is devoted to describing the natures and uses of animals, metals, and gemstones.

This exhibition catalog explores the 2010 monumental work Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, created by internationally acclaimed contemporary Chinese artist and social activist Ai Weiwei. The work is a reimagining of a Qing dynasty zodiac water-clock system at the Old Summer Palace near Beijing, which was looted in 1850 during the Second Opium War. Ai reinterpreted the original fountainheads in a gold series and a bronze series, as his first monumental public art installation.

This fun, interesting, and lavishly illustrated book tells the stories of approximately 50 animals that have played crucial roles in human history. Chaline’s fascinating essay topics range from the history of oyster-raising to the essential role of the horse. Humans are the subject of the final essay, which includes a warning that we are our own worst enemy. Each animal is classed among four categories as “Edible, Medicinal, Commercial, and/or Practical" (a dog-loving reader might quibble with the idea of modern housecats being considered “practical”).

This is the second of a series of sketches and life histories of birds told in a unique way—by the birds themselves as "autobiographies." This makes it especially interesting to the young readers for whom it was written, but also contributes valuable information for older naturalists. Author Arthur Allen was a professor of ornithology at Cornell University, which is renowned for its Laboratory of Ornithology. The book is illustrated with 240 of Allen's own photographs, and there are eight color plates by George Miksch Sutton. One of Sutton’s images is used for this entry.

A rare illustrated German nursery rhyme children’s book, Paradisefibel features colored illustrations by Richard Seewald (1889-1976), a German visual artist. With highly stylized illustrations, this fairy tale includes humorous animals in human situations, such as singing frogs and playing monkeys. Written by husband and wife Joseph and Maria Koch, the rhythmic flow of the text works in conjunction with Koch’s development of the “finger-reading” method of sign language.

Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904), the creator of Animals in Motion, was an English photographer who pioneered photographic studies of motion and early works in motion-picture projection. His massive portfolio was the culmination of 15 years of work that contributed to developments in the science of biomechanics and athletics. Muybridge’s experiments developed new visual technologies that produced objective and accurate movements of humans and animals. Each movement is presented as a measurable phenomenon.

This book takes an illustrative scientific approach towards understanding how interwoven conditions such as hydrology, oxygen levels, and plant canopies impact the types of species that can be found in freshwater wetlands. These ‘abiotic’ factors contribute to the overall development and adaptation of microorganisms, invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants in wetlands. Even with the scientific approach, The Biology of Freshwater Wetlands is easy to read for researchers, students, and others interested in ecology.

Dinoflagellates are single celled organisms in the kingdom ‘Protista.’ They are important primary producers (make food through photosynthesis), symbionts (live dependently but peacefully with/on other organisms), consumers (they eat things), and parasites. Some produce harmful toxins which can impact humans. Yet there has been a lack of comprehensive taxonomic studies on these species.

This volume of the “Fauna of the Romanian People's Republic” is part of a larger set which covers the fauna of Romania. This volume covers the arachnids of Romania, which includes spiders, scorpions, opils, and ticks. Complete with detailed illustrations, this book serves as a helpful research resource and as a way to startle your friends who suffer from arachnophobia.

This is the first edition of Alfred Russel Wallace’s (1823-1913) work on biodiversity, a subject of study that wasn’t as popular 130 years ago. Wallace is referred to as the “father of biogeography” due to his extensive fieldwork around the world documenting species' distribution based on their locations. He is also considered Charles Darwin’s biggest influencer and proponent when Darwin was writing On the Origins of a Species, based on Wallace's theories of natural selection.

The title may be misleading: these volumes are not how to find baby birds, but rather they are adorable pocket-sized volumes to be used for identifying bird species in New England and other Northeastern states. Volume I covers song birds, such as flycatchers, larks and sparrows; volume II includes water and game birds, hawks, and owls. The illustrations in Volume I are outline sketches but by the time Volume II was published the author was able to use photographs. Blank pages were included in the books so bird watchers could record their own observations.

From the smallest cells to vast, swirling nebulae; from plumes of volcanic ash and rock to the relationships of primates; William L. Staley carefully details life on Earth as we know it.  He does so with the help of My Pal, a cartoon bacterium.  The result is a bit silly but informative and inviting.  Printed on coated paper and frequently dotted with illustrations, cartoons, and photographs (of special note is the fold-out photo of the skeleton from fish to man at the end).  This first edition copy is signed and dated by the author. 

The Azores, an archipelago of volcanic islands west of Portugal, undoubtedly possesses one of the most unique and ever-changing environments on the planet.  Within these lush and vibrant islands lie flora and fauna never seen before.  In fact, it is not unusual to discover new species on the islands.

Written by Phineas T. Barnum himself, this 1871 edition of his ongoing autobiography features both sketches and stories from his adventures as a showman and novice circus owner.

While he graduated with a degree in agriculture at Cornell, it was summer work on combating contagious diseases in cattle that led to Dr. Leonard Pearson’s (1868-1909) interest in veterinary medicine. Upon graduating from the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school, Dr. Pearson continued his work on protecting cattle and would eventually rise from Professor of Medicine to Dean of the Veterinary School to Pennsylvania’s State Veterinarian. Expanding his research into poultry, Dr.

This is a comprehensive work on numerous types of birds, many not normally considered pets or cage-birds. Some also consider it a classic work on canaries. Each author contributed chapters in one of three sections: Blakston wrote about canaries; Swaysland, in his role as an “authority” on the subject, contributed the section on British cage-birds; and Wiener wrote the section on foreign birds. Blakston’s chapters on canaries include more detailed information on breeding, hatching and rearing, exhibiting, and diseases than the other two authors’ sections.

Grazing. Fire. Water. All issues important out West, all issues pertinent to rangeland ecology and management, and all addressed in this comprehensive book. For scientists who study natural processes, such as the research staff at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (where this book resides), there is much to be learned from this text. Deer, insects, and other herbivores graze, and grazing has impacts on plant physiology and morphology, energy flow through ecosystems, and other ecosystem effects. Fire and water also profoundly shape both managed and natural systems.

This book is a collection of chapters, each written by experts in their ecological discipline. It covers the role of both insects and vertebrate animals (those with a backbone) in desert ecosystems, how nutrients move through the system (‘nutrient cycling’ is a hot topic for those who study ecosystems), and how plants adapt to the soils and rainfall in deserts. An important text for anyone who studies these phenomenon in deserts and elsewhere.

The first of six colorful pop-ups in Creatures of the desert world depicts early morning in Arizona’ s Sonoran Desert as bobcats and birds around a large saguaro cactus dramatically lift off the page when the book is opened. The subsequent pages follow the vibrant and alive desert environment throughout the day into a full moonlit night when the night hunters, including bats and kit foxes, begin their search for food.

This dog-eared 1964 (second printing) copy of “The Vertebrates of Arizona” has likely been used in the field by Smithsonian and other biologists over the years. Editor Charles H. Lowe was a respected herpetologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.  Containing useful landscape photographs, maps, and data, the second half of this book is organized into annotated check-lists of fishes, amphibians, birds and mammals of Arizona. This makes it an essential resource for biologists and taxonomists studying the region.

This work, which includes information about Arizona’s State Amphibian (Hyla eximia, the Arizona treefrog or Mountain treefrog), is part of the important Smithsonian series, Bulletin of the United States National Museum. The Libraries holds a comprehensive collection of Smithsonian publications stretching back to the first publication of the Institution in 1848.