Introduction to Listings of Bird Books

Abstract

families. Three pages focus on theuniquely designed snake skull and dentition, including differentiating various types of fangs. Structural and functional features of snake scalation, sense organs, and locomotion are discussed, with descriptive photographs of each. In the locomotion section, a paradise flying snake of Southeast Asia is shown gliding through the air by expanding its ribs. Several pages are devoted to reproduction. Courtship, including male combat documented in some species, and mating are discussed, as well as oviparity and viviparity, with an accompanying chart of which families lay eggs and which are live bearers. In the diet and defense sections, a discussion of strategies used by an organism with an elongate, limbless body to capture prey and avoid predation is fascinating and informative. The conservation section addresses the numerous threats to snakes both globally and in specific localities. Habitat destruction, highways, and cultural attitudes are the major contributors to a decline of snake species in most regions. The remaining three-quarters of the volume consists primarily of oneor two-page descriptive accounts of each family or subfamily, with stunning photographs of representative species. Longer overviews are given of a few families that have numerous genera and species, including pythons (Pythonidae), boas (Boidae), watersnakes and garter snakes (Natricidae), cobras and sea snakes (Elapidae), vipers (Viperidae), and the almost globally distributed Colubridae with 90 genera and 760 species. At the beginning of each family account is a shaded map of its continental distribution, a listing of all genera, and a summary of habitats, ranges in body size, general and specialized diets, type of reproduction and maximum egg or litter size, and activity patterns. For both professionals and amateurs, the volume offers valuable information about and stunning pictures of these intriguing animals. From an academic perspective, the educational value of Snakes of the World is unsurpassed. J. Whitfield Gibbons, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina