Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind, Abridged edition
Klauber, Laurence M.
Publisher: University of California Press, January 1982
ISBN: 0520040392
$27.00 (Includes Shipping to Canada or the U.S.)
Abridged by Karen Harvey McClung.
Can rattlesnakes hear? Can they swim or growl or charm their prey? What is the record for length of a rattlesnake? How can one distinguish male from female? The answers to these and many more questions can be found in this remarkable classic of natural history, made available here in a popular paperback edition.
Venomous snakes have always been important to the culture of areas they inhabit, nowhere is this more true than in North and South America, where rattlesnakes are ubiquitous. They arouse emotions ranging from loathing to veneration, and for sheer power to terrorize and inspire fanciful tales, they are to be compared only to much larger animals, such as bears and alligators; but contact with rattlesnakes - by campers, ranchers, children at play - is much more frequent.
Laurence M. Klaubers monumental, 1500-page two-volume book received the highest critical acclaim when it was published in 1956 and revised in 1972. A large part of the original work can be understood only by trained biologists, and it is only these portions that have been removed for this edition. What remains is a lively, engaging, comprehensive study that can be understood by anyone with an interest in natural history.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Laurence M. Klauber was an electrical engineer who began seriously studying reptiles in his forties. He volunteered to become the San Diego Zoos first Curator of Reptiles, and his fascination with snakes and lizards eventually brought him international scientific recognition. He died in 1968 at the age of eighty-four.