TY - BOOK ID - 77861597 TI - A bat man in the tropics PY - 2003 SN - 1282759175 9786612759178 0520929489 159734480X 9780520929487 0520236068 9780520236066 1417520434 9781417520435 9781282759176 6612759178 PB - Berkeley University of California Press DB - UniCat KW - Bats KW - Cheiroptera KW - Chiroptera KW - Chiropterans KW - Mammals UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77861597 AB - The euphoria of discovery is the only motivation many scientists need for studying nature and its secrets. Yet euphoria is rarely expressed in scientific publications. This book, a personal account of more than thirty years of fieldwork by one of the world's leading bat biologists, wonderfully conveys the thrill of scientific discovery. Theodore Fleming's work to document the lives and ecological importance of plant-visiting bats has taken him to the tropical forests of Panama, Costa Rica, and Australia, and to the lush Sonoran Desert of northwest Mexico and Arizona. This book tells the story of his fascinating career and recounts his many adventures in the field. Fleming weaves autobiographical reflections together with information on the natural history and ecology of bats and describes many other animals and plants he has encountered. His book details the stresses and rewards of life in scientific field camps, gives portraits of prominent biologists such as Dan Janzen and Peter Raven, and traces the development of modern tropical biology. A witness to the destruction and development of many of the forests he has visited throughout his career, Fleming makes a passionate plea for the conservation of these wild places. ER -