Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management. Jackson S., A Review by Karen Firestone

Abstract

MY first impressions when I saw this book was “what a remarkable achievement” and “I want one for my library”. The author of this book, Stephen Jackson, hails from a long association with the zoo industry having worked for many years at Taronga Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary and more recently with the Animal Welfare Unit of the NSW Department of Primary Industries, so he comes with a commanding knowledge of the requirements for captive management of Australian mammals. He has spent considerable time formulating this volume; it is nicely presented, thorough in scope and clearly very authoritative. However, while expert information does not come cheap, the price of this book (are you sitting down?) at $240 puts it well out of the price range of many. I’m still gasping. This book is marketed for (generally underpaid) zookeepers, veterinarians, zoologists, researchers and students, but this price restricts it to being a specialist reference volume purchased by a limited number of users, zoological institutions, and university libraries with good acquisitions budgets. This is unfortunate as every wildlife carer, zoo, and breeding facility (in Australia and elsewhere) that holds or breeds Australian mammals should have one of these volumes. It would be fantastic to see a complete series of these ‘Biology and Captive Management’ books: Australian Birds: Biology and Captive Management, Australian reptiles..., Australian insects... etc.