A Field Guide to the Mammals of Ecuador

About this book

Language: English

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Ecuador is the most comprehensive work on Ecuadorian mammals in the history of the country. This first English edition, (a translation of the second Spanish edition) describes 435 native species, including those from the Galapagos Islands and the Ecuadorian Antarctic Zone. The text gives information on field marks (measurements, colour patterns, and anatomical features), natural history (ecology, biology, and behaviour), distribution and habitat (accompanied by more than 380 distribution maps), present status (condition, abundance, and presence in protected areas), and local names (general as well as those used by 15 different indigenous groups in Ecuador). It also includes 620 colour photographs displayed in 182 plates. In addition, a guide to animal tracks and selected references are included. The work will undoubtedly be of use to scientists, naturalists, and students alike, as well as to anyone with an interest in Ecuadorian fauna.

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Biography

Diego Tirira has studied mammals and worked for their conservation since 1990. He served as the curator of the mastozoological collection in Museo de Zoología (QCAZ), at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) until 1999; nowadays, he is a research associate with QCAZ. He has been invited to talk in several universities and congresses in Latin America, Europe and Africa. He founded and was the first president of the Ecuadorian Association of Mammalogy (2010–2016), and has established several groups of mammal specialists of Ecuador. He has also participated as investigator for the Neotropical Region in the project Global Mammal Assessment (2005–2006), a joint effort of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), Conservation International and the University of Virginia (USA), aimed at evaluating the conservation status of the mammals of the world.

His university studies were done at PUCE, and Universidad Internacional de Andalucía and Universidad de Salamanca (Spain), with theses on the ecology of bats, on Antarctic seals, on the trafficking of wild mammals, and on primates conservation.

He has published 15 books, over 60 scientific papers and a similar number of popular science articles. He has received four awards for his scientific career, including a Rumiñahui de Oro (2007), awarded by the Municipality of Quito, and the Spallanzani Award (2012), by the North American Society for Bat Research.