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This new edition of Bradt Wildlife Guide: Sri Lankan Wildlife has been fully updated to reflect all the most recent developments relevant to visitors to this beguiling island who come to watch wildlife. Whale watching, now a major part of Sri Lanka’s wildlife experience, is covered, and so too is the improved visitor access to some of the national parks. With a general increase in visitors over the past decade, more entrance gates have been opened to popular national parks and access improved to others.
Sri Lanka is home to elephants, leopards, bears and water buffalo and boasts one of the highest species densities of marine mammals in the world, with populations of blue whales and sperm whales off the coast proving a compelling draw. Sri Lanka is one of the few destinations in the world where you can be out at sea whale watching in the morning, then spend the afternoon in a national park watching leopards and elephants or visiting a rainforest.
A balanced, all-round natural history guide, ideal field guide and armchair read, Bradt’s Sri Lankan Wildlife is illustrated with colour photographs of species and includes maps charting animal habitats to aid identification. It is an ideal companion for general wildlife travellers and wildlife enthusiasts who want some background reading on the island’s natural history, and is written in an accessible, easy-to-read style by an expert who visits Sri Lanka at least once a year.
Introduction
Sri Lanka: a biodiversity jewel, How to use this book, The Sri Lankan environment
Habitats and Reserves
Habitats, National parks and reserves
Mammals
Asian elephant, Ungulates, Carnivores, Primates, Squirrels, Bats, Other mammals
Birds
Birds of town and garden, Birds of the rainforest,
Birds of the highlands, Birds of the dry lowlands, Birds of the wetlands, Birds of the coast, Endemic birds
Reptiles and Amphibians
Lizards, Snakes, Crocodiles, Turtles, terrapins and tortoises, Amphibians
Invertebrates
Lower invertebrates, Arthropods, Butterflies, Dragonflies and damselflies
The Underwater World
Freshwater fish, Marine life, Under the sea, Marine mammals
Getting About
Independent travel, Tours, Suggested itinerary,
Photography tips
Further Information
Books, Societies, Finding out more
Index
Features
Where to watch primates in Sri Lanka
Watching nocturnal wildlife
Snake bites
Nesting sea turtles in Sri Lanka
Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne’s efforts to popularize natural history and create livelihoods through wildlife tourism have made him a wildlife celebrity in Sri Lanka. He has published over 15 books and 380 articles. In the words of British TV wildlife personality Bill Oddie, ‘no single individual has done so much to publicise a country for its wildlife as Gehan has done for Sri Lanka’.
Gehan popularized the Elephant Gathering and his ‘Sri Lanka is Best for Blue Whale’ campaign was pivotal in developing whale watching in Sri Lanka. He also explained why Kalpitiya is a hot spot for whale watching and pelagics and brought to public attention the fact that the largest gatherings of Sperm Whales take place in Sri Lanka. He has championed Sri Lanka as being ‘Best for Big Game’ outside Africa and introduced the concept of Leopard Safaris in Sri Lanka.
In his many books, Gehan has also popularized birds, mammals, butterflies and dragonflies and authored the first-ever complete photographic field guide to the birds of Sri Lanka, as well as the first portable and affordable photographic field guide to the country’s mammals. He is one of a small handful of natural history personalities in the world who have both written and photographed field guides to multiple taxonomic groups spanning birds, land and marine mammals, dragonflies, butterflies, wildflowers and trees, as well as books on where to watch wildlife and general overviews of the natural history of a country. Through his articles and talks, he continues to support the branding and commercial development of Sri Lankan wildlife tourism.
