This chapter identifies habitat as a crucial concept for literary animal studies. Habitat, as a biological concept, is compared with Jakob von Uexküll theory of Umwelt, a given organism’s subjective experience of inhabiting its distinct territory. Both terms are important for animal studies because they enable us to attend to the material and perceptual life worlds of wild creatures, ways of living threatened by habitat loss and climate change. I consider the distinct imaginative work of evoking habitat as a literary setting, discussing four literary works – John Clare’s poetry, J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine, Barbara Gowdy’s The White Bone, and Ted Chiang’s “The Great Silence” – that connect human self-awareness with careful attention to the particular ways in which different species of animals dwell in the world.

We review the results of recent surveys for the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) on the eastern slope of the Annamite Range in Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai provinces, and update its conservation status in Vietnam. Surveys were conducted in three adjacent forest blocks: West Ba To Proposed Nature Reserve (NR), An Toan NR and Vinh Son Commune, with a total area of 367 km2. We documented gibbon densities of 0.41 and 0.15 groups/km2 in the first two sites but did not find any groups in the third location. We detected 46 groups and estimated 114 groups in these areas, about 14 per cent of Vietnam’s known population of N. annamensis. Our archival study revealed that at least 317 groups of this species have been confirmed in Vietnam. The distribution range is between approximately 14° 00′ and 16° 50′ N latitude with potential overlap with the southern white-cheeked gibbon in the northernmost portion of this range. Important drivers influencing the distribution of the species in Vietnam include temperature seasonality, elevation, precipitation of the driest month, annual precipitation, and precipitation of driest quarter. This species faces extinction in Vietnam due to fragmented habitat, small subpopulation sizes, illegal hunting and forest conversion.

Restoration of the European native oyster is underway across Europe, and Scotland provides a good example of the current experience and lessons to be learnt for future restoration work. Translocations of shellfish carry inherent risks that must be taken into account when considering whether this is the most appropriate conservation action to take. Marine restoration projects require strict biosecurity protocols to address disease and non-native species risks relevant to both species translocation and associated operations. Native oyster restoration is a long-term commitment and projects need to organise appropriate surveys and consultation periods before starting work, together with long-term monitoring after the initial deployment phase.

This chapter argues that animals, as part of the environment, benefit from the protection afforded by the direct and indirect environmental safeguards offered by principles and rules of international humanitarian law. However, it also reveals that the pertinent norms are weak and largely unclear, especially in the context of non-international armed conflicts. For this reason, the chapter contends that the said rules need to be read in conjunction with the growing body of international norms, standards and mechanisms that seek to prevent and redress environmental harm during peacetime. Indeed, international environmental law has the potential to protect animals from suffering from the general deterioration of natural habitats and ecosystems caused by humans. However, the protection offered by the relevant instruments and unwritten principles is severely constrained by their narrow substantive, personal and territorial scope of application.

The goal of the Quagga project is to breed animals “indistinguishable” from quaggas, but this is impossible as selection has been solely for coat coloration. Genetic and morphological differences exist between quaggas and other plains zebras so that in the absence of selection for these characteristics it is untenable to refer to the rebred animals as "quaggas." Even so, these animals introduced into habitats once occupied by quaggas will aid in their rewilding. The relationship between the Quagga Project and conservation is discussed from the perspective of whether funds used for rebreeding could have been more fruitfully expended to conserve endangered organisms and threatened habitats in South Africa. Nonetheless, the Quagga project has been successful in inspiring support from a variety of people and organizations; as such, it could serve as a model for conservation ventures. The challenges facing wild equines are discussed with reference to Grévy's zebras and Selous’s zebras, especially climate change, habitat loss, and hunting.

The colobine monkey genus Semnopithecus includes gray, Nilgiri, and purple-faced langurs. Gray langurs (traditionally, S. entellus) have among the most extensive geographical ranges of all nonhuman primates, from Sri Lanka to the Himalayas, and are historically the most frequently studied colobine. Gray langurs have become key models in studies of sexual selection, niche partitioning, socioecology, optimal foraging theory, and movement ecology. Nilgiri langurs (S. johnii) are found in the Western Ghats of southern India; in addition to foundational descriptive studies, research on Nilgiri langurs has included inspired work on nutritional ecology and behavioral rhythms. Purple-faced langurs (S. vetulus) are found in varied Sri Lankan habitats and are perhaps the least-studied members of the genus; notwithstanding, they have been the subject of influential, interdisciplinary studies of locomotion, as well as one of the few detailed studies of predation on a colobine. All Semnopithecus appear to be characterized by considerable phenotypic plasticity, including a fluid leaf and/or fruit-centered diet with considerable site-specific differentiation in supplemental food categories, and variable social arrangements including single-male and/or multi-male, multi-female groups. There remain many opportunities to further advance our knowledge of this genus from novel biological, psychological, and anthropological perspectives.

The odd-nosed monkeys represent a monophyletic group of phenotypically unique primates. They include five species of snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus), three species of doucs (Pygathrix) as well as simakobu (Simias concolor) and the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). These species are ecologically diverse and inhabit a gradient of environments in China and southeast Asia, from wet equatorial forests to alpine forests. Odd-nosed monkeys tend to be shy and difficult to habituate, and often range over relatively large areas. Many are also renowned for inhabiting remote areas with rugged terrain and inclement climatic conditions. It is thus not surprising that, until fairly recently, they were among the least studied and most enigmatic extant diurnal primates. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, an expanse of new and exciting research has been conducted on these colobines. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current knowledge of the ecology and behaviour of odd-nosed monkeys and analyse some of their key behavioural traits and ecological adaptations in light of what is known about other colobines and primates as a whole.

Chapter 4 discusses restoration of the natural functions of degraded landforms and landforms that provide a limited number of shore protection or recreational values. The case is made to make beach/dune systems more dynamic to allow nature to undergo exchanges of sediment, nutrients, and biota; follow cycles of accretion, erosion, growth, and decay; and retain diversity, complexity, and the ability to deliver ecosystem services. Actions include reestablishing physical habitat characteristics (e.g., overwash areas and slacks), removing invasive species, and reinitiating cycles of growth and decay by reducing vegetation cover or destabilizing surfaces to favor reworking by waves and winds. Many of these actions are most appropriate for landscapes that are usually found within natural preserves and consistent with the regulations governing their management. Issues associated with removing wrack (beach cast), driving on the beach, restoring mined sites, and stabilizing dune fields that are overly mobile are also addressed in this chapter. Restoration actions in intensively developed areas where beach and dune evolution are under severe spatial constraints are addressed in subsequent chapters.

Modern development with its construction of every square inch of possible space, destroys open spaces, and commons.This building is generally haphazard, occurring in cities, suburbs and exurbs. It obliterates ecosystems and habitats.The results of this development and the effects of climate change, is exemplified in the United States by the repeated flooding of cities like Ellicott, MD; Houston, TX; Miami, FL; and Wilmington, NC;and the wildfires in the West.These areas bear the brunt of the abandonment of entire towns and their economic losses.But a reverse trend is also occurring: the construction of new commons, including artificial wetlands, and urban parks, that decrease impervious land, and aid in annulling the impacts of climate change.Two examples of this phenomenon are presented.First, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, is a reclamation of a dry riverbed, previously employed to convey raw sewage from the Palestinian territories, via Israel into the Mediterranean Sea. The second, is the construction of an artificial wetland used to treat sewage in Orlando, FL.It has become a home for numerous species and is also used for hiking trails.These reclaimed areas are then assessed utilizing Elinor Ostrom’s common-pool resources (CPR).

Chapter 1 interrogates a referential frame that happened to inform a cultural milieu and legitimize the use of the term “Arabian Nightism” in discussions that relate to presumed sumptuousness and lavish spending. The phrasing shows, however, how the Nights permeates a consciousness and how it inhabits the European and American culture in multifarious ways and contexts that justify addressing it as a knowledge consortium, an epistemic inception that continued to direct or challenge regimes of thought. Its trajectory in these cultures demonstrate constants and variables in reception and appropriation, and invite us to draw a comparison with its native culture in relation to issues of literacy and orality.

This chapter comprises the following sections: names, taxonomy, subspecies and distribution, descriptive notes, habitat, movements and home range, activity patterns, feeding ecology, reproduction and growth, behavior, parasites and diseases, status in the wild, and status in captivity.

This chapter comprises the following sections: names, taxonomy, subspecies and distribution, descriptive notes, habitat, movements and home range, activity patterns, feeding ecology, reproduction and growth, behavior, parasites and diseases, status in the wild, and status in captivity.

The interruption of animal movement by fragmentation is a major force with far-reaching ecological and conservation consequences. Understanding fragmentation processes underpins our ability to manage landscapes for connectivity, facilitating many ecological processes including gene flow interpopulation dynamics and demographic rescue. Here the current status of fragmentation, connectivity, methods, consequences, and management of the world’s eight bear species is reviewed. The metapopulation paradigm is also considered, i.e. are bears being forced into some form of functioning metapopulation or are they simply being fragmented into a series of isolated populations that, without conservation action, will likely be slowly extirpated, population by population?