Tupai: A field study of Bornean treeshrews by Louise Emmons, University of
California Press, 拢12.50/$19.95, ISBN 0520223845
鈥淎CTIVELY alert creatures that border on the neurotic鈥� is how Louise Emmons
sums up her subjects, treeshrews, a group of little-studied mammals with their
biodiversity headquarters in Borneo.
After three centuries of shuttling them between rodents, insectivores, and,
more recently, primates, scientists have concluded that a peculiar combination
of primitive and specialised anatomy means that treeshrews are, well, treeshrews.
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As such they are one of the 26 orders of mammals, which puts them on a par
with bats, whales and primates as a major branch of mammalian evolution. Yet
only two detailed field studies had been done before Emmons鈥檚 book Tupai
describing her three years in Borneo studying 6 of the 19 treeshrew species.
Excerpts from field notes personalise a thorough and insightful work by one
of the world鈥檚 best field biologists. Emmons not only brings her subjects to
life, but captures the enthusiasm that makes field biologists cheerfully endure
conditions ranging from fighting off skin-shredding rattans to falling into
waist-deep mud pits.