Comparative Physiology

This book attempts to dispel the widely held notion that 'primitive' animals are less advanced or less complex than the 'non-primitive'.

1. Biology of the earliest mammals A. W. Crompton; 2. Biological strategies of living conservative mammals John F. Eisenberg; 3. Milk and mammalian evolution Olav T. Oftedal; 4. The reptilian digestive system: general characteristics Charles L. Guard; 5. The gastrointestinal tract of mammals: major variations C. E. Stevens; 6. Digestive tract and digestive function in monotremes and nonmacropod marsupials C. J. F. Harrop and I. D. Hume; 7. Form and function of the macropod marsupial digestive tract I. D. Hume and D. W. Dellow; 8. The digestive tract: inmsectivore, prosimian, and advanced primate Edgar T. Clemens; 9. Evolution of mammalian homeothermy: a two-step process? C. Richard Taylor; 10. Have some mammals remained primitive thermoregulators? Or is all thermoregulation based on equally primitive brain functions? John Bligh; 11. What is a primitive thermoregulatory system H. Craig Heller; 12. The evolution of energy metabolism in mammals A. J. Hulbert; 13. Metabolic capabilities of monotremes and the evolution of homeothermy Terence J. Dawson and T. R. Grant; 14. Energy metabolism in hedgehogs: primitive strategies? Amiram Shkolnik; 15. Relations of metabolic rate and body temperature Piotr Poczopko; 16. The smallest insectivores: coping with scarcities of energy and water Stan Lee Lindstedt; 17. Metabolic levels and biological strategies in shrews Peter Vogel; 18. The respiratory system of the smallest mammal Eward R. Weibel, Helgard Claassen, Peter Gehr, Senada Sehovic and Peter H. Burri; 19. Energetics of locomotion: primitive and advanced mammals C. Richard Taylor; 20. Physiological responses to locomotion in marsupials R. V. Baudinette; 21. Mechanics of locomotion in primitive and advanced mammals Norman C. Heglund; 22. Elasticity in the locomotion of mammals R. McN. Alexander; 23. Elastic storage: role of tendons and muscles Giovanni A. Cavagna, G. Citterio and P. Jacini; 24. Properties and distributions of the fiber types in the locomotory muscles of mammals Robert B. Armstrong; 25. Endocrines: problems of phylogeny and evolution P. J. Bentley; 26. Pituitary-ovarian interactions in marsupials C. H. Tyndale-Biscoe and Susan M. Evans; 27. Placental function and embryonic development in marsupials Marilyn B. Renfree; 28. Adrenocorticosteroids in prototherian, metatherian and eutherian mammals Magda Weiss; 29. The renin-angiotensin system in marsupials J. R. Blair-West and Angela Gibson; 30. Physiology of the adrenal; cortex in monotremes C. Sernia; 31. Physiology of the adrenal cortext in marsupials I. R. McDonald; Index.