Treeshrews suffer from chronic mistaken identity: they are not shrews, and most are not found in trees. These squirrel-sized, brownish mammals with large, dark, lashless eyes were at one time thought to be primates. Even though most scientists now believe them to belong in their own mammalian order, Scandentia, they still are thought to resemble some of the earliest mammals, which lived alongside the dinosaurs. This book describes the results of the first comparative study of the ecology of treeshrews in the wild. Noted tropical mammalogist Louise H. Emmons conducted this pathbreaking study in the rainforests of Borneo as she tracked and observed six species of treeshrews. Emmons meticulously describes their habitat, diet, nesting habits, home range, activity patterns, social behavior, and many other facets of their lives. She also discusses a particularly interesting aspect of treeshrews: their enigmatic parental care system, which is unique among mammals.

In the latest of her masterly studies of small mammals of tropical forests, the intrepid Louise H. Emmons has achieved all the merits to be hoped for in scientific writing. This is the second volume in the University of California [Press's] new series on organisms and environment. The editor especially recommends the book for new graduate students. It does not make for light reading; but reflecting, as it does, the mixed experiences of a dedicated field worker in tropical rainforest, while also methodically exposing the lifestyle of a group of extraordinary small mammals, it deserves a wider readership. -- Times Literary Supplement

Louise H. Emmons is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution Division of Mammals. She is the author of Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide (second edition, 1997).