Amphibians of East Africa, by Alan Channing and Kim Howell

Amphibians of East Africa, by Alan Channing and Kim Howell. Publisher: Chimaira. Frankfurt a. M.

When two people set out on a journey that will last a number of years in almost unknown territory, one would expect a respectable reason for such a venture and hope for a fruitful outcome. The writing of "Amphibians of East Africa" for Alan Channing and Kim Howell was such a journey.

This book has two separate origins. One of us, Alan Channing, based in Cape Town and interested in the life histories and evolution of amphibians had studied these animals during a number of short visits and a sabbatical year in Tanzania, as well as during short trips to Uganda and Kenya. He was struck by the difficulty of identifying the frogs and by the lack of up-to-date reference material. Often this required him to delve into the old literature and seek assistance from others interested in East African amphibians. The second of us, Kim Howell, has been based at the University of Dar es Salaam for 32 years. He had been collecting information on East African amphibians and was keen to see a book on them produced, as identification of specimens collected in the region was difficult, with many needing to be sent to large museums in the United States and Europe for assistance. He received a large number of queries concerning the names and biology of frogs from many different areas and was encouraged by Arne Schiøtz to "write a book." At a herpetological meeting in 1994 the two of us met and bemoaned the lack of a suitable reference for East African amphibians. We each encouraged the other, and some years later began the next step of the journey. It seemed natural to combine our efforts, as we both had made progress compiling data. Our task was complicated by the changes to the names of localities where specimens had been collected over many years, and even to a series of name changes of the species themselves. Many of the smaller species, such as the leaf-litter frogs, are remarkably similar, making the task of explaining how to distinguish them more difficult. The last checklist of all the species compiled by a scientist who had worked in East Africa was written nearly half a century ago, in 1957, by A. Loveridge. The writing process is never easy; preparing text that is accurate while being readable and useful to a broad audience, when many details of life history remain unknown, is taxing. We were excited that during this process a number of frogs new to science were discovered. The journey has ended. The once unknown territory is beginning to be recognizable, and the outcomes are presented here in words and pictures. Both of us hope that the book generates as much satisfaction in the reading and using as it did in the completing, and starts others on their own journeys enjoying, observing, and recording information on amphibians in East Africa.

This is an excerpt from the book: Amphibians of East Africa, by Alan Channing and Kim Howell.

Title: Amphibians of East Africa
Authors: Alan Channing; Kim Howell
Publisher: Chimaira
Frankfurt a. M. 2006
ISBN 9783930612536 / ISBN 978-3-930612-53-6
Hardcover, 16x24 cm, 456 pages, 185 colour photos, 71 drawings