Reptiles: A Very Short Introduction

From dinosaurs to lizards, snakes, and turtles, Tom Kemp considers the range of reptiles which have walked our Earth. Exploring how evolutionary adaptions have fitted them to their individual niches, he discusses their biology, such as cold bloodedness and feeding habits, and analyses why reptiles have been so successful throughout history.

Tom Kemp was appointed Tutor in Zoology at St John's College, Oxford, in 1975, where he conducted undergraduate teaching courses on vertebrate evolution and biology, and on palaeobiology. He was also Senior Dean for several years before his retirement in 2009, when he was elected Emeritus Research Fellow, and appointed Honorary Research Associate of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Tom Kemp's published titles include Mammals: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2017), The Origins and Evolution of Mammals (OUP, 2005), and Mammal-like Reptiles and the Origin of Mammals (Academic Press, 1982), and his research and field collecting have taken him on expeditions to Zambia, South Africa, Australia, and India. Since 2013, Tom Kemp and his wife have travelled extensively in southern Africa, observing and photographing wildlife.