Texas Tech University

Acknowledgments

The two authors (DJS and RDB) are fortunate to have had faculty appointments at two institutions, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University, with a long legacy of excellence in mammalogy. Schmidly served as Professor and Head of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University and then as President and Professor of Biology at Texas Tech. He is now retired from the presidency at Oklahoma State University and the University of New Mexico and currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Texas Tech and Research Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico. Bradley is Professor of Biology at Texas Tech University as well as Curator of Mammals and Director of the Natural Science Research Laboratory at the Museum of Texas Tech University.

A project of this scope is greatly facilitated by colleagues. To that end, we are deeply indebted to our colleagues who gave generously of their time to edit, review, and provide suggestions about various topics and chapters in the book. They include Robert J. Baker, the late Clyde Jones, and several graduate students at Texas Tech University; Robert Dowler and Loren Ammerman at Angelo State University; Jessica Light of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University; Bernd Würsig of the Department of Marine Biology at Texas A&M–Galveston; and Chris Hice of the University of New Mexico. We want to especially acknowledge the contributions of Michael Tewes of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M–Kingsville. Mike provided essential updates relative to the carnivores and contributed to our information on mammals in the Rio Grande Valley.

Generous financial and other support was provided by the Natural Science Research Laboratory of the Museum at Texas Tech University, by a special line item funded by the Texas Legislature for Texas Tech to create a biological database, and by the Office of the Vice President of Research at the University of New Mexico. The TPWD, the state agency responsible for stewardship of wildlife resources in Texas, generously provided the resources to publish this as well as earlier versions of the book. We thank the recent TPWD directors, Andrew Sansom and Robert Cook, and the current director, Carter Smith, for their commitment to the project. Many TPWD employees provided valuable assistance, and we especially thank Jonah Evans, the state mammalogist for the department, who helped us access important information for many of the accounts.

Other valuable assistance with individual species accounts was provided by Ron Van Den Bussche, Oklahoma State University, and Jerry Dragoo, University of New Mexico. Liz Stratton, Assistant Stranding Coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Southeast Regional Stranding Office, provided updated cetacean stranding data from the NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program National Database. The Rabies Lab of the Texas Department of State Health Services, and particularly Bonny Mayes, provided information on county records of bats.

One of the challenges in producing a field guide is to locate good photographs and illustrations that adequately capture the mammals. In that regard, many individuals were generous in allowing us to use their photographs, and they have been acknowledged throughout the book. Special thanks are due to DJS's friend, the late John Tveten, a freelance wildlife photographer, and to Merlin Tuttle (formerly of Bat Conservation International but now of Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation). Artists Pieter Folkens and Larry Foster graciously provided illustrations of marine mammals.

Finally, and most importantly, a project like this requires someone who can shepherd it to a successful endpoint. In this regard, we were greatly helped by the dedicated Lisa Bradley of the Natural Science Research Laboratory at Texas Tech University, who assisted with the updating of the distribution maps and with the production of the manuscript for publication.

Of course, as with any endeavor of this nature, the final product—that which is correct and that which is not—remains our sole responsibility. With that said, it is our sincere hope that the citizens of Texas who have an interest in wildlife resources and conservation find much useful information and enjoyment from this new version of The Mammals of Texas.

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From The Mammals of Texas, Seventh Edition by David J. Schmidly and Robert D. Bradley, copyright © 1994, 2004, 2016.  Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.

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