Customer Reviews

American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide To Wildlife Food Habits

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a required by my professor in my Wildlife Techniques class in college. This book is old, as all Dover Press books are but the information in this book is extremely detailed. This book works two ways. You can look up the animal you are interested in to find out what it eats or you can look up plants and see what animals eat them. This book is must if you are curious to see what wildlife is interested in eating especially if you are interested in attracting wildlife to your property or maybe getting rid of the plants that are causing too much wildlife to be on your property.

There is SO MUCH info in this book. I think its terrific. Here are the chapters:

Part I: Introductory Chapters
- The Plant roots of wildlife
Farm crops and wildlife
Wildlife food habitas studies

Part II: Animals and their food
Waterbirds
Marsh & Shorebirds
Upland game birds
Songbirds
Birds of prey
Fur and game mammals
Small mammals
Hoofed browsers
Fish, amphibians & reptiles

Part III: Plants useful to Wildlife
Woody plants
Upland weeds and herbs
Marsh & Aquatic plants

Cultivated plants
Wildlife plants ranked according to their value

For each ofthe birds there is a map oftheir range, a brief paragrapgh on where they live/where they migrate to, animal food they eat, plant food they eat (with specific plants listed)

For the animal sections it the same sort of info - a map of their range, a tidbit of info on the animal, and then animal and plant foods they eat with the plants listed out.

In the plant sections, similar to the others there is a map of the range, some quite interesting tidbits about the plants, andt hen a listing of who eats them.

Refernces are given for each entry so you can look up additional info if you wanted to.

I really love this book. I was hoping to attract flying squirrels when I discovered using this book that we already have the habitat they love....one day last summer something jumped onto our screen window and scurried about......it was a flying squirrel. Pretty cool! I keep planting plants for wildlife and its been a lot of fun to see who comes to visit. i do cross refernce the plants in here with other books so I can be sure that what I'm planting is native rather than an exotic and so I can get a feel for what the plant needs/will do. High;y recommended!!

This book is very helpful to gain insight on the feeding habits of our wildlife. However, this book was first printed in 1951 and is somewhat out of date. With all the studies that have taken place since then, it would be a great idea if a second, updated version were to be released. I say buy the book, but look deeper into the pros and cons of any "great wildlife plant" before you go and place it on your farm.

This is one of the best wildlife/ plant books I own, and I have a lot. I find myself opening this book at least once a week. It is very unique because it allows you to look up a plant to see which wildlife use it, or look up a certain type of wildlife to see which plant communities it uses. I am using this book to choose natural plants for the landscaping at my home, and I am also using it to select plants for a wildlife management project on a 200 acre tract of land. Despite its age, it contains a wealth of accurate information. It is easy to read and informative to all people regardless of their background in wildlife and plant management.

Oddly enough, this is the oldest book I own. By which I mean, I bought it new in the 70's and still have it, despite many moves and several wives. Dover Books was a great store back in the day-they are not the same now. If you are curious, or a nature lover, or both, please treat yourself to this book, used if possible. They are fast disappearing.

Somewhat outdated, but a good book to have around for reference.A fairly complete and large selection of plants, animals,and different foods used by different birds and mammals.Also included is information on marsh and water related plants and birds.

If you are into planting for wildlife at your house or managing your property for wildlife. This book can't be beat. Yes it's outdated, many of the scientific names are wrong, and some common names are rather uncommon. But this is a great reference. Most animal species or family groups are inside this book. What this book does is explain the different plants that are beneficial to animals and exactly how the animals use these plants (cover, nesting, summer food, winter food).

I graduated in Wildlife Biology from Purdue University and this was a book one of our older professors actually required us to get. The class we used it in was a class about managing areas for animals. It was an indispensable tool in my arsenal in the class because this professor would sometimes slip questions on quizzes from this book if we were talking about a particular animal. Even after graduated from college I have kept a hold of this book because of what it is. I have never seen another book with this type of information inside of it before.