Customer Reviews

Mammals of North America (Princeton Field Guides)

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

 

 

I'd looked forward to this book for a long time, but now that it's here, I'm not so sure I'm going to get rid of my Burt and Grossenheider. My current favorites among the Rodentia--packrats and grasshopper mice--are painted so badly here as to be unrecognizable, as biologically accurate as Du"rer's rhinoceros but without anything like the artistic interest. What's really disappointing, though, is that with this book available, I can't imagine another mammal guide appearing for years to come.

The new guide book by Kays and Wilson is a great resource for identifying the mammals of North America. The old Peterson mammal guide book is badly out of date, both with respect to range and taxonomy. For example, it lists Grizzly Bear and Wolverine as residing in Colorado, when neither species has been sighted in the state in nearly 30 years. The new Kays and Wilson book also places the range map on the same page as the species description, which is MUCH more useful than placing all of the maps collectively in the back of the book (as is done with Peterson). The illustrations are sharp and the descriptions concise; everything that you would want in a field guide. The book also includes supplemental sections on tracks, scat and surface profiles for marine mammals (all of which are missing from the old Peterson mammal book).

The long awaited new field guid is out and I was able to get a copy. The first up to date treatment of all 442 North American mammals lies in front of me. I'm involved in mustelid research for the last ten years and when the pre-announcement came out, saying that all relevant subspecies, geographical and sexual variation to be included it was a must for me to get a copy.
I think in a coloured field guide the painted plates are the most important and hence most discussable part of such a book. My mood after carefully checking the guide is a little bit neutral as I don't know if it is well done or a catastrophy due to unbelivable bad "art" included in parts. Two illustrators made a fantastic job. Both have their own differnt stile and I can't decide if one is the better. Todd Zalewski painted the Opossum, Armadillo, Porcupine, Sewellel, Muskrat, Beaver, Marmots and all the squirrel relatives except the Chipmunks as well as the vole-lemming relatives in a briliant, colourfull and sharp art. The impression of the faces of especially the rodents results in indepth studies of these mammals. Great in a word ! Elizabeth McClelland was responsible for Gophers, Pocket Mice, Kangaroo Rats and the Ungulates. Her paintings are less colourfull and less sharp in contrasts but are brilliant due to her exact way of leading the brush when creating fur structure. When looking into the painted eyes you could think her candidates will jump out of the plates emediately. Brilliant ! Her talent is especially shown by some painting of gophers which were painted from a slight forewart angle.
What is strongly influencing the complete result are plates which show the complete opposite. If you are interested in Hares and Rabbits, Pikas, Jumping Mice, Woodrats, Rats and Grasshopper Mice don't buy this book ! A person called Ron Klingner made them. If you remember the film "Braindead" and the Devilmonkey you have an impression of what I'm talking about. One hardly can imagin if this guy ever had something to do with art or natural painting. Sorry, but words are missing. If shrews and moles are your favourit mammals you also should rethink your amazon order. Nancy Halliday sent her candidates either in a body building studio or fed those tiny animals untill fatt roles are visible through the fur. To me proportions also seem to be questionably. However, her chipmunks are better done.
But back to one of the promisses mentioned above and my particular interest im mustelids. It is a shame that for species with a lot of fur variation like the Long-tailed weasel or the Marten there is not much to get from the new guide. Although Martes americana varies from nearly blackish to light yellowish specimens there is only a tiny 4x3 cm drawing of one specimen in one corner of the relevant plate. Not to mention the more than two dozen subspecies of Mustela frenata to be found in North America. In general the carnivore plates are dissappointing although they are better than the Klingner caricatures. I would have wished that "Fisher-Powel" had discussed the artistric interpretation of the carnivores with his wife. In fact it seemed that he did so only concerning his favoured species which is quite well done.
To come to an end: Two artists have made a spectacular good job but I really asked myselfe who is to be made responsible for the inclusion of these desastrous plates by Mr. Ron Klingner who should get back to his work in painting undercups, vases or animal comics.

Kay Fuhrmann

Good illustrations, a couple of sentences about ecology per species. Broad topic, small book, does what it can.

This fieldguide is topnotch. There are a number of artists, and the illustrations where it counts are quality, and some of the illustrations in my opinion shouldn't have been used. Some of the medium to large mammals, such as the cats compared to the small rodents. The small rodent illus. are perfect, and those are the most valuable. Info. is concise, and accurate.

I'm a retired biologist and have owned this book since it first came out in 2002. It's a fine, compact yet comprehensive treatment of the mammals of North America, with one rather glaring exception. Other than for the marine mammals, any animal larger than a hare covered in this book is illustrated (painted) in a surprisingly amateurish way with few exceptions, in my view, and hardly worthy of a major natural history publisher like Princeton. This includes the cats, dogs, bears and hoofed mammals. Many of the smaller mammals, including bats, are rather beautifully portrayed. I don't mean any of these as comments as snobbery, but more as "they simply don't look this way in life." So to me it's neither particularly useful, nor accurate, and certainly not pleasurable for those of us who have worked with some of these mammals, and know a bit about their biology and beauty firsthand to see them portrayed in such an awkward manner. I applaud the many useful technical details offered in such a compact, well-organized field guide, but at the same time have found it a continual annoyance every time I open it to have to ignore the many unattractive illustrations of so many animals...and can only hope that the text material is accurate enough to counter such inadequacies.

So it's rather uneven in this way and needs to be significantly improved in any new edition in my view. But I would definitely like to own that better illustrated edition. Yet, before I purchase such a new edition, would want to first scan through it and see if these larger mammals are in fact more knowledgeably and sensitively portrayed...as they occur in the wild and close at hand.

As an avid hunter and traveler, I found this book to be the empitome of nature books for North America. No other book that I have read goes in as much detail as to the behavior of so many different species of mammals. It has helped me to track and handle confrontations that I have encountered in the woods and I would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys the outdoors. Kays and Wilson have truly done a great justice in educating enthusiasts everywhere with Mammals of North America.

Based on the favorable reviews I ordered this book and was anxious to see how it compared with the Peterson Field Guide on mammals which is the current standard. I was disappointed in this book and wonder if other people who give it 5-stars are familiar with the Peterson Guide. The Peterson Field Guide on Mammals provides more comprehensive information on each species and does a better job of explaining differences between similar species. It remains the standard and you would be advised to buy that title if you were looking for just one book on mammals. If you are a naturalist like me and love having as many titles as is reasonably possible, then by all means buy this book to add to your collection.

Besides the species accounts which are not as comprehensive as the Peterson Guide the biggest complaint about this book is the illustrations. Color plates were completed by SEVEN different artists making for very uneven treatment. Some of the species look cartoonish while others don't do the species justice. For example, the Woodchuck appears mostly bald which is a persitent criticism I have of the artist of this particular plate. All of his animals look like they are losing their fur. Additionally, the Woodchuck looks paunchy and more black than is typical. The Porcupine looks wildly unkempt and unlike ones I have seen in the wild. The illustration of the Eastern Cottontail on Plate 11, a species for which almost everyone in eastern North America is familiar, looks like it has been injured with a case of whiplash (and possibly a neck brace on as the neck is stiffly extended) and an injured front right paw. By comparison, the Peterson Guide was illustrated by one artist who captured each species very well.

I could provide more comments, but I think you get the point. Also, many US readers will be uncomfortable using the metric system weights and measurements. So, buy the Peterson Guide to Mammals if you are just going to have one mammals field guide. If you want more than one, then buy this one as well.

I am thrilled to say that I have finally found what will be my "go-to" guide for mammal identification. This book does a fantastic job identifying all 442 mammal species of North America. Some of the more helpful features: a quick guide to point you to the right section of the book, fantastic artwork (not distracting photos) to reference, information on identifying the tracks of some of the larger species, and of course, most helpful to an amateur like me, there are plenty of pictures of scat!! And yet I am pleased to report that this beautiful reference does it all in a classic field guide size! For any interested amateur naturalist, hiker, hunter, etc - it will become the obvious choice to pack up and take along.

This is a great book for someone who wants to be able to ID a lot of mammals. Nice drawings.