Smithsonian Handbooks: Mammals (Smithsonian Handbooks) [Turtleback]

Juliet Clutton-Brock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002 | Series: Smithsonian Handbooks

The most visually appealing guides to the natural world that one can buy. Packed with superb full-color photography, detailed descriptions, and highlights of key facts, Mammals is the latest addition to the Smithsonian Handbook series. Including more than 500 profiles each with its own spread, there isn't a more reliable identification guide on the market.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Juliet-Clutton Brock is Managing Editor of the Zoological Society of London's Journal and a Research Associate of the Natural History Museum. She has written 90 publications related to mammals. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Turtleback: 400 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT; 1st edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789484048
• ISBN-13: 978-0789484048
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Guide for Mammal Enthusiasts, February 21, 2006

By 

Karen Siegfried (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Mammals (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

I highly recommend this book as a photo-encyclopedic guide to mammals for children, students and adults who have a general interest in mammals. My review for this book is based on its use as an educational reference guide, not as a guide that one would carry with them out in the field. (It might be suitable for that use, but I am not qualified to review it in that manner.) We use this guide with our son, and I have given it as a gift to children interested in mammals, after looking at all of the top mammal guides listed on Amazon and in Borders.

The key selling point for me is the 1000+ close-up color pictures of more than 450 species in the handbook. Every entry has at least one picture. The text is concise and informative. The book starts with informative introductory sections with excellent explanatory text and photos on "What is a Mammal", "Evolution", "Diversity", "Anatomy", "Reproduction", "Social Groups", "Sense and Communication", "Locomotion", "Feeding", "Desert Mammals", "Grassland Mammals", "Forest Mammals", "Polar and Mountain Mammals", "Aquatic Mammals", "Watching Mammals", "Threatened Mammals","Conservation", "Mammals and Humans", and "Classification"

The book covers the 21 different orders that make up the class Mammalia. Within each of these orders, individual species entries are arranged according to the family they belong to. Each entry includes the following information: scientific family name, scientific name of species, common name of species, common name of order, current population status of species in the wild, map of area or areas where species may be found, food eaten by species, average number of young, gestation period, social grouping of species, details of appearance and behavior, body size, tail length, weight in imperial and metric units, information on distribution and habits, photograph of species with annotations pointing out specific features.

The book is engaging, easy to use, and captivates the user. It will satisfy the mammal enthusiast and provide many hours of exploration. Having looked at all the other top name brand guides, I think that a hobbyist or mammal tracker might find it a bit glitzy, as opposed to a detailed field guide. But it certainly deserves a place on the shelf for mammals enthusiasts. It is suitable for young children (who can flip through, find a picture, and have the information read to them), students and adults.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favourites!, April 4, 2006

By 

Gloria Pike "Gloria Pike" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Mammals (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

While this book is certainly not comprehensive (especially in regards to the rodents and bats), it has hundreds of crisp, clear photos. The descriptions for each species is brief, but there are still many interesting facts to learn from the text.
I bought this book mainly for its value as a photographic reference (I'm a visual artist) and becaus I particularly love small mammals and this book has plenty of animals that even I wasn't totally familiar with.
My only complaint about this book is the sort of briefness of it; I honestly think they could have squeezed in a few more species, but they did manage to get most of the important ones, and I believe all of the families are at least represented.
This is a great book for both kids who like to look at pictures and learn about animals and for adults who appreciate the wonders of nature.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary book, March 4, 2005

By 

Zheljko Stanimirovic "Zheljko Stanimirovic" (Belgrade, Serbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smithsonian Handbooks: Mammals (Smithsonian Handbooks) (Turtleback)

I looked for this kind of book my whole life, I think. It includes all the less-known species that most books avoid because they are "too exotic", such as olingo, but also the species found in familiar areas around home (wood mice, water vole), so you can see that your region is an important part of the world.
For a book of this size, it basically has everything in it. Of course, volumes can be told about each of the species, but this is the most comprehensive work on mammals of the world, packed into a medium-sized volume, that I have ever seen.