Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Natural World) (Paperback)

by Jonathan Kingdon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...this is not merely a very good field guide, but in all probability the best field guide to African mammals ever published." -- INTERNATIONAL ZOO NEWS

"The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals is a most precious volume. It is a work of almost heroic proportions, more akin in its scope and feel to the great monographs of the nineteenth century than a modern work. Yet it is also a field guide and works admirably as such. What has won this book pride of place on my bookshelves, however, is the extraordinary fusion it represents between science, natural history, and art. Kingdon's African Mammals is a very special human achievement. It is, I sense, a love letter to a place that has nurtured, instructed and given its author space to grow. In a world of ever-increasing specialization and division of labor, I fear we will not see a similar work again." -- Tim Flannery in BBC WILDLIFE

"A good field guide, whatever its subject, is a delight to have on ones bookshelf, and this one is a topper. One main, magnificent first for this guide is that it covers all known mammals of Africa, not just the large ones. This is an exquisite book tohave, even if you have no intention to ever visit Africa (but then you are likely to change your mind after this Kingdon experience)." -- Hans Kruuk in MAMMAL NEWS

"All naturalists resident in or visiting the continent should have a copy. It is much more than a field guide." -- Jeremy J D Greenwood in HABITAT

"For anyone planning an African safari, this guide should be as essential as binoculars..." -- David Tomlinson in NEW SCIENTIST

"Of the many guides we considered, the best was The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Extremely comprehensive, with excellent illustrations and good maps, this has something for anyone travelling to Africa." -- Judging Panel for the 1997 BP NATURAL WORLD BOOK PRIZE

"Since the appearance of his seven-volume encyclopaedia of East African mammals in the 1970s, Kingdon has become a figure of high distinction in conservationist circles. His extraordinary talents as a writer and painter have been dedicated to astonishingly beautiful and detailed records of African fauna and the ecosystems that sustain them. This makes his new field guide rather more than a handbook...The richness of information is exemplary. The illustrations would make a big cat purr...It is one of Kingdon's strengths, both as a naturalist and as an artist, that he is interested in how animals look and feel to each other...His drawings and paintings stress the elegant functionality of body geometry, the way animals use facial and body patterns for visual signaling." -- John Ryle in THE GUARDIAN

"There are about 1150 species of mammal found in Africa. All of them are mentioned in this remarkable book. ...any birdwatchers travelling to Africa really should take a copy with them." -- BTO NEWS

"This book sets a new standard for field guides to mammals with regard to complete coverage of the mammals species of Africa, excluding Madagascar, in a compact and portable format, and with regard to the quality of its color drawings and maps. I highly recommend this book for the serious Africa traveler and naturalist." -- Jan Decher in JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY

"Travellers and students of wildlife should take notice--this volume sets the standard for the field...A childhood in British East Africa and more than 25 years of producing atlases of the mammals have equipped Kingdon with a possibly unrivaled knowledge of his subjects, and this yields unusual and thought-provoking insights...As an artist and sculptor who works in abstract, impressionistic and illustrative styles, Kingdon brings an immediacy to his drawings that escapes all other field guides...The 1150or so mammals that earn a place in his book are not just represented by the usual police-style profiles, but also by pictures of gripping emotion and playful naughtiness--usually several, sometimes many, for each species...Buy this book for yourself and for anyone else who likes nature just to know that you possess several thousand of Kingdon's wonderful drawings...This is quite simply a superb and authoritative work by an author of unsurpassed credentials and talent for his task. Everybody will delight in it." -- Mark Pagel, University of Oxford, in NATURE

Review
Travellers and students of wildlife should take notice--this volume sets the standard for the field. . . . A childhood in British East Africa and more than 25 years of producing atlases of the mammals have equipped Kingdon with a possibly unrivaled knowledge of his subjects, and this yields unusual and thought-provoking insights. . . . As an artist and sculptor who works in abstract, impressionistic and illustrative styles, Kingdon brings an immediacy to his drawings that escapes all other field guides. . . . The 1150 or so mammals that earn a place in his book are not just represented by the usual police-style profiles, but also by pictures of gripping emotion and playful naughtiness--usually several, sometimes many, for each species. . . . Buy this book for yourself and for anyone else who likes nature just to know that you possess several thousand of Kingdon's wonderful drawings. . . . This is quite simply a superb and authoritative work by an author of unsurpassed credentials and talent for his task. Everybody will delight in it.
(Mark Pagel Nature )

For anyone planning an African safari, this guide should be as essential as binoculars.
(David Tomlinson New Scientist )

All naturalists resident in or visiting the continent should have a copy. It is much more than a field guide.
(Jeremy J D Greenwood Habitat )

A good field guide, whatever its subject, is a delight to have on one's bookshelf, and this one is a topper. One main, magnificent first for this guide is that it covers all known mammals of Africa, not just the large ones. This is an exquisite book to have, even if you have no intention to ever visit Africa (but then you are likely to change your mind after this Kingdon experience).
(Hans Kruuk Mammal News )

Since the appearance of his seven-volume encyclopaedia of East African mammals in the 1970's, Kingdon has become a figure of high distinction in conservationist circles. His extraordinary talents as a writer and painter have been dedicated to astonishingly beautiful and detailed records of African fauna and the ecosystems that sustain them. This makes his new field guide rather more than a handbook. . . . The richness of information is exemplary. The illustrations would make a big cat purr. . . . . It is one of Kingdon's strengths, both as a naturalist and as an artist, that he is interested in how animals look and feel to each other. . . . His drawings and paintings stress the elegant functionality of body geometry, the way animals use facial and body patterns for visual signalling.
(John Ryle Guardian )

This is a handy, nicely prepared pocket field guide covering every species of terrestrial African mammal and is the essential reference work to be carried along by anyone traveling in Africa.
(ert E. Hoopes," Wildlife Activist ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0124083552
• ISBN-13: 978-0124083554
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,282,246 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Book for African Animal lovers., September 28, 1998

By A Customer

This is a dream book for those interested in African mammals. First of all, it does not concentrate on "popular" species, such are lions and cheetahs, but talks about all species and important sub-species. The layout of the book is like this: first the author talks about a certain class of mammals, ex. Carnivores, and talks about the things characteristic to that class; then he goes down to family, e.g. canids, and talks about aspects characteristic to that family, and finally, the species themselves, and talks about their individual characteristics, distribution, size, and status. And it goes like that until every species, family and class of African mammal is mentioned. There are no pictures in the book, but color illustrations of all the species mentioned. The illustations are high-class, so much you can easily imagine what the animal looks like in real life. And now, a few bad points. As a bonus, he adds the names of animals in French, German, and a few African languages. Unfortunately, this is inconsistent throughout the book. I understand for the African languages, but French and German translations should have been given for each species. Also, he doesn't mention the mammals of Madagascar, even though Madagascar is part of Africa. And another thing, which would have been nice: with eponymized species (e.g. Ruppell's fox, Wolf's monkey) he should have mentioned who those species were named for. Nevertheless, I still give this book the highest score, for being complete, at least for continental Africa.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About the Best Currently, but Could Be Improved, June 16, 2004

By	Laszlo Wagner (Hungary) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Princeton Field Guides) (Paperback)

First let me say that in general I find this book excellent, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the mammalian fauna of Africa.
It is very comprehensive, covering every single species of African mammals with the exception of bats, rodents, insectivores, elephant-shrews and hyrraxes, which are usually represented by one species for each genus. But every single genus is represented, and of rodents, every species of squirrel is dealt with separately.
The information accompanying each species is very detailed and appears up to date.

Now for the shortcomings:
1) The illustrations are next to the description of each species. Given how detailed/long the texts are, this means that usually there are just 1 or 2 species shown on each page, so to compare all antelopes you must look through a hundred pages or so - not very practical in a field guide!
2) Maps are often pages away from the text and illustration, with no reference to their whereabouts. I often thought there was no map for a species/genus, only to find it pages away, combined with the map for another taxon.
3) While illustrations are identified by the species' English name, the maps are confusingly id'ed by Latin names only. If you aren't familiar with the latter, it takes some cross-reference to find out which species' range you are looking at.
4) The illustrations vary so much in standard that it is hard to believe they were drawn by one person... While most are quite good, even excellent and life-like, others are quite awful, either showing animals with stiff, straight limbs/bodies as if drawn with a ruler (like the Crowned Monkey) or in highly unnatural positions (like the Potto with the limbs twisted out, or the Cheetah standing up like a circus horse).

Note that a cheaper, condensed version of this guide, without the first 3 shortcomings listed above and more practical for field use is now available: The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals. It is probably the book you would want to take to Africa while keeping this one at home for reference.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jonathan Kingdon - African Animal Expert, May 13, 2000

By A Customer

This book is one of the most complete works on mammals of Africa I have ever read. I wish Mr. Kingdon had written one for each continent. Contains scientific, English, French and German names for each animal and local names as well (Swahili).Habits, habitat, behavior and everything else you would expect from such a gifted author, artist, and scientist. The illustrations by the author are museum quality art. I cannot recommend this book too highly, simply the best in such a small volume, worth twice the price.