Flattened Fauna, Revised: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways (Paperback)

~ (Author) "This is a book about the animals that, like the Wicked Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz, are not just merely dead..." (more)
Key Phrases: road fauna, flattened fauna, road habitat, North America, Costa Rica, West Coast (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Are you among the millions of people whose only opportunity to observe wildlife comes after it has been run over and pressed into a patty by big rigs, then desiccated by the elements until even flies don’t recognize it? This is the field guide for you! FLATTENED FAUNA fills an important gap in our natural history knowledge and fosters a heightened respect for the ecology of the paved environment.

From the Publisher

• A classic field guide to the 36 most common species of roadside remains in North America. • Includes descriptions and silhouetted illustrations of the top squashed avian, mammalian, reptilian, and amphibian species. • Due to rabid interest from overseas, the expanded new edition includes global ramifications of international necrology.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Revised edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580087558
• ISBN-13: 978-1580087551
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #606,754 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The" field guide for the naturalist in a hurry, May 17, 2000

By	Alan R. Holyoak (Idaho) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets and Highways (Paperback)

Roger Knutson, a biologist at Luther College, IA, has put together a truly ingenious little book. A guide to the "really most sincerely dead" animals one often sees along streets, roads, and highways. While some may dismiss this book as a parody of other field guides, it is full of accurate, meaningful biological information about animals that frequent roads and roadsides, and that often find themselves smashed into two dimensions.

Is this book funny? Yes! Is it a parody on other field guides? Perhaps.

So, what is this book about anyway? This is a guide to the animal remains left behind after most carrion feeders and decomposers are done with a dead animal. EEEeeewwwww. OK, OK, perhaps it is a bit grotesque, but there is meaningful biological information to be had there.

The book is well written, it is fun, and can be used throughout much of North America.

It makes a great gift for the natualist on your gift list. After all, let's face it, most of us spend more time on the road than we do out "in" nature.

As a biologist myself, I give this book 5 stars for biological content and for the tongue in cheek approach to this somewhat unsavory topic.

Give it a try! Or give it to someone else.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fairly good reference, and funny!, June 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets and Highways (Paperback)

This book makes a great gift for the person who has everything! It certainly gets people's attention....and actually, you can identify the "flattened fauna" spotted while hiking with this book. I liked it.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book., October 12, 2005

By	D. T. Boellstorff "t_boellstorff_bofh" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets and Highways (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book for many reasons. The slam on the snob journals, where they list the camera used (the author studiously lists the photocopier that best took the image) is one of my favorites. True, death isn't funny (or pretty), but hey, it is a jungle out there. If you are kind of a weenie, and can't bear to think of Bambi and Thumper buying it on the freeway, this is not the book for you. But with a title like "Flattened Fauna", why on earth would you consider buying it?

This book is a gem in terms of dark humor. If that's your thing, you will enjoy it very much. If you think the world is full of sweet, adorable little animals bucking up on hind legs, talking in helium-altered baby voices, find a more suitable book, possibly in the children's section.