Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #455361 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From Amazon.com
Field guides help naturalists identify animals, but understanding their behavior is much more difficult. That's why this hefty reference work is so welcome. Mammals of North America is an excellent introduction to the behavior, ecology, and evolution of temperate and arctic mammals. Adrian Forsyth, a scientist and author of several other books on natural history, provides more than 100 species accounts, complete with excellent color photographs, range maps, basic life-history data, and concise summaries of behavior and ecology. From bighorn sheep to pygmy shrew, blue whale to black bear, Forsyth always finds something interesting to say.

But Forsyth's best writing shines in the mini-essays that occur throughout the text. What good are antlers? At less than a 10th of an ounce, how do shrews stay warm? Why do mammals produce milk? (From modified sweat glands, no less!) Why are seals such excellent divers? These topics allow him to address the big issues raised by recent advances in ecology and evolution, but always in the context of the mammal at hand, hoof, or flipper.

The geographical coverage is not truly North American. Forsyth provides accounts for only one-third of the North American species in some families. Most of the species omitted are from California, the arid Southwest, and Mexico. Is a companion volume for the arid regions of North America planned? Even with these omissions, Mammals of North America provides rich rewards for armchair naturalists as well as those who follow Louis Agassiz's advice to "study Nature, not books." --Pete Holloran

From Library Journal
This book provides information on over 150 species of mammals organized by taxonomic classification. Although the focus is on Canada and the northern United States, many species have ranges extending far to the south. Forsyth, a biologist with the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, furnishes the usual details about anatomy, habitat, diet, gestation, and range for each species, but the emphasis is on animal behavior--particularly why animals behave the way they do. He also covers some subjects that usually fall outside the realm of field guides, such as animal welfare, pollution, and the effects of human interaction. Whereas The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals (LJ 11/15/99) covers twice as many species, it is geared toward a more scholarly audience. Forsyth's book, with its accessible style of writing and useful index, is more easily approachable for the lay reader who may not know the scientific classification of a species. The currency of the material is questionable, however, as this work duplicates to a large extent Forsyth's earlier Mammals of the American North (1985. o.p.), the primary differences being the reversed order of the chapters and new photographs. Libraries should therefore choose the more comprehensive and authoritative Smithsonian book over Forsyth's.
-Teresa Berry, Univ. of Tennessee Libs., Knoxville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In the introduction, Forsyth, a science writer and biodiversity expert who serves as a researcher at the Smithsonian, states that one of this book's goals is to interest readers in the wild mammals that currently flourish in North America. As modern society encroaches upon their habitats and threatened ecosystems, many of these animals may become endangered. The author has limited his work to approximately 150 species that inhabit some of the same territory as humans. He hopes that readers will come to appreciate these creatures and work to save them from extinction.

Each chapter follows the same format: the common name of the species followed by the Latin name; a color photograph; a sidebar consisting of a map with the habitat shaded, a description, and vital statistics, including life span, diet, habitat, predators, and dental formula; and an article of a few paragraphs to several pages describing the mammal's life in the wild. The animals are arranged in the text by scientific order, from the marsupials and insectivores to cloven-hoofed mammals. Domesticated animals are only included in comparison with their wild relatives. An index and bibliography are provided as reference aids. The bibliography is categorized by several topics as well as specific mammals; scientific journals and field guides merit special groupings. Missing from the volume are conservation status and an explanation of mammalian classification.

Though all of these mammals are covered in titles such as Academic's Encyclopedia of Mammals [RBB Ap 1 99] and Marshall Cavendish's Wildlife and Plants of the World [RBB Mr 1 99], the strictly North American context is valuable. This resource can be used by students for reports because the text is clear and easy to comprehend. The illustrations will capture the attention of both the nature lover and the casual browser. It is a fascinating book that will be useful in junior-high-school, high-school, and public library collections.

Customer Reviews

MAMMAL REVIEW
THE BOOK MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA IS VERY WELL PHOTOGRAPHED. BUT AS I FOUND WHEN I CHECKED IT MORE CLOSELY IT HAS MOST OF THE AUTHORS SAME TEXT FROM AN OLDER BOOK.MAMMALS OF THE AMERICAN NORTH THAT HE HAD WRITTEN IN 1985. BUT TO BE FAIR IT IS STILL A GOOD BOOK. AND IT SHOULD BE ADDED TO ANYBODIES COLLECTION OF MAMMAL BOOKS.