“Mammals of the Soviet Union” is a mega-encyclopedia
originally published in three volumes in Moscow under the editorship of V G
Heptner, the grand old man of Soviet zoology (the Russian form of his name,
Geptner, is used in some library systems). This is the English translation of
the sections dealing with pinnipeds and toothed whales, dubbed “Vol II, Part
3”. The volume is dated “Moscow 1976, Washington 1996”, which sounds pretty
fascinating in itself! The text is sometimes difficult and technical, sometimes
more like a regular encyclopedia. Overall, “Mammals of the Soviet Union” is
therefore easier to read than most scientific reference works, which are
technical only. The photos and drawings are in black and white, with only a few
color plates thrown in. As can be expected for a work of this huge size, the
amount of detail included is almost crazy. Of the species covered in "Vol
II, Part 3", the most interesting might be the Baikal seal, the only
“true” freshwater seal in the world, sealed off (pun intended) in Lake Baikal,
hundreds of kilometers from any ocean. While this is a work better suited for
an old fashioned public library than your coffee table, it nevertheless
deserves five stars for the effort.
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