No mermaids in this one

“Handbook of the Mammals of the World” (HMW) is a multi-volume encyclopedia and reference work, the purpose of which is to illustrate and describe all extant wild species of mammals. Six volumes have been published, with at least three more to go.

This volume lumps together three very different groups of sea-mammals, apparently for practical or perhaps even commercial reasons. The pinnipeds (eared seals, earless seals and walruses) belong to the order Carnivora together with tigers, wolves, wolverines and other “classical” carnivores. The sirenians are distant cousins to the elephants, while cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are apparently close to hippopotamuses and hence the ungulates.

My impression of HMW is that most volumes are more popularized than Lynx Edicions' previous encyclopedia, “Handbook of the Birds of the World” (HBW). At least relatively speaking, they seem to contain lesser amounts of texts. Otherwise, both HMW and HBW keep to the same format: family presentations with more or less dramatic color photos followed by species presentations with “boring” color plates and range maps. The price tags are equally extortionate in both cases, but then, a lot of money and time must have been invested into making these bulky volumes! If you just want one book on sea-mammals (all of them) and have dime to spare, investing in this volume might be a good idea. More information, including a preview, is available at the website of the publisher.

Final point: like all other science books, this too peddles the ridiculous idea that mermaids and mermen are misidentified sirenians. Ahem, sirenians don't look like well-endowed females with sweet singing voices, and they are find nowhere near the waters were mermaids are supposed to live, so unless there is an unknown species of Icelandic Manatee roaming the colder waters of the North Atlantic…naaaah.