On the planet of the apes

This is the third volume of Lynx Edicions' mammoth work on the mammals of the world. This volume deals exclusively with primates, or rather the non-human primates. According to the editors, an additional volume would be needed to cover Homo sapiens!

Currently, science recognizes 479 living species of non-human primates, and they are all covered in this work. As usual, there are both species presentations with color plates and family presentations with color (and colorful) photos. This, plus the sheer volume of the work, makes it almost prohibitively expensive. My review is therefore based on the previews provided by the publishers at their website.

While other volumes of the “Handbook of the Mammals of the World” strike me as more popularized than Lynx Edicions' previous mega-encyclopedia “Handbook of the Birds of the World” (which I have seen for real), the primate volume seems to be written in the same impenetrably scientific style as the HBW. But sure, if the history of marmoset and tamarin systematics is what makes your day, perhaps you should check this out! While the photos are superb as usual, the plates look rather boring.

Perhaps apes, monkeys and prosimians just doesn't have the right jizz for color plates? Or do they lack “the gorilla mindset”? :D

Be that as it may, I nevertheless bow – once again – to the publishing house that gave us the ultimate work on Hawaiian Honeycreepers, Australian Mudnesters and Gnateaters. Five stars for this scientific survey of The Planet of the Apes, pardon, Non-Human Primates!