And now: the mammals

After the stunning success of “Handbook of the Birds of the World” (HBW), a 17-volume mega-opus covering all (!) extant bird species, Lynx Edicions have decided to publish a similar work on mammals. Originally, eight volumes were projected. The number has already swelled to nine, and I wouldn't be too surprised if it swells some more in the future. Of the promised nine volumes, six have been published so far. This is the very first one, dealing with carnivores (except pinnipeds).

The concept is similar to HBW, with stunning color plates, dramatic color photos, extensive species presentations and a very high price. I admit that I haven't procured this volume, instead basing my review on the previews available at the publisher's website. My immediate impression is that the text is less heavy than that found in HBW, suggesting a conscious orientation to a more commercial market. Indeed, the success of the bird encyclopedia was always a bit anomalous, given the difficult scientific articles and extortionate price tag! If the “HMW” will become more popular is difficult to say, given the large amount of popularized books available on charismatic megafauna, but who knows…

As a side point, I noticed that the Giant Panda has finally been recognized as a bear. Thank you.

Hoofed as a mammal

After the (perhaps unexpected) success of Lynx Edicions' mammoth project “Handbook of the Birds of the World” (HBW), a multi-volume encyclopedia covering about 9,000 species of birds, the Spanish publishing house decided to bring us a similar-looking work on mammals. “Handbook of the Mammals of the World” (HMW) will cover all mammal species found in the wild in nine volumes, six of which have been published. This is the second volume, subtitled “Hoofed mammals”. Most of it is devoted to ungulates, including such well-known groups as rhinos, hippos, horses, camels, pigs, deer, antelopes, etc. In addition, the volume includes elephants, hyraxes, pangolins and the aardvark (none of which are “hoofed”). Although HMW is supposed to deal with wild mammals only, this principle has been temporarily suspended in this volume in order to describe all six species of camelids, three of which are only found in domesticated condition (the llama, the dromedary and the alpaca).

Just like the bird encyclopedia, HMW contains lavish color plates and color photos, which unfortunately makes each volume extremely expensive. The species presentations are somewhat heavy due to all the information contained, but the family introductions sound almost popularized. On this point, HMW is different from HBW, which was obviously geared towards scientists and therefore used a terminology almost impenetrable to the layman. The fact that HMW doesn't strictly follow the scientific classification of mammals (for instance by lumping all sea-mammals into a single volume) also shows that the work is geared towards a more general audience. A surprise is that the number of species, especially within the family Bovidae, is much higher than usual due to the use of a new and somewhat controversial species concept. Even if you are a “nerd” already specializing in hoofed mammals, you might find a few nuggets in these pages…

There are many books on charismatic megafauna available on the market, but this volume of HMW does seem like a worthy challenger, and I will therefore give it five stars.

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!

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.

It's not a kangaroo, it's a wallaby!

This is the fifth volume of “Handbook of the Mammals of the World” (HMW), although logically it should have been the first. It covers the monotremes and the marsupials, most of which are endemic to Australasia. The monotremes are fairly bizarre, being the only egg-laying mammals (the platypus even has a beak!). Marsupials are (perhaps) less bizarre, but at least to people outside Aussie, they look exotic and somehow “primordial”. This volume could therefore be of considerable interest to the general reader, the main barrier to procurement being the extremely high price.

Judging by the preview at the publisher's site, the family and species presentations are relatively understandable (at least compared to the super-heavy scientific text of “Handbook of the Birds of the World” from the same publisher). All photos are fairly large and in color, and the species presentations are complemented with color plates.

There is a special chapter on recently extinct marsupials and monotremes, including the Toolache Wallaby, the Desert Rat-Kangaroo and the famed Thylacine. What makes this topic of interest to the public is, of course, that some of these “extinct” animals may still be around. Since HMW is a so-called serious work, it doesn't contain any information on Yowie and the Bunyip, but I suppose you can't get everything even for $200…

There must be many books out on the market about Australian marsupials in particular, but if you want them all under one cover, I suppose this voluminous work could be an option. Five stars!