The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Princeton Field Guides) - Softcover

Kingdon, Jonathan

4.38

68 ratings by Goodreads

9780124083554: The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Princeton Field Guides)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0124083552 ISBN 13: 9780124083554

Publisher: Poyser, 1986

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Jonathan Kingdon, one of the foremost authorities on African mammals, has written and illustrated this new field guide which sets new standards in African mammalogy. The author covers all the known species of African land mammal in a concise text providing full information on identification, distribution, ecology, evolutionary relationships, and conservation status. The focus is always on the mammals as seen in the field and on their ecology and evolutionary interrelationships. Introductory profiles summarize the characteristics of the various mammal groups, and the author simplifies many of the more complex groups of mammals by referencing genera. Twelve newly recognized species of bushbaby, fourteen newly named baboons, guenons, and mangabeys and nine newly described colobus monkeys contribute to a modern treatment of the monkeys. New species of bats, rodents, and fox as well as a fully revised listing of the duikers, squirrels and genets are included. Kingdon combines his long personal experience of life in Africa and his artistic talent with the best that modern natural history and biological science can offer. With over 480 color pictures and 280 maps covering some 1,100 mammal species, this book is an essential companion to all visiting Africa or with an interest in the mammals of the continent.

Key Features:

Employs the most up-to-date classification and lists all 1,150 known species

Focuses on mammals as seen in the field and in their evolutionary interrelationships

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"Travellers and students of wildlife should take notice--this volume sets the standard for the field. . . . A childhood in British East Africa and more than 25 years of producing atlases of the mammals have equipped Kingdon with a possibly unrivaled knowledge of his subjects, and this yields unusual and thought-provoking insights. . . . As an artist and sculptor who works in abstract, impressionistic and illustrative styles, Kingdon brings an immediacy to his drawings that escapes all other field guides. . . . The 1150 or so mammals that earn a place in his book are not just represented by the usual police-style profiles, but also by pictures of gripping emotion and playful naughtiness--usually several, sometimes many, for each species. . . . Buy this book for yourself and for anyone else who likes nature just to know that you possess several thousand of Kingdon's wonderful drawings. . . . This is quite simply a superb and authoritative work by an author of unsurpassed credentials and talent for his task. Everybody will delight in it."--Mark Pagel, Nature

"For anyone planning an African safari, this guide should be as essential as binoculars."--David Tomlinson, New Scientist

"All naturalists resident in or visiting the continent should have a copy. It is much more than a field guide."--Jeremy J D Greenwood, Habitat

"A good field guide, whatever its subject, is a delight to have on one's bookshelf, and this one is a topper. One main, magnificent first for this guide is that it covers all known mammals of Africa, not just the large ones. This is an exquisite book to have, even if you have no intention to ever visit Africa (but then you are likely to change your mind after this Kingdon experience)."--Hans Kruuk, Mammal News

"Since the appearance of his seven-volume encyclopaedia of East African mammals in the 1970's, Kingdon has become a figure of high distinction in conservationist circles. His extraordinary talents as a writer and painter have been dedicated to astonishingly beautiful and detailed records of African fauna and the ecosystems that sustain them. This makes his new field guide rather more than a handbook. . . . The richness of information is exemplary. The illustrations would make a big cat purr. . . . . It is one of Kingdon's strengths, both as a naturalist and as an artist, that he is interested in how animals look and feel to each other. . . . His drawings and paintings stress the elegant functionality of body geometry, the way animals use facial and body patterns for visual signalling."--John Ryle, Guardian

"This is a handy, nicely prepared pocket field guide covering every species of terrestrial African mammal and is the essential reference work to be carried along by anyone traveling in Africa."--Rovert E. Hoopes, Wildlife Activist

Synopsis:

The author seeks to cover all the known species of African land mammal in this text, providing full information on identification, distribution, ecology, evolutionary relationships and conservation status. The focus is always on the mammals as seen in the field and on their ecology and evolutionary interrelationships. Introductory profiles summarize the characteristics of the various mammal groups and the author simplifies many of the more complex groups of mammals by referencing genera. The author combines his long personal experience of life in Africa with natural history and biological science to create this comprehensive reference work.

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