United States
£ GBP
Since its first publication in 1964, Walker's Mammals of the World has become a favourite guide to the natural world for general readers and professionals alike. Since publication of the 2-volume set, several spin-off titles have been published focusing on specific groups. This new Walker's volume is another such title, and is a completely revised and updated compendium of information on five of the earliest clades to diverge from ancient mammal stock. Uniquely comprehensive in inimitable Walker's style, it incorporates a full account of every genus that lived in the past 5,000 years. Every named species of each genus is listed in systematic order and accompanied by detailed descriptions of past and present range.
This book includes
- 500+ full-colour images throughout – a first for any Walker's volume
- citations to more than 2,200 new references
- extensive bioconservation data, with discussion of every species in an IUCN Red List threatened category
The book's thorough updates reflect 20 years of advances in our knowledge of taxonomy, ecology, behaviour, life history, and conservation. Substantive changes to 100% of previously existing generic accounts, plus the addition of 17 entirely new generic accounts, double the information in the last edition on the 19 orders covered. The black-and-white illustrations of earlier editions have been replaced by over 500 new colour images, including superb photos of live individuals and scientifically prepared paintings of extinct genera.
Remaining true to Ernest P. Walker's vision, the text smoothly combines in-depth scholarship with a popular, readable style to preserve and enhance what the Washington Post called a "landmark of zoological literature".
Ernest P. Walker (1891-1969) was the assistant director of the National Zoo. He began work on Mammals of the World in the early 1930s.
Ronald M. Nowak was a staff mammalogist at the former Office of Endangered Species, US Department of the Interior. He is the coauthor of the fourth edition and the author of the fifth and sixth editions of Walker's Mammals of the World.
"Professional naturalists will find [these volumes] invaluable as a handy reference, and amateurs – at least those citizens alive to their earthly environment – should delight in finding so much fascinating information made so available and palatable."
– Audubon
"What an amazing lot mammals are, seen here in all of their diversity! [...] Walker has made available a mine of information, for the specialist as well as for the casually interested [...] If you want to find out about a mammal, then, here is the place to look."
– New York Times
"Walker's Mammals of the World continues its reign as the best single reference for mammalian diversity."
– International Journal of Primatology
"Every mammalogist must have [these books], and those who profess a broad interest in the fauna of the world will want them."
– Natural History
"The total dedication and scholarship that have gone into this work, capping thirty years of love and labor by E P Walker [...] and the subsequent equally worthy efforts of R M Nowak, are fully reflected in this beautiful brace of volumes. There should be special prizes for a work such as this."
– Quarterly Review of Biology
"For wildlife enthusiasts, this [...] is an indispensable resource [...] After being exposed to this kind of thorough, detailed information saturation, many readers may find it hard to go back to a plain old encyclopedia for their animal questions."
– Bloomsbury Review
"A massive compilation ideal for readers who want to have at their fingertips information on every mammal species."
– International Zoo News
"For anyone who needs an up-to-date, comprehensive guide to every known species of mammal, Walker's Mammals of the World is an essential purchase."
– International Zoo News
"An absolute treasure trove – a 'must' for the working naturalist as well as for any person who has curiosity about the world's mammals."
– Roger Tory Peterson
"This latest edition of Walker's continues to fill a crucial niche in documenting global mammalian diversity at the genus level. Its accounts transcend the telegraphic, taxonomic accounts in Mammal Species of the World while abstracting those in the massive nine-volume Handbook of the Mammals of the World."
– B. D. Patterson, MacArthur Curator of Mammals, Field Museum of Natural History
