Mammals of North America

Abstract

R. W. Kays, D. E. Wilson. 2002. Mammals of North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, 240 pp. ISBN 0-691-07012-1, price (paper), $19.95. ISBN 0-691-08890-X, price (cloth), $49.50. This addition to the Princeton Field Guide series makes all other field guides for mammals of the United States (exclusive of Hawaii) and Canada obsolete. It was designed to enable identification of the 442 species of mammals known from North America N of Mexico. This number includes all native mammal species (both marine and terrestrial) of that region, plus exotic mammal species known to survive there and reproduce in the wild, and a few supposedly extinct or extirpated mammal species that might be found there in the future. Intended for use by professional mammalogists and amateur naturalists alike, the book provides a wealth of information in a concise volume suitable for carrying in the field. It should be noted that one of the authors of this field guide (Don Wilson) and another of his colleagues (Sue Ruff) were the editors of The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals , which was published in 1999. That epic tome, which I reviewed earlier (Choate 2001), was a phenomenal undertaking by 229 authorities …