Animal Fact File: Head-To-Tail Profiles of Over 90 Mammals

Imagine an owner's manual for an automobile or a washing machine, its pages studded with exploded diagrams of pistons and ducts. Transfer this model to the animal kingdom, and you have this unusual, richly descriptive catalog of animals from aardvark to wombat, ranging from the common (the hedgehog, opossum, and rat) to the exceedingly rare (Przhevalski's horse, the snow leopard). Each of these animals enjoys an oversized, two-page spread that includes several illustrations. For the Tasmanian devil, for example, color diagrams depict the marsupial carnivore's complex dentition, the shape of its paws and claws, and the musculature of its massive lower jaw; for the greater horseshoe bat, the illustrations include portraits of relatives such as the false vampire bat and mouse-tailed bat, along with a complete skeletal chart. Each entry includes notes on natural history, range, and habitat, along with measurements and characteristic features. Budding zoologists will enjoy leafing through these pages, which make for a nice artists' reference and an inviting coffee-table book as well. --Gregory McNamee