Mammalia: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Mammals

Mammalia: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Mammals by Lindy Mattice (Bushel and Peck Books) HB RRP $50 ISBN9781638191285

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

This is a superb, large book, beautifully illustrated and designed, that features more than 125 mammals from around the world. No illustrators are named, but the back cover blurb reads, ‘Enchanting vintage artwork from some of the world’s most accomplished zoological artists make this visual tome as stunning as it is informative and a must-have treasure for animal lovers.’ Agreed!

There’s a double-page spread of contents with twenty-seven animal species, and each species listing mammals with their common and Latin names. For example, under ‘Monkeys and Apes’ are the Eastern Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Bornean Orangutan, Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, Rhesus Macaque, and Yellow Baboon. If you then turn to the eight Monkeys and Apes pages, you are introduced to ‘the primate order’, made up of roughly 521 species. There are some interesting facts such as ‘primates have larger brains than most animals, and ‘members of the Primate order have prehensible five-digit hands, feet with flat nails’, and so on.

There’s a page of primates which includes gibbons, marmosets, lemurs, tamarins, and more creatures, again, with their Latin names. Each of the monkeys and apes have a dedicated full-page that includes their conservation status (for example, the chimpanzee is endangered), their classification (into kingdom, class, order, and so on). There are also facts on such things as community group size, the first time a female gives birth, and when infants learn to walk. Regarding chimpanzees, there is an outbreak box which details how intelligent these mammals are and how they use tools from a young age.

The publisher states in the book that it has a special mission - - through its ‘Book-for-Book-Promise’ it donates one book to kids in need for every book it sells. So if you buy this book that promises visual delights and hours and hours of interesting reading, you are also benefiting others less fortunate than yourself.