Great Mammals

Revised and expanded edition of the classic Mammals of the Great Lakes Region

Examines thirty-five massive animals from various habitats across the globe, including the largest animals of their kinds, from the blue whale to the flying fox, the biggest bat.

Even though mammals can be found almost everywhere on Earth, they make up only a small percentage of animal species. Even so, the diversity among mammals is staggering. This volume explains mammals’ similarities and differences from one another, their anatomy and behaviors, and more. Charts and anatomical illustrations work together with clear text to teach important life science concepts.

Dr. John Ford presents the latest information on 31 species of marine mammals that live in or visit BC waters: 25 whales, dolphins and porpoises, 5 seals and sea lions, and the sea otter. He describes each species and summarizes its distribution, habitat, social organization, feeding habits, conservation status and much more. Marine Mammals of British Columbia includes maps of sightings, and pointers on where to find each species in BC waters. It also contains hundreds of colour photographs and drawings to help recognize these animals in the ocean. This is an indispensable field guide and reference book for naturalists, boaters and anyone interested in marine life.

When people today hear “paleontology,” they immediately think of dinosaurs. But for much of the history of the discipline, dramatic demonstrations of the history of life focused on the developmental history of mammals. The Age of Mammals examines how nineteenth-century scholars, writers, artists, and public audiences understood the animals they regarded as being at the summit of life. For them, mammals were crucial for understanding the formation (and possibly the future) of the natural world. Yet, as Chris Manias reveals, this combined with more troubling notions: that seemingly promising creatures had been swept aside in the “struggle for life,” or that modern biodiversity was impoverished compared to previous eras. Why some prehistoric creatures, such as the saber-toothed cat and ground sloth, had become extinct, while others seemed to have been the ancestors of familiar animals like elephants and horses, was a question loaded with cultural assumptions, ambiguity, and trepidation. How humans related to deep developmental processes, and whether “the Age of Man” was qualitatively different from the Age of Mammals, led to reflections on humanity’s place within the natural world. With this book, Manias considers the cultural resonance of mammal paleontology from an international perspective—how reconstructions of the deep past of fossil mammals across the world conditioned new understandings of nature and the current environment.

Presents a children's study of mammals such as horses, lions, gorillas, whales, and others, and discusses they habitats, what they look like and how they move, how whales breathe, how they care for their young, and how they protect themselves.

A guide to finding and observing 420 species of North American mammals, including the art of mammal watching, the best locations, and a species-finding guide.