Field guides for birds seem to be everywhere and I think it's fair to say that there are far more bird-watching groups then there are groups for watching any other kind of animal (that's if any other kind of animal-watching groups do indeed exist!) And whilst I'm interested in birds, my primary interest in animals has always been mammals and when I was younger I was always annoyed at the apparent lack of field guides for Australian mammals.
Well, since those days I've become a bit more savvy in the world of books and I've noticed that there are more than a few such guides for observing and identifying Australian mammals in the field. I finally bought one such guide last week after much deliberating (these guides aren't cheap, they're usually around $40 to $50). I think this guide, the Oxford second edition, is probably the best of the lot.
Well, since those days I've become a bit more savvy in the world of books and I've noticed that there are more than a few such guides for observing and identifying Australian mammals in the field. I finally bought one such guide last week after much deliberating (these guides aren't cheap, they're usually around $40 to $50). I think this guide, the Oxford second edition, is probably the best of the lot.
Now, as I said, I've looked at a few guides on Australian mammals but I didn't really like any of them except for this one. The other main mammal field guide that seems to be available in most bookstores has photographs for each mammal... I actually prefer illustrations. There's something about photographs that make it hard to tell certain species apart, there's always a shadow somewhere that obscures some detail or the angle of the photo doesn't do the animal justice when you're trying to spot it in the bush or something. This Oxford guide has illustrations, which I think makes it easier - as the differences are clearer between species, they're all drawn in profile so you can compare them, and there aren't any dodgy shadows to be seen.
This field guide is also handy as it covers every mammal you could possibly see in Australia. All the marsupials, monotremes and native mice, rats and bats are present, along with every seal and whale species one could possibly sight from our shores. It even details the various feral animals that have taken up residence here since European settlement and lists a few recently extinct mammals in the hope that there might still be a few rogue living specimens as yet un-spotted.
As can be expected from a field guide, it shows the distribution of each mammal in Australia, talks about their appearance in detail, their behaviour and the likelihood of seeing them in certain areas. It also, where neccessary, shows diagrams of their feet/footprints or droppings for help in identifying the tracks and trails of certain species. Very useful!
So, if you've read this far and haven't been completely bored to death by my description of this field guide, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning the names of native mammals that they might spot in their backyard and beyond. Have fun.
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