Mammals of North America: Temperate and Arctic Regions

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Masses of facts and photos fill this encyclopedic volume. Parents
helping with homework, amateur naturalists, campers, farmers, and anyone
interested in the outdoors and ecology will find this a very useful
reference work.

The text is structured by family—marsupials, insectivores, bats,
lagomorpha (rabbits, pikas), rodent, carnivores, cetacea (whales,
proposes), and artiodactyla (deer, goats). For each family, there’s a
generous section on generic characteristics and habits, with numerous
examples and specific details. All the distinct species within each
family are listed, with distribution maps, description, size, longevity,
habitat, and predators. The whole is brought to life with large
quantities of color photos, usually closeups of the mammal under
discussion.

The style of presentation achieves a nice balance between the
straightforward delivery of facts and the interest and excitement shared
by a dedicated naturalist. The professional-quality photos deliver
clear, uncluttered illustrative content.

The book includes all nondomesticated North American mammals, from the
tiny shrew and the massive sperm whale to the little-known pika and the
common house mouse. This comprehensiveness definitely adds to its value
as a selection for the home reference library.