The Biology of Small Mammals

Dr. Merritt provides an excellent overview of the small mammals of the world. Starting with taxonomy and ending with insight into population cycle. Along the way telling the true story of lemmings. This book is a must have for any mammalogists.

This is an in-depth exploration of the lives of small mammals. Although it is full of facts, contains numerous graphs, and references, it does not read like a textbook. In fact the excellent graphs, first-rate drawings and photographs of lesser known species, anecdotes, personal experiences of the author, and an engaging writing style all combine to make this an enjoyable read. Merritt has found the most intriguing and the less well known stories of adaptations for feeding, reproducing and coping with environmental extremes, e.g. how do shrews sniff for food underwater? Or how does the bulldog bat catch fish? And how does building roadways through dense vegetation by elephant shrews enhance their reproductive success? This book is full of intriguing stories concerning a diverse assortment of species. The glossary and index are extensive. I recommend The Biology of Small Mammals highly for naturalists, scientists, educators as well as anyone interested in the more inconspicuous members of our mammalian fauna.

It is very rare to find a book that is so engagingly well written and so extremely informative. This book compiles wealth of interesting detail on mammals. I highly recommend this to anyone with some interest in mammalian biology.

Ein wunderbares Buch, um sich über Australiens Kleinsäugerwelt zu informieren. Es wäre noch besser gewesen, wenn die Bilder farbig wären, aber man kann nicht alles haben.