Date of this Version
Prairie Naturalist (September 1984) 16(3): 141-142.
This book is a welcome addition to the general references available on the mammalian fauna of the Northern Great Plains, a region encompassing North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. No similar book about the mammals of these states has been published since Vernon Bailey's 1926 (not 1927 as shown on pages 2 and 361) publication of the mammals of North Dakota.
Mammals ofthe Northern Great Plains is a handsome 18.5 x 26 cm book printed on high-quality glossy paper and illustrated with 206 black-and-white photos and drawings. Although the text is easy to read and intended for a varied audience, it contains sufficient detail to make it useful to professional mammalogists. A glossary is provided to aid those unfamiliar with some terminology. The book is organized into 27 sections. The first 11 sections (26 pages) introduce readers to the history of mammalian investigations in the region and how these studies are conducted. They also provide descriptions of the environment and informative discussions of mammalian communities and zoogeography. These are followed by a section on the Class Mammalia (primarily on evolution and adaptations), a key to the orders of mammals of the region, and a checklist of the region's 105 native and six introduced mammal species. The bulk of the book (pages 36-346) consists of species accounts arranged by order and family except that introduced species are treated together at the end.