7 used from �25.00

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share your own customer images

Look inside this book

The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Natural World) (Paperback)

by Jonathan Kingdon (Author, Illustrator)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

7 used from �25.00

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Paperback (New Ed)	�29.99	�20.71	22 used & new from �17.97

12 Days of Christmas Sale in Books
Get up to 65% off some of our top titles. Shop now

› See more product promotions

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Illuminate your book with the innovative Philips LED reading light--exclusive to Amazon.co.uk. Shop now.

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

(What is this?)

Game Ranger Course Africa opens new browser window

www.AmanziTravel.co.uk - Field Guide and Game Ranger Courses South Africa Kruger National Park

Game Ranger /Field Guide opens new browser window

www.WildlifeCampus.com - The Industry's most comprehensive Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course

Natural+world opens new browser window

Ask.com - Find the Best Results for Natural+world.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi (Helm Field Guides)

by Terry Stevenson

4.9 out of 5 stars (9) �22.99

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates

by RD Estes

4.5 out of 5 stars (2) �17.32

Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania (Helm Field Guides)

by Dale A. Zimmerman

5.0 out of 5 stars (5) �18.97

The Safari Companion: Guide to Watching African Mammals

by Richard Estes

4.7 out of 5 stars (3) �14.08

Field Guide to Common Trees and Shrubs of East Africa

by Najma Dharani

�9.09

› Explore similar items

Product details

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Poyser (31 Dec 2004)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0124083552
ISBN-13: 978-0124083554
Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.8 x 2.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 522,805 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories:

#47 in	Books > Science & Nature > Nature > Wild Animals > By Region > Africa
#95 in	Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Ecology > Animal Ecology
#95 in	Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Biology > Animal Sciences > Animal Ecology

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review

Since the appearance of his seven-volume encyclopaedia of East African mammals in the 1970's, Kingdon has become a figure of high distinction in conservationist circles. His extraordinary talents as a writer and painter have been dedicated to astonishingly beautiful and detailed records of African fauna and the ecosystems that sustain them. This makes his new field guide rather more than a handbook. . . . The richness of information is exemplary. The illustrations would make a big cat purr. . . . . It is one of Kingdon's strengths, both as a naturalist and as an artist, that he is interested in how animals look and feel to each other. . . . His drawings and paintings stress the elegant functionality of body geometry, the way animals use facial and body patterns for visual signalling.

Product Description

The author seeks to cover all the known species of African land mammal in this text, providing full information on identification, distribution, ecology, evolutionary relationships and conservation status. The focus is always on the mammals as seen in the field and on their ecology and evolutionary interrelationships. Introductory profiles summarize the characteristics of the various mammal groups and the author simplifies many of the more complex groups of mammals by referencing genera. The author combines his long personal experience of life in Africa with natural history and biological science to create this comprehensive reference work.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

mammals

africa

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	51% buy the item featured on this page: The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Natural World) 5.0 out of 5 stars (4)
	25% buy The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals 4.5 out of 5 stars (2) �13.06
	9% buy A Field Guide to African Wildlife 4.9 out of 5 stars (8) �11.07
	9% buy The Safari Companion: Guide to Watching African Mammals 4.7 out of 5 stars (3) �14.08

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About the Best Currently, but Could Be Improved, 15 Sep 2004

By	Laszlo Wagner (Hungary) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Paperback)

First let me say that in general I find this book excellent, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the mammalian fauna of Africa.
It is very comprehensive, covering every single species of African mammals with the exception of bats, rodents, insectivores, elephant-shrews and hyrraxes, which are usually represented by one species for each genus. But every single genus is represented, and of rodents, every species of squirrel is dealt with separately.
The information accompanying each species is very detailed and appears up to date.

Now for the shortcomings:
1) The illustrations are next to the description of each species. Given how detailed/long the texts are, this means that usually there are just 1 or 2 species shown on each page, so to compare all antelopes you must look through a hundred pages or so - not very practical in a field guide!
2) Maps are often pages away from the text and illustration, with no reference to their whereabouts. I often thought there was no map for a species/genus, only to find it pages away, combined with the map for another taxon.
3) While illustrations are identified by the species' English name, the maps are confusingly id'ed by Latin names only. If you aren't familiar with the latter, it takes some cross-reference to find out which species' range you are looking at.
4) The illustrations vary so much in standard that it is hard to believe they were drawn by one person... While most are quite good, even excellent and life-like, others are quite awful, either showing animals with stiff, straight limbs/bodies as if drawn with a ruler (like the Crowned Monkey) or in highly unnatural positions (like the Potto with the limbs twisted out, or the Cheetah standing up like a circus horse).

Note that a cheaper, condensed version of this guide, without the first 3 shortcomings listed above and more practical for field use is now available under the title "The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals" (ISBN: 0691122393). It is probably the book you would want to take to Africa while keeping this one at home for reference.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Book for African Animal lovers., 28 Sep 1998

By A Customer

This is a dream book for those interested in African mammals. First of all, it does not concentrate on "popular" species, such are lions and cheetahs, but talks about all species and important sub-species. The layout of the book is like this: first the author talks about a certain class of mammals, ex. Carnivores, and talks about the things characteristic to that class; then he goes down to family, e.g. canids, and talks about aspects characteristic to that family, and finally, the species themselves, and talks about their individual characteristics, distribution, size, and status. And it goes like that until every species, family and class of African mammal is mentioned. There are no pictures in the book, but color illustrations of all the species mentioned. The illustations are high-class, so much you can easily imagine what the animal looks like in real life. And now, a few bad points. As a bonus, he adds the names of animals in French, German, and a few African languages. Unfortunately, this is inconsistent throughout the book. I understand for the African languages, but French and German translations should have been given for each species. Also, he doesn't mention the mammals of Madagascar, even though Madagascar is part of Africa. And another thing, which would have been nice: with eponymized species (e.g. Ruppell's fox, Wolf's monkey) he should have mentioned who those species were named for. Nevertheless, I still give this book the highest score, for being complete, at least for continental Africa.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Safari Companion?, 11 May 2004

By	Michael Richardson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Paperback)

Covering 460 mammal species in a single compact volume is no easy task. Neither is providing detailed, quality colour pictures of each animal, along with details of identification, ecology, distribution, evolutionary relationships and conservation status. In this excellent field guide, Kingdon achieves all this and more.

As a visitor to Africa, I found this guide irreplaceable when identifying the mammals that I encountered, especially small species such a bush squirrels, mongooses etc. Such animals are often overlooked by similar texts.

The only criticism I can find with this book is I often found the distribution maps to be too small to accurately identify the area I was visiting. In addition, several complex groups of small mammals, e.g. bats and shrews, are referred to by genus only.

It must be realised, however, that field guides have to be compact if they are to be practical. Rectifying the above criticisms would result in a text much too large to be any use in the African bush.

In summary I would recommend Kingdon's field guide to any wildlife enthusiast visiting Africa, or with an interest in this beautiful and fascinating continent. The author's illustrations alone make this text a worthy addition to any naturalists' bookcase.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 4 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars best safari guide
Currently the best field guide to take on safari. I found most of the illustrations excellent, although some of the descriptions were rather light. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Meriadoc

› See all 4 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }