Review
`This well produced paperback book offers guidance to a vast wealth of seldom seen animals inhabiting the Australian continent via the signs they leave behind ... this book is excellent value as a means to bypass the lifetime of tracking experience which we would all like to possess but few of us have the time or ability to achieve. The writing style is clear and concise and nothing is left unexplained including the fact that you cannot hope to achieve identifications to species level in all cases.' Ian Tew, Journal of Natural History, 1997, 31
`an informed coverage by an author who really knows what she is talking about ... A quick flick through the pages showed lots of photographs, line drawings (both detailed and simple), distribution maps and clear, concise text ... this is an excellent example of this sort of book: it is full of information, easy to use and will serve as a very useful handbook in the field ... For anyone interested in Australian mammals, this is an invaluable book ... it will be a welcome text for naturalists and ecologists alike.' Paul Ward, 1997 British Ecological Society Journal of Animal Ecology, 66
`The book will be indispensable equipment for bushwalkers, naturalists, students, zoologists and other professionals, in fact, for anyone wanting a better understanding of Australia's unique mammal fauna.' Ethology, Ecology and Evolution 9: 1997
Product Description
This book is an enlarged and updated successor to Mammal Tracks and Signs: A Field guide for South-Eastern Australia, which won the Whitley Award for the Best Field Guide in 1984. Tracks, Scats and Other Traces covers all Australian States and Territories, contains hundreds of new illustrations and extensive new text, and is organised in a different format for easier identification of the visible traces left by Australian mammals in their passage. It is divided into four sections, each of which has a Key for easy identification: * Tracks. Line drawings of 'perfect' tracks are matched with photographs of the same tracks in sand or mud. * Scats of 128 species of mammals are illustrated in full colour. A selection of scats and a distribution map and habitat information are given for each species. In addition, pellets and scats of birds, reptiles and invertebrates are illustrated. * Shelters, Feeding Signs and Other Traces provides detailed descriptions and over 70 colour photographs of the distinctive traces of mammals. * Bones. 40 full page plates of skulls, lower jaws, humeri and femurs cover 38 of the more commonly found species, plus a detailed guide which covers all mammal groups. Naturalists, both amateur and professional, are becoming increasingly aware of the value of the indirect methods of finding and identifying mammals. This handbook of detection will be an essential companion, to be kept in the pocket, backpack or car for constant ready reference.
