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Kurta, A. 1995. MAMMALS OF THE GREAT LAKES REGION. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, xii+376 pp. ISBN 0-472-09471-1, price (hardcover), $42.50, ISBN 0-472-06497-5, price (paper), $16.95.
In the nearly 40 years since the publication of this book's predecessor (Burt, 1957), our knowledge of mammals living in the Great Lakes Region has grown markedly. Allen Kurta has undertaken the onerous task of integrating this expanded understanding into the revision of a classic, an effort that pays off for any reader and renders this gem of a guidebook almost incomparable to the first edition.
The short preface outlines the organization of the book, the author's reasons for revising and updating the first edition, and how the information was synthesized. Although I (like many, I suspect) tend to skip prefaces, I nonetheless found myself consulting it repeatedly when trying to learn how, for example, maps were generated (see below).
The introductory chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by first providing a nice (albeit brief) definition and history of mammals and outlining the region covered, which includes the eight U.S. states and single Canadian province (or portions thereof) within the Great Lakes drainage system. Subsequent sections provide succinct overviews on the geologic, climatic, biotic, and anthropogenic factors affecting distributions of species in the Great Lakes area. A nice touch here and throughout the book is the frequent use of familiar species in examples illustrating many of these phenomena.
Following are individual accounts for the 83 endemic, introduced, and extirpated species of Recent mammals found in the Great Lakes drainage, arranged taxonomically except for the three species comprising the last category. Each account includes traditional body measurements (metric and English), a physical description, and a succinct summary on the behavior and life history, followed by a short list of suggested references. As is hopefully a growing trend in faunal guides, distribution maps and photographs are included within each species account, thankfully decreasing the time spent flipping back and forth between different sections.
Anyone attending meetings of the American Society of Mammalogists in the past few years probably will remember Kurta soliciting photographs of Great Lakes mammals, an effort deserving every reader's gratitude. High-quality, black-and-white pictures of live individuals are provided for all but four species,...