Book Review

This book is the 4th edition of this classic mammalogy textbook geared for an undergraduate class, and it continues to provide an impressive and engaging resource on mammalogy. As in any dynamic field, the current state of knowledge is frequently updated, and this edition thus also provides a much anticipated and needed update to the previous edition (Feldhamer et al. 2007), most notably adding an entirely new chapter on phylogeny in Part 1 and including taxonomic updates. Many recent references and updates have been added throughout the text, and chapter summaries are organized into bullet points instead of in paragraph form. Otherwise, the basic layout and organization of the book will be familiar to users of previous editions. The current book contains 30 chapters in 5 major sections, spanning diverse topics that should give students a sense of the major topics in the field and will also appeal broadly to the diversity of researchers who study mammals. The sections can be used as topical modules although not necessarily to be read sequentially; however, if you follow the book from start to finish, it is roughly organized into broad topics that apply across all mammals or involve trends in evolution, then group-focused chapters, and then a few special topics to tie all the ideas together. Part 1 introduces the field and provides some major conceptual frameworks, and Part 2 covers topics on structure and function across all mammals. Part 3 surveys groups of mammals and provides a wealth of information down through orders and families. Part 4 introduces behavior and ecology, and Part 5 spotlights 3 special topics (parasites and disease, domesticated animals, and conservation). Each chapter begins with a very brief introduction and ends with a summary, suggested readings, and discussion questions. I found the summaries and suggested readings particularly useful. Indeed, new readers might find it useful to scan the summary first to gain an organized overview of the chapter, and the suggested readings are valuable for readers to go beyond the relatively brief treatments necessary in textbooks. The discussion questions were a good idea, but I found them uneven and not always clear in what the intended goal was. The end of the book contains a glossary, reference list, and index that were straightforward and easy to use. Part 1 serves as an introduction to the volume and includes 6 chapters on the field of mammalogy, historical development, study methods, and organizing conceptual frameworks. This introductory material should provide relevant context for students and lays out the goals and organizing principles of the book. A section on “Resources for Mammalogists” is a nice feature in that it lists specific websites and literature, as well as more general uses of archives and libraries, but it seemed out of place at the beginning of the book and might have been better placed at the end or in an Appendix. The same could be said of Chapter 3 on study methods, which surveyed but could not go into much depth on data collection and techniques, and thus seemed oddly placed in the introduction. The brief introductions to the conceptual frameworks— phylogeny and diversification, evolution with focus on dental characteristics, and biogeography—provide good overviews on major study approaches in the field. The addition of a chapter on phylogeny and diversification of mammals was an excellent choice given its importance in our modern study of organismal biology. Some minor concerns I had with this section were that a historical classification (Simpson 1945) is highlighted in table 4.1 without an equivalent table of the most current classification, and that there is a discussion of the grouping Insectivores, with only brief comment that it is outdated. While interesting and historically relevant, this presentation might be a bit confusing to new students as it emphasizes a historical state instead of the most current state of understanding. However, the authors do a good job of presenting the often long (sometimes contentious) process of detangling phylogenetic relationships as a dynamic challenge that has gone through many iterations. In Chapter 5 on mammalian evolution, figure 5.12 and the accompanying section summarizing anatomical developments and table 5.2 comparing typical reptilian and mammalian organization provide useful and simple summaries of major evolutionary trends. Part 2 focuses on various aspects of mammalian structure and function and is organized into 5 chapters. As a behavioral ecologist, I found the chapters on skin-internal structuremovement, feeding, and environmental adaptations particularly engaging (one information box wonderfully highlights the underwater sniffing technique of water shrews). Besides being enjoyable to read, I appreciated that these chapters used opportunities to show more comparative trends. For example, figure 8.2 illustrates differences in digestive systems of mammals with different diets, and figure 8.8 compares differences in typical dentition and skull anatomy of carnivores and herbivores. The discussion of foraging models was nice but, besides a brief mention, perhaps fails to convey some of the limitations of theoretical models in actually predicting behaviors in the wild. Additionally, it felt somewhat out of place in this section and might have worked better in Part 4 on behavior and ecology. In the chapter on environmental adaptations (and elsewhere), Journal of Mammalogy, 97(2):655–656, 2016 DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyv194 Published online December 26, 2015

This book is the 4th edition of this classic mammalogy textbook geared for an undergraduate class, and it continues to provide an impressive and engaging resource on mammalogy. As in any dynamic field, the current state of knowledge is frequently updated, and this edition thus also provides a much anticipated and needed update to the previous edition (Feldhamer et al. 2007), most notably adding an entirely new chapter on phylogeny in Part 1 and including taxonomic updates. Many recent references and updates have been added throughout the text, and chapter summaries are organized into bullet points instead of in paragraph form. Otherwise, the basic layout and organization of the book will be familiar to users of previous editions.
The current book contains 30 chapters in 5 major sections, spanning diverse topics that should give students a sense of the major topics in the field and will also appeal broadly to the diversity of researchers who study mammals. The sections can be used as topical modules although not necessarily to be read sequentially; however, if you follow the book from start to finish, it is roughly organized into broad topics that apply across all mammals or involve trends in evolution, then group-focused chapters, and then a few special topics to tie all the ideas together. Part 1 introduces the field and provides some major conceptual frameworks, and Part 2 covers topics on structure and function across all mammals. Part 3 surveys groups of mammals and provides a wealth of information down through orders and families. Part 4 introduces behavior and ecology, and Part 5 spotlights 3 special topics (parasites and disease, domesticated animals, and conservation). Each chapter begins with a very brief introduction and ends with a summary, suggested readings, and discussion questions. I found the summaries and suggested readings particularly useful. Indeed, new readers might find it useful to scan the summary first to gain an organized overview of the chapter, and the suggested readings are valuable for readers to go beyond the relatively brief treatments necessary in textbooks. The discussion questions were a good idea, but I found them uneven and not always clear in what the intended goal was. The end of the book contains a glossary, reference list, and index that were straightforward and easy to use.
Part 1 serves as an introduction to the volume and includes 6 chapters on the field of mammalogy, historical development, study methods, and organizing conceptual frameworks. This introductory material should provide relevant context for students and lays out the goals and organizing principles of the book. A section on "Resources for Mammalogists" is a nice feature in that it lists specific websites and literature, as well as more general uses of archives and libraries, but it seemed out of place at the beginning of the book and might have been better placed at the end or in an Appendix. The same could be said of Chapter 3 on study methods, which surveyed but could not go into much depth on data collection and techniques, and thus seemed oddly placed in the introduction.
The brief introductions to the conceptual frameworksphylogeny and diversification, evolution with focus on dental characteristics, and biogeography-provide good overviews on major study approaches in the field. The addition of a chapter on phylogeny and diversification of mammals was an excellent choice given its importance in our modern study of organismal biology. Some minor concerns I had with this section were that a historical classification (Simpson 1945) is highlighted in table 4.1 without an equivalent table of the most current classification, and that there is a discussion of the grouping Insectivores, with only brief comment that it is outdated. While interesting and historically relevant, this presentation might be a bit confusing to new students as it emphasizes a historical state instead of the most current state of understanding. However, the authors do a good job of presenting the often long (sometimes contentious) process of detangling phylogenetic relationships as a dynamic challenge that has gone through many iterations. In Chapter 5 on mammalian evolution, figure 5.12 and the accompanying section summarizing anatomical developments and table 5.2 comparing typical reptilian and mammalian organization provide useful and simple summaries of major evolutionary trends.
Part 2 focuses on various aspects of mammalian structure and function and is organized into 5 chapters. As a behavioral ecologist, I found the chapters on skin-internal structuremovement, feeding, and environmental adaptations particularly engaging (one information box wonderfully highlights the underwater sniffing technique of water shrews). Besides being enjoyable to read, I appreciated that these chapters used opportunities to show more comparative trends. For example, figure 8.2 illustrates differences in digestive systems of mammals with different diets, and figure 8.8 compares differences in typical dentition and skull anatomy of carnivores and herbivores. The discussion of foraging models was nice but, besides a brief mention, perhaps fails to convey some of the limitations of theoretical models in actually predicting behaviors in the wild. Additionally, it felt somewhat out of place in this section and might have worked better in Part 4 on behavior and ecology. In the chapter on environmental adaptations (and elsewhere), 656 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY I appreciate that the authors point out where well-known hypotheses have major limitations (e.g., "Bergmann's rule").
Part 3 entitled "Adaptive Radiation and Diversity" is the lengthiest section. It surveys mammalian orders and families in 10 chapters and will likely be one of the most appealing to readers interested in mammalian diversity. The whole section made for an engaging and informative read. Each chapter was filled with both broad group descriptions and intriguing facts on select species, which should delight fans of natural history. I suspect that dedicated students of particular groups might have a similar feeling as I had that sections on their focal taxa could have had some more information, but in depth surveys of all groups would clearly have been impossible. Overall, the authors chose nice examples and case studies to highlight for each group, and this section does an excellent job of representing the immense diversity of mammalian groups. As with any textbook, this one is best used as a jumping off point for exploring specific groups or topics in more depth. The suggested readings are really indispensible for anyone interested in delving more into specific topics. The classification table at the beginning of these sections is a useful resource, although I thought it would have been nice to include recently extinct groups, which were omitted in this volume.
I disagreed with the authors' decision in Chapter 13 to present several phylogenetically distant orders (historically lumped under insectivores) together, "for convenience of discussion," which reiterates my concern in Part 1 about discussing insectivores as more than an outdated classification. This organization seems unnecessarily confusing, and given that all other groupings in this section contain functionally disparate members, there seems to be no particular benefit of presenting these orders separately from closer evolutionary lineages. Perhaps this decision was made to retain familiar groupings in consideration of all possible readers, but I do not think it is well justified in a book geared towards training new students in the current field of mammalogy.
Part 4 tackles topics in behavior and ecology in 6 chapters. It would be difficult to treat these fields fully in limited space, but the authors do a nice job of highlighting some major topics of particular interest to mammalogists and providing classic examples. A minor critique is that Chapter 22 on communication, aggression, and spatial relations was an odd collection of topics that did not hold well together. The subheader "Aggression and Competition" barely had any text, and this chapter might have been better split into one section on resource use, competition, and spatial associations, and another on communication: the latter topic might more appropriately come after the sections on sexual selection and social behavior. Behaviors and their fitness outcomes are notoriously difficult to quantify and study rigorously, and perhaps not surprisingly, these chapters do not quite convey the difficulty of providing empirical evidence for even long-standing theories. For example, the relative importance of different mechanisms in the evolution of sociality is hotly contested, but that is not conveyed here. As with other topics in this book, interested students would need to study the primary literature to get a sense of the field. Community ecology is an extremely important topic but inherently crosses taxonomic lines, so it felt somewhat odd to take a mammal-centric approach for this one topic. Nonetheless, this (and all) chapters highlight many interesting examples in mammalian systems, highlighting the incredible diversity in this group.
Part 5 highlights 3 special topics (parasites and disease, domesticated mammals, and conservation) that bring together many of the concepts and information from previous chapters. These topics show how multiple aspects of mammalogy can be integrated to tackle pressing and applied issues in our current world. As with many of the other chapters, each of these 3 topics are fields of study in their own right and could only be briefly treated in limited space, but these chapters provide useful overviews and a number of relevant examples and case studies are given for each. As with an earlier chapter on methods for studying mammals, I found the "Parasite Collection" subsection too superficial to be of real use here. Instead, a separate section or appendix on applied methods, with copious suggested readings for those interested in particular techniques, would have been more appropriate.
Altogether, this book provides a wealth of information on major topics in biology using examples specific to mammals. While a better comparative understanding to appreciate major evolutionary trends would probably require some additional background in vertebrate zoology, overall the authors have done an admirable job of presenting several major topics in a compressed but meaningful format for mammalogy students. Another nice touch is the decision to include a number of figures presenting data points (e.g., in sections on biogeography, physiology, community ecology), which is useful in conveying to students how conclusions and interpretations are drawn from studies.
One final consideration that must be mentioned is a practical concern. At 748 pages, this edition is over 100 pages longer than the last, and hence not easily portable. One day of carrying it around in a backpack with a laptop convinced me not to do it again, and this could be a concern for anyone thinking to use it for a class. On the other hand, the authors have clearly taken great care in putting together a resource that manages to be broad, in depth, and engaging on a very large subject matter. In the end, this edition continues to be a very attractive and useful volume for anyone interested in mammalogy at any level of study, and it should remain an invaluable teaching resource.