East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part A : Carnivores (East African Mammals)

Rating:
Summary: A "Must-Have" For All Wildlife Artists!
Review: As a professional Wildlife Artist, my field includes painting, sculpture, and taxidermy.

This makes all of the "East African Mammals" series of books by Jonathan Kingdon an absolute necessity. The text gives a wonderful insight into the natural history as well as the historical ancestry of the majority of East Africa's wild children.

But even more, it is Mr. Kingdon's exquisite pencil renderings of the individual species as well as the structure of their musculature, that make these books so special.

It will be funny to those who have never seen an animal without its' hide on, to see how some predators - including the hyena, and leopard - look without their coat of fur. For instance, the anatomical study of the Sidestriped Jackal will remind the reader of a popular Chihuahua pitch-man ... er, dog!

These musulature drawings, in turn, are further enhanced by deeper dissection-like illustrations revealing the deeper muscle structures responsible for much of the movement and support for the mammal in question. These types of drawings are especially fascinating in the Large Mammals volume, wherein the trunk of the elephant and the mouth structure of the hippopotamus are visually dissected to provide a greater insight into these structures, and their performance in the animal.

The books in this series are therefore especially indispensable to the Wildlife Restorer (taxidermist) as a guide to anatomy that we rarely get to see "in-the-flesh" as it were.

I can, therefore, wholeheartedly recommend this series of books to anyone who cares enough about their chosen field of art, to pursue all ends to collect as much reference material as possible.

These books are an excellent addition to the wildlife artists' library.

Rating:
Summary: A "Must-Have" For All Wildlife Artists!
Review: As a professional Wildlife Artist, my field includes painting, sculpture, and taxidermy.

This makes all of the "East African Mammals" series of books by Jonathan Kingdon an absolute necessity. The text gives a wonderful insight into the natural history as well as the historical ancestry of the majority of East Africa's wild children.

But even more, it is Mr. Kingdon's exquisite pencil renderings of the individual species as well as the structure of their musculature, that make these books so special.

It will be funny to those who have never seen an animal without its' hide on, to see how some predators - including the hyena, and leopard - look without their coat of fur. For instance, the anatomical study of the Sidestriped Jackal will remind the reader of a popular Chihuahua pitch-man ... er, dog!

These musulature drawings, in turn, are further enhanced by deeper dissection-like illustrations revealing the deeper muscle structures responsible for much of the movement and support for the mammal in question. These types of drawings are especially fascinating in the Large Mammals volume, wherein the trunk of the elephant and the mouth structure of the hippopotamus are visually dissected to provide a greater insight into these structures, and their performance in the animal.

The books in this series are therefore especially indispensable to the Wildlife Restorer (taxidermist) as a guide to anatomy that we rarely get to see "in-the-flesh" as it were.

I can, therefore, wholeheartedly recommend this series of books to anyone who cares enough about their chosen field of art, to pursue all ends to collect as much reference material as possible.

These books are an excellent addition to the wildlife artists' library.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I bought this for my daughter who is a graduating biologist with a strong interest in mammals. She loves it and has requested several other volumes in the set for birthday or christmas. I've spent some time with it and it almost exceeds description. The pencil drawings (by the author, also an artist) are definitive, the coverage is exhaustive, and there is but one problem. The whole set, of which this is just one volume, is slowly going out of print. Grab them while you can; used they sell for MORE than new, if you can find them at all.