Review by Choice Review
The fauna of Australia has fascinated people ever since the first settlers caught their first glimpse of these exotic animals. Some--the platypus--were so exotic that they could have been mammal, reptile, or bird. Many drawings and far more words have been devoted to Australian mammals; this book surpasses them all. The drawings, nay the art, of Ganf, is breathtaking. Every hair, every spot of mold on a leaf, every piece of bark, is drawn in exquisite detail. The text by ecologist Dickman (Univ. of Sydney) is authoritative and engaging. Every species of Australian marsupial is included, drawn, and its distribution recorded against a backdrop of marsupial origins, evolution, and biology on the one hand, and their conservation and the cultural history of the inhabitants of Australia on the other. Bandicoots, bilbies, cuscuses, gliders, kangaroos, koalas, marsupial moles, mulgaras, numbats, planigales, possums, potoroos, quokkas, quolls, wallabies, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and tigers--an alphabetical Who's Who of the marsupial world is all here. Whether these are familiar or not, don't miss the opportunity to bound to a bookstore, glide to the Internet, or jump on the opportunity to spend hours with this book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. B. K. Hall Dalhousie University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
