Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species

by Marianne Taylor, Merlin Tuttle (Photographer)

Overview

The ultimate illustrated guide to all known bat species

Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species explores bats and their fundamental role in our ecosystems through lavish full-color photographs and lively narrative. From the Giant Golden Crowned Flying Fox, a megabat with a wingspan of more than five feet, to the aptly named Bumblebee Bat, the world's smallest mammal, the number and diversity of bat species have proven to be both rich and underestimated. Nocturnal, fast-flying, and secretive, bats are difficult to observe and catalog. This richly illustrated handbook presents bats' evolution, biology, behavior, and ecology. It offers in-depth profiles of four hundred megabats and microbats and detailed summaries of all the species identified to date. Complete with an introduction exploring bats' natural history and their unique adaptations to life on the wing, Bats includes close-up images of these animals' delicate and intricate forms and faces, each shaped by evolution to meet the demands of an extraordinarily specialized life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588346476
Publisher:	Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Edition description:	Illustrate
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	137,914
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

MARIANNE TAYLOR is a writer, illustrator, and photographer who has worked in natural history publishing at Bloomsbury Publishing and Birdwatch magazine and has authored more than a dozen books. MERLIN TUTTLE is an American ecologist, conservationist, and wildlife photographer who specializes in bat ecology, behavior, and conservation. His most recent book is The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals.

Editorial Reviews

"Going far beyond the practical value of a guidebook, this is an important update to bat literature and one to savor, containing a wonder on nearly every page and proving that bats are indeed 'intelligent, curious, comical, even essential animals."
—Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2019

Bats make up about 20 percent of the world's mammals, but the challenges of studying such small, fast-flying, nocturnal animals mean that our knowledge about them is incomplete. Technological advances in field and lab research have increased our understanding, reflected in this spectacular volume from Taylor (The Way of the Hare). The precise text and lush, extravagant photographs from Tuttle (The Secret Lives of Bats) offer a compelling combination. A concise introduction explores evolution, diversity, biology, behavior, ecology, and the bats/people connection. Brief profiles of 1,386 known species, arranged taxonomically, comprise the second section and detail the distribution, conservation status, physical traits, habitat, and behavior of various kinds of bats. Mostly color and full-page photographs show the creatures doing their beneficial things: on the wing chasing insects, pollinating flowers, or aiding in seed dispersal. These animals astonish even in repose, especially when "sitting" for one of Tuttle's facial portraits or roosting en masse. Indexes provide access by scientific and common bat names, but one might wish for an easier way to pinpoint local species, such as an additional "distribution table." VERDICT Going far beyond the practical value of a guidebook, this is an important update to bat literature and one to savor, containing a wonder on nearly every page and proving that bats are indeed "intelligent, curious, comical, even essential animals."—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Library Journal