Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia

Peter Menkhorst and Frank Knight, 2002
Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne, ISBN:0-19-550870-X,
PVC cover, 155x235mm, 268 pages, AU$40

Having been isolated from other continents for some 30 million years, Australia evolved a rich and diverse mammal fauna - in the book's foreword by Professor Mike Archer - "a spectacularly weird mob".

All-in-all, 379 species of mammal have been recorded on mainland Australia, its offshore islands, and surrounding waters, since European settlement began in 1788. With only a few exceptions, all of the terrestrial mammals are (or were) confined to Australia (a few species also occur in New Guinea). Among the Australian oddities are Platypus, Echidna, Wombat, Koala, Kangaroo and Wallaby - all well-known due to their unusual form and reproductive behaviour. With the exception of the rodents and bats, all Australian mammals are marsupials (their young develop in pouches) or - in the case of the Platypus and Echidna - egg-laying montremes.

This book describes and illustrates all 379 mammals, including 20 which have become extinct in the 200 or so years since Europeans arrived and transformed the land with agriculture and the introduction of European mammals. Virtually every species of Australian mammal has had its range greatly contracted in recent times, some are confined to tiny reserves and small remnant populations are conserved on certain offshore islands where alien predators are excluded. Small carnivores such as dunnarts, antechinus (both groups rather shrew-like), quolls and phascogales could not compete with foxes and cats which not only consumed their prey, but also made a meal of the small predators themselves. Rodent-like bandicoots, bilbies, bettongs and anything else that couldn't escape the plague of introduced predators were similarly put to the sword. The larger Common Wombat, Koala and various types of kangaroos, as well as the arboreal possums were better equipped to deal with the invasion and some of these are still fairly common today. Perhaps best-known among the foreign legion are the Dingo (which is actually a subspecies of the Grey Wolf that is thought to have crossed into Australia with Indonesian seafarers about 4000 years ago) and the European Rabbit which bred in such numbers that it stripped vast tracts of land before being controlled through biological warfare.

Although this informative and beautifully illustrated book is a sobering catalogue of what has been lost, it is primarily a tool and inspirational field guide to the new generation of Australians many of whom are greatly committed to the restoration of wild places and the unusual wildlife which belongs there. That the extinct yet extraordinary Thylacine (Tasmanian Wolf) is now the subject of a ground-breaking DNA-recreation programme is evidence of the determination that prevails, but much work clearly still needs to be done to change the mindset of farmers and landowners if more species are not to be lost. This fine book is an essential reference and field companion to anyone with an interest in Australian wildlife.

- Duncan Butchart -

Posted: Mammals by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006