Animal Skulls

Unlike the last three books I ordered, this book is actually useful to a zooarchaeologist or hobbyist for identification. There are many color photos, detailed diagrams, and clear descriptions of mostly mammals, but some birds other classes. The diagnostic features for identifying lower taxa are discussed thoroughly. I recommend this book for practical applications.

I love that most of the skulls have full size illustrations which makes identification of unknown skulls so much easier. I can just place the skull right over the picture, as well as use it for a side by side comparison. Obviously large skulls are not going to fit on the pages of this book, and those images are reduced, but still very helpful. You could blow them up on a photocopier to get them closer to "life size" if you needed to. The illustrations are pretty good quality and nicely detailed. I also like the section that includes a variety of ways to clean and whiten skulls. My only minor complaint is that I wish there was instructional information included on gluing the teeth back in after cleaning the skulls, such as which glues are the best kinds to use and why. If you can only afford one book on this subject, this one is excellent to start with.

I've been an amateur animal skull collector for many years, learning techniques for identifying and preserving simply by trying to figure it out on my own as I go along. Some recent road kill acquisitions, however, had me stumped, and I needed help identifying placement of some of the teeth and working through some other snags. . . .When this book arrived, I was so smitten that I took it with me to dinner at a restaurant that night and read before, during and after the meal! Soon I was surrounded by the manager and several waitpersons who were curious after seeing the cover and then intrigued by its contents. I shared several pictures and text readings (as well as some photos of my personal collection on my iPhone. . . .) and they were quite entertained by it all. The book is absolutely necessary for both the collector and the curious, with its more than 700 pages of photos/illustrations of these beautiful symmetrical artifacts as well as clear instructions for preservation and identification!

This guide is so thorough and detailed it's almost like a manual for a museum skull collection. It contains some relatively user friendly guides in the form of pictures and diagrams for your average person that's not familiar with skulls or skull terminology, but also contains tremendously detailed descriptions of all characteristics of each species' skulls. This includes different ages and sexes of the animal. In the book does not only cover mammals, but includes birds, amphibians, and reptiles as well.

This is by far the most interesting, complete and reliable reference book on this subject. The amount of detail included here is commendable. This is not a simple illustrated guide, this is a comparative treatise on skulls masquerading as a pretty book. It has both color and black and white pictures and is worth every penny if you plan on doing any identifications. This can be used for wildlife biology, veterinary medicine, zooarchaeology, for taxidermy, for amateur naturalist, a back yard explorer or for any number of disciplines and many related fields. If you don't have access to a large skull collection that includes a mentor, this is a next best thing. Incidentally, it turned out that I had the author's other great book, the one about animal tracks, also an exhaustive and complete guide. This book is thick and heavy. Because it covers pretty much most land vertebrates of North America, it is best suited for those with a wide scope and a need to make specie specific identifications, not just genera.

Lifesaver during a Mammalogy course in which I had to be able to identify the exact species of any mammal skull put before me. Definitely recommend!

I was able to use this book to id a skull I had found. Very nice book. Good pictures and descriptions.

Without a doubt, this is the best book on skulls ever written. If you live in North America, and want to know a *LOT* about the skulls of the animals on the continent (primarily mammals, but the book does also cover birds, reptiles, and amphibians in a more limited fashion), there is no better resource. I teach mammalogy at our local university, and waited a few years to buy my own copy of this book, since our campus library had one. Now that I have my own copy I don't have to borrow it over and over again, and can go through it anytime I want. Definitely my go-to resource for all things pertaining to cranial osteology. As a side note, I don't really follow celebrities, but I'm a fan of Mark Elbroch. Everything of his that I've seen has been absolutely stellar. Books of his that I've seen and LOVE include this one, Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species , Bird Tracks & Sign : A Guide to North American Species , and Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks: Third Edition (Peterson Field Guides) . All full of excellent info, and eminently readable while remaining authoritatively written. This guy really knows his stuff.

....Pour qui s'intéresse à l'anatomie! Grand guide à posséder! Largement illustré. Beaucoup de détails et d'éléments de comparaison. Manque dans l'édition française...

This is a must to anyone who wants to ID mammal skulls. I live in Europe but even so the book is very helpful as many mammals are common for both Europe and North America. Besides this the book contains valuable generic info on various aspects of skull collecting and identifying. Non-mammal sections of this book are not detailed and deal with only a small number of species.

If you are working in natural resources and come across skulls - this is a must have. It contains not only mammal skulls but also bird skulls. The great majority is shown in life-size and comes with detailed explanations of features for comparison. Absolut great book and worth the money.

Es un excelente libro, la información es precisa y las tablas de medidas son muy útiles para comparar e identificar cualquier cráneo. La calidad de las fotografías es muy buena y ene general la edición del libro es excelsa.

Libro único si te interesan las calaveras de animales, con mucha información y las ilustraciones detalladas. Lo recomiendo!