A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife

by Richard Sale, Per Michelsen (Photographer)

The most comprehensive field guide to Arctic wildlife. This is the ideal guidebook to the wildlife of the Arctic, which is undergoing such a perilous change. Polar expert Richard Sale describes the ecological and human dynamics of the Arctic as a whole, with detailed information about the peoples of the region and their history. He also discusses the future for the region and its wildlife, severely threatened by both climatic change and the overwhelming pollution created by humankind. Following sections on Arctic geology, geography, speciation and biogeography, the book provides extensive field coverage of all the region's mammals and birds. In-depth information on each species includes notes on identification, size, voice, distribution, diet, breeding, taxonomy and more. A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife is packed with stunning photographs and features range maps of the entire circumpolar ranges -- including oceans and seas -- of the various polar creatures. This beautifully illustrated and authoritative book will provide a renewed understanding of the Arctic and its unique challenges.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Nature, Reference

464 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2006

About the author

Richard Sale (1946-) is a physicist, with a PhD in astrophysics. After working as a glaciologist in Switzerland and then in the UK power industry he gave up fulltime physics for his first loves – birds and the Arctic. He has written and taken photographs for many books, including To the Ends of the Earth: The History of Polar Exploration and various travel guides.

Reviews

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs and a look into not only the animals, but what may be happening to their environment because of the destruction occurring due to climate change. Great book to read about what some day may be lost to all of us.

[Amal Katrib · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect guidebook that I heavily used in my attempt to decipher the wildlife encountered during my short trip to the beautiful Arctic!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot say that I read this book from cover to cover, but can say that I did read quite a bit about the different animals and would recommend this to anyone who loves animals and reading about wildlife in the arctic.

At the beginning of this book, you will find a history of the arctic along with essays on the geology, climate, habitats and more!

Beginning on page 58 are brief field guides on arctic birds and mammals. For each field guide, there is a brief introduction to the group of animals in that category, i.e. Ungulates aka hoofed animals (think caribou and moose). Next is the animal, with the more common name listed in ( ), i.e. Caribou
(Reindeer) and then the scientific name underneath. Next, there is a brief essay about the animal along with information about Identification, "Confusion Species" (if there is any), Size, Communication, Distribution, Diet, Breeding, and Taxonomy and Geographical Variation. There is also a color map detailing the range of where the animal lives. This map also shows water that is always frozen, sometimes frozen (seasonally) and never frozen. Most importantly, there are LOTS of colorful pictures identifying the animals and more!

Now, even though this book is about "arctic" wildlife, there is nothing here that states that some of these animals cannot be found elsewhere. I live in NE Ohio. We, too, have loons, ducks, Canada (not Canadian) Geese, Black Bears, River Otters, etc.

A great resource!