Handbook of the Mammals of the World


Handbook of the Mammals of the World is a book series from the publisher Lynx Edicions. The nine volumes were published from 2009 to 2019. Each mammal family is assessed in a full text introduction with photographs and each species has a text account with a distribution map and illustrations on a plate. This is the second major project by Lynx Edicions since the release of the Handbook of the Birds of the World in 1992. The chief editors are Russell Mittermeier and Don E. Wilson in association with Conservation International, the Texas A&M University and the IUCN. Don E. Wilson is also editor of the reference work Mammal Species of the World.
An updated two-volume set with taxonomic revisions was released in 2020 as the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World, and a condensed, single-volume version of the series was published in 2023 as All the Mammals of the World.

Published volumes

Volume 1: ''Carnivores'' (published in May 2009)

With an introduction to the class Mammalia by Don E. Wilson
The first volume is devoted to Carnivora. It covers 13 families and the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behavior, and conservation status of 245 species. It has more than 400 colour photographs and 257 distribution maps. The 33 colour plates are created by Catalan artist Toni Llobet. This book mentioned the olinguito or Andean olingo for the first time, a species from Ecuador and Colombia, which was officially described in 2013.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 728 pp.

Volume 2: ''Hoofed Mammals'' (published in August 2011)

The second volume is devoted to the ungulates. It covers 107 genera, 17 families in six orders and the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 413 species. It has 664 colour photographs and 433 distribution maps. The 56 colour plates are created by Catalan artist Toni Llobet.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 886 pp.

Volume 3: ''Primates'' (published in April 2013)

The third volume is devoted to the primates. It covers 17 families and the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 480 species. The 57 colour plates are created by English wildlife artist Stephen D. Nash. Edited by Russell A. Mittermeier, Anthony B. Rylands, Don E. Wilson.
Groups covered in this volume are:
  • Mouse, giant mouse, dwarf, and fork marked lemurs. Five genera and 31 species.
  • Sportive lemur. One genus and 26 species.
  • Bamboo, true, and ruffed lemurs. Five genera and 21 species.
  • Woolly lemurs, sifakas, and the indri. Three genera and 19 species.
  • Aye-aye . One genus and one species.
  • Galago. Five genera and 18 species.
  • Angwantibos, pottos, and Lorises. Four genera and 12 species.
  • Tarsier. Three genera and 11 species.
  • Marmosets and tamarins. Seven genera and 47 species.
  • Squirrel monkeys and capuchins. Three genera and 29 species.
  • Night monkey. One genus and 11 species.
  • Titis, sakis and uakaris. Four genera and 44 species.
  • Howlers, spider and woolly monkeys and muriquis. Five genera and 25 species.
  • Old World monkeys. 23 genera and 159 species.
  • Gibbons. Four genera and 19 species.
  • Great apes. Four genera and seven species.
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 951 pp.

Volume 4: ''Sea Mammals'' (published in July 2014)

The fourth volume is devoted to marine mammals, which include the largest mammals on earth, the whales, as well as dolphins, ear seals, walrus, earless seals, dugongs, and manatees. It covers 19 families and the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behavior, and conservation status of 128 species. The 30 colour plates are created by Toni Llobet.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 614 pp.

Volume 5: ''Marsupials'' (published in June 2015)

The fifth volume is devoted to the marsupials, echidnas, platypus, and opossums. The 44 colour plates are created by Toni Llobet. It covers the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 354 species from 21 families in eight orders. The introductory chapter by Kristofer Helgen is about recently extinct marsupials like the thylacine.
Groups covered in this volume are:
  • Tachyglossidae. Two genera and four species.
  • Ornithorhynchidae. One genus and one species.
  • Didelphidae. 18 genera and 103 species.
  • Caenolestidae. Three genera and seven species.
  • Microbiotheriidae. One genus and one species.
  • Notoryctidae. One genus and two species.
  • Myrmecobiidae. One genus and one species.
  • Dasyuridae. 17 genera and 74 species.
  • Thylacomyidae. One genus and one species.
  • Peramelidae. Six genera and 18 species.
  • Phascolarctidae. One genus and one species.
  • Vombatidae. Two genera and three species.
  • Burramyidae. Two genera and five species.
  • Phalangeridae. Six genera and 29 species.
  • Pseudocheiridae. Six genera and 20 species.
  • Petauridae. Three genera and twelve species.
  • Tarsipedidae. One genus and one species.
  • Acrobatidae. Two genera and three species.
  • Hypsiprymnodontidae. One genus and one species.
  • Potoroidae. Three genera and eight species.
  • Macropodidae. 13 genera and 59 species.
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 800 pp.

Volume 6: ''Lagomorphs and Rodents I'' (published in July 2016)

Initially it was intended to publish only one volume on lagomorphs and rodents. But due to the large number of described rodents Lynx Edicions organized a survey from summer to autumn 2015 in which a majority of customers decided in favor of two volumes. The sixth volume is devoted to the lagomorphs and 25 families of rodents, including the hares, pikas, chinchillas, the Laotian rock rat, the capybara, and the diverse group of squirrels. The 60 colour plates are created by Toni Llobet. It covers the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 823 species from 27 families in two orders. It includes a special chapter on the overview of rodents, on morphology, taxonomy, and evolutionary history; why rodents are studied; and tools for studying them. Edited by Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher Jr, and Russell A. Mittermeier.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 988 pp.

Volume 7: ''Rodents II'' (published in December 2017)

The seventh volume is devoted to the nine families of mouse-like rodents, including the true mice, rats, birch mice, tree mice, jerboas, hamsters, and voles. In contrast to other systematics the family Dipodidae was split into Dipodidae, Zapodidae and Sminthidae, a new name proposed for the former subfamily Sicistinae. The 58 colour plates are created by Toni Llobet. It covers the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 1,744 species from 345 genera and 9 families in one suborder. It includes a special chapter entitled Priorities for Conserving the World’s Rodents. Edited by Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher Jr, and Russell A. Mittermeier.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 1008.

Volume 8: ''Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos'' (published in July 2018)

The eighth volume is devoted to the orders Cingulata, Pilosa, Afrosoricida, Macroscelidea, Scandentia, Dermoptera, and Eulipotyphla. The 28 color plates are created by Toni Llobet. There is a special chapter titled Conservation Priorities and Actions for the Orders Cingulata, Pilosa, Afrosoricida, Macroscelidea, Eulipotyphla, Dermoptera, and Scandentia by Rosalind Kennerley, Thomas Lacher, Jr., Victor Mason, Shelby McCay, Nicolette Roach, P. J. Stephenson, Mariella Superina and Richard Young. The most species covered in this volume have various insectivorous diets with the exception of the colugos and sloths that are either frugivorous or folivorous.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 710.

Volume 9: ''Bats'' (published in October 2019)

The ninth volume is devoted to the bats. It covers the details to the taxonomy, range, habitat, reproduction, behaviour, and conservation status of 1401 species from 21 families in the order Chiroptera. Unlike previous volumes, where all the illustrations were created by a single person in each one, the 73 plates of this volume contain illustrations from six artists, namely Ilian Velikov, Blanca Martí de Ahumada, Alex Mascarell Llosa, Faansie Peacock, Jesús Rodríguez-Osorio Martín and Lluís Sogorb.
Groups covered in this volume are:
Other details: Size: 31 × 24 cm. Pages: 1008.

Opinions

The handbook has had a mixed reception. In particular, the taxonomic system that has been used for the prominent family Bovidae is not generally accepted. Heller et al. have argued that the revised bovid species list, which doubled the amount of recognized bovid species, is based only on one primary source. This increase was mainly due to an expanded species concept, not on newly available data sets. For example, the handbook distinguishes 11 species of klipspringer, but the morphological variations within each of these proposed species are often greater than between them. In addition, the taxonomy is criticised as inconsistent, since many taxa, such as the different giraffe forms, are treated as subspecies of a single species, despite the fact that some are clearly distinguishable. Heller et al. warn that taxonomic inflation of species could impede conservation efforts.

Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World Volume 1 and 2

This illustrated checklist incorporates all the species from Handbook of the Mammals of the World, along with updates in taxonomy, conservation status and distribution maps when needed. Each species account is shorter, with the accounts including common names in English, French, German, and Spanish, the IUCN Red List Conservation Category, Taxonomic notes, and a list of recognised subspecies, in a very similar format to HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Split into two volumes, these books contain all known mammal species, split into 27 orders, 167 families, 1,343 genera, 6,554 species, with 104 being extinct and 19 domesticated. They also feature more than 7,250 illustrations, including 800 new ones of primates and more than 100 of other groups. It was published in September 2020.

Volume 1

Volumes 2

All the Mammals of the World

A condensed, single-volume edition of the Handbook series was published in 2023, containing color illustrations, distribution maps, length and mass measurements, IUCN Red List category, and common names for 6581 species, but without the longer text descriptions of the species.