This makes all of the "East African Mammals" series of books by Jonathan Kingdon an absolute necessity. The text gives a wonderful insight into the natural history as well as the historical ancestry of the majority of East Africa's wild children.

But even more, it is Mr. Kingdon's exquisite pencil renderings of the individual species as well as the structure of their musculature, that make these books so special.

These musculature drawings, in turn, are further enhanced by deeper dissection-like illustrations revealing the deeper muscle structures responsible for much of the movement and support for the mammal in question. These types of drawings are especially fascinating in this, the Large Mammals volume, wherein the trunk of the elephant and the mouth structure of the hippopotamus are visually dissected to provide a greater insight into these structures, and their performance in the animal.

Also covered in this Large Mammals volume, is the Zebra and the Giraffe. Among the extensive coverage, the zebras' anatomy is not only printed, but it is also illustrated in all its' stripe variations, as well as its' ancestral evolutionary development. Included with the giraffe, we get a look at the muscles, as well as its' coat and how the predator sees - or more correctly - doesn't see its' quarry!

The books in this series are therefore especially indispensable to the Wildlife Restorer (taxidermist) as a guide to anatomy that we rarely get to see "in-the-flesh" as it were.

I can, therefore, wholeheartedly recommend this series of books to anyone who cares enough about their chosen field of art, to pursue all ends to collect as much reference material as possible.

These books are an excellent addition to the wildlife artists' library.