A field guide to the Larger Mammals of South America by Richard Webb and Jeff Blincow, 2024. Production and design by WILDGuides, Hampshire UK. Published by Princeton University Press, New Jersey USA and Oxfordshire UK. ISBN: 978-0-691-17409-9. Flexicover. £42.00/$49.95. 488 Pages.
Review by Frank Lambert
This is a very welcome and long overdue field guide. Incorporating the latest taxonomy and illustrated with good quality photos or paintings as well as accurate species distribution maps, this excellent guide describes more than 420 species of 'larger' mammal that occur in the vast (almost 18 million km2) subcontinent of South America.
All mammals larger than guinea pigs are featured, but not bats, nor cetaceans, since they are essentially pelagic marine species. River and estuarine dolphins, seals and manatees are, however, included. Whilst a little bulky to easily carry around, this guide will fit into any daypack, and will no doubt become the go-to field guide for anyone who wants to identify the trickier larger mammals that they encounter, for example, in the Amazon, the Andes or the Pantanal.
Having spent many years living and birding in South America, from Tierra del Fuego to the Guajira peninsular in Colombia and northern Guyana, I have encountered a lot of South American mammals. A good proportion of those I saw, however, were never identified, even though I usually had Neotropical Rainforest Mammals (1990) on hand. One of the reasons is, of course, that many mammals are extremely shy, typically giving only brief views, but another is that Louise Emmons's field guide, whilst easy to carry around, is not particularly user-friendly.
Now of course, it is very much out of date, not only in terms of taxonomy and distribution but also in many aspects of the biology of the species' involved. Nevertheless, her book was undoubtedly the best field guide available during those times, and is still useful for smaller mammals and bats.
Having worked alongside Louise whilst doing research at Danum Valley in Borneo, I can certainly vouch for not only her enthusiasm and attention to detail, but also to her field skills, which no doubt contributed to the quality of her field guide. She is one of very few professional mammologists I've met who not only carried good quality binoculars everywhere, but also pursued every mammal she could, not just her research subjects. The authors' of Larger Mammals of South America are also both extremely active in their pursuit of Neotropical mammals, which is clearly reflected throughout the field guide.
Unlike the Neotropical Rainforest Mammals field guide this new guide covers the larger mammals found in every habitat in South America. (Vicuna in the Puna of northern Argentina © Frank Lambert)
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When I photographed this howler monkey above my tent at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in a remote part of Manu National Park, Peru, in 2007, it was simply a Red Howler Monkey Alouatta seniculus. Richard Webb and Jeff Blincow, however, inform me that with a revison of the taxonomy of this species, this is now a Purús Red Howler A. puruensis (although the place I saw it is not quite within the distribution that is mapped in the new field guide © Frank Lambert).
The majority of the mammals included in Larger Mammals of South America are endemic to the subcontinent, and of the 420 species covered, a staggering 184 are primates. In contrast, Neotropical Rainforest Mammals includes only 49 primate species, providing an illustration of just how much taxonomy has changed in the 34 years between publication dates of these two guides. Mammal taxonomy is presently going through numerous revisions, and at least 70 were described during the period during this guide was being prepared.
The guide begins with a short introduction that explains the taxonomy followed, which is largely based on the online IUCN Red List (year not stated), but with some revisions based on the Mammal Diversity Database. For primates, the taxonomy differs somewhat since it follows that adopted by the IUCN Primate Specialist Group. Throughout the book, deviations in taxonomy is briefly discussed at the beginning of each section on a particular mammal group, and differences in taxonomy that are recognised in the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (2020) are also mentioned here. Of course this section of the book also provides information on how to use the book, and defines the all-important measurements that are provided for each species.
For me, one of the most useful part of the introduction are the four excellent maps that are provided. These show the topography using a satellite image, the terrestrial ecosystems, country borders and main towns, and finally, perhaps the most useful, the location of all the main rivers. I wish that such maps were present in more field guides. The many bird field guides that I own rarely have such useful maps!
One of the four maps in the introduction, this one showing the 17 key terrestrial ecosystems that strongly influence species distribution.
The bulk of this field guide, (473 pages) is devoted to the species accounts. For nearly every species, there is a description of key features and information on subspecies, comparisons with similar species that overlap in range, details of the habitats in which the species occurs, a summary of its distribution in South America and information on its conservation status. Each species is illustrated with carefully selected photos, or artwork where suitable photos were not available. The only exceptions to this are the guinea pigs and cavies, for which there is no identification text or maps, and only 6 of 16 species have a photo.
Of the 22 recognised species of armadillo occurring in South America, Giant Armadillo is one of the easiest to identify. ( Video grab, Cristalino Lodge, N Mato Grosso, Brazil, 2004 © Frank Lambert).
For each distinctive grouping of mammals, there is a useful introductory section, varying in length and composition, which basically helps the user by providing an outline of what features are important to look for, and an overview of basic biological facts, including diet and social behaviour. For more complicated groups, such as titi monkeys, there is usually additional information on taxonomic issues, and sets of paintings to show taxa side by side.
The titi monkeys are one of the largest groups of mammal in South America, with 35 species recognised and illustrated in this field guide. Many of them have tiny ranges. In Amazonia, it is not unusual to find one species on one side of a major river, but a completely different looking species on the other.
With the exception of the guinea pigs and cavies, each species has a page of succinct text, that includes a colour distribution map and where available, a good quality photo (note that many cavies can only be identified by their dentition). The majority of these photos have never appeared in print before. For some species there are a couple of photos, but the standard species account just includes one. Where no photos were available to use, the species account uses a painting by Tomasz Cofta. These paintings are overall very pleasing and carefully designed to show the key identification features. Whilst most photos are of excellent quality, especially given how difficult it can be to take photos of shy, often nocturnal or crepuscular species, there are a few species for which I imagine much better pictures are available, such as Coypu.
Altogether the guide includes 563 photos by 230 photographers, which I know from my own experience, must have required an incredible amount of dedication, time and frustration to assemble and curate.
A typical species account from the guide
With the exception of the four species of river dolphin, cetaceans are not included in the book for obvious reasons. They are pelagic species for which there are already good field guides. There is, however, a list of all the cetaceans so far recorded from the region. For seals, however, not only are the species that are regularly found around the coastline of South America included, but also six species that occasionally turn up as 'vagrants', out of their normal range.
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South American Sea Lion, Pucusana Peru (© Frank Lambert)
The last part of the species accounts covers the larger mammals that have been introduced in parts of South America, some of which have become remarkably common where they occur. Most of these introduced species are found in Argentina and Chile. They include European Rabbit, European Hare, Wild Boar, North American Beaver, Common Muskrat, American Mink, five species of deer and three bovids. There is also a section on domestic animals, these being Llama, Alpaca and Domestic Water Buffalo.
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Blackbuck, native to the Indian subcontinent, is one of the three bovids that have been introduced to Argentina, with an estimated population of 10,000 in La Pampa Province (herd in India © Frank Lambert)
At the rear of the book we find a useful Glossary of terms used, which includes many terms included in the text that users may not be familiar with, such as prehensile, llanos, páramo, or cabruca. There are also six pages of key references that were used frequently in preparing the book, and a well designed, user-friendly Index.
Wild mammals often become tame around forest lodges, including surprising species such as this Lowland Tapir in Brazil (photo © Frank Lambert)
Mammals not included in this guide, include the many species of small rodents that occur in South America, and bats. To have included them would have not only have delayed publication of the guide by at least five years, but would have required a much larger guide. As it is, this book is already on the large size for a field guide, perhaps unnecessarily so, but some bird guides that cover just a single South American country are larger and heavier.
For now, probably the best way to identify any bats that you manage to photograph is to use iNaturalist or another App. Whilst not always providing a correct identification, there is a good chance that someone with expertise will eventually help identify photos that are uploaded. (Mato Grosso Dog-faced Bat Molossops mattogrossensis, Cristalino Lodge, June 2004 © Frank Lambert)
As with any recent field guide or family monograph to mammals, birds or indeed almost any group of animals or plants, the taxonomy is changing at an incredible pace due to advances in molecular biology techniques and genetic studies. As a result, it is virtually impossible to please everyone with the taxonomy used. This guide does however, provide the user with other taxonomic treatments in the taxonomic sections provided at the beginning of each section, so users know which taxa are of interest in terms of potential future splits. Hence in the section on armadillos, the potential split of Cerrado Naked-tailed Armadillo from Southern Naked-tailed Armadillo is highlighted.
One thing that authors' can't do, however, is to predict future taxonomy. Hence any new species described since the cut off point for writing will obviously not appear in the book. As of July 2024, two new species of larger mammal have been described in South America, one of which is another species of Nine-banded Armadillo and another is a newly recognised Pudu in Peru.
Guianan Long-nosed Armadillo Dasypus guianensis is the first armadillo described in the last 30 years, whilst Peruvian Yungas Pudu Pudella carlaeis
the first new deer species found in South America for over 60 years
were both described in 2024.
Larger Mammals of South America is a landmark field guide, being the only guide that covers all of the larger species occurring on the entire subcontinent. Richard Webb and Jeff Blincow have produced an excellent book that will be welcomed by both professional mammologists and by the rapidly increasing number of naturalists whose passion it is to see mammals. This guide will not only help naturalists , birders and ecotourists to identify the mammals that they see on this remarkable subcontinent, but will also assist mammal watching enthusiasts to plan their next trip.
