Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets and Highways

by Roger M. Knutson

Book Overview

Are you among the millions of people whose only opportunity to observe wildlife comes after it has been run over and pressed into a patty by big rigs, then desiccated by the elements until even flies... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898151864
• ISBN13: 9780898151862
• Release Date: March 1987
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

good gift

i got this book for my ex-boyfriend (before we broke up). he's a country boy and he loved this book.

Wonderful book.

This is a wonderful book for many reasons. The slam on the snob journals, where they list the camera used (the author studiously lists the photocopier that best took the image) is one of my favorites. True, death isn't funny (or pretty), but hey, it is a jungle out there. If you are kind of a weenie, and can't bear to think of Bambi and Thumper buying it on the freeway, this is not the book for you. But with a title like "Flattened Fauna", why on earth would you consider buying it? This book is a gem in terms of dark humor. If that's your thing, you will enjoy it very much. If you think the world is full of sweet, adorable little animals bucking up on hind legs, talking in helium-altered baby voices, find a more suitable book, possibly in the children's section.

A Realistic Wildlife Viewing Guide

"This is a book about animals that, like the Wicked Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz, are not just merely dead but really most sincerely dead. These are animals in which even flies have lost interest." So begins the introduction to one of the most unusual wildlife guides ever written. The many Rorschach-like, black ink illustrations provide key clues to identifying creatures that, unlike the fabled chicken, failed to make it to the other side of the road. "The toad's tendency to flatten itself against the ground when threatened or afraid produces a uniform road pattern. The illustration is drawn from an actual specimen (male). Females are somewhat larger." "This illustration was drawn from and dead road runner, and is included to show something of the serenity achieved by a few road animals. The frantic pace of constant food-seeking has slowed considerable here. Regardless of traffic speed, the bird is clearly at rest." Flattened Fauna is not a politically incorrect nor frivolous book. This is a legitimate guidebook based upon years of research by the author, who teaches biology at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. It has statistics: "Various historical estimates place the density of flattened animals at from 0.429 to 4.10 animals per mile of prime highway habitat." History: "A reliable 1897 report from North Dakota gives evidence of at least one large snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) flattened under the steel-rimmed wheels of several loaded wagons." And, of course, environmental: "Road carrion is among the major reasons why flesh-eating animals become part of the flattened fauna. Ground squirrels nibble on bats, opossums on ground squirrels, and skunks on opossums, providing a fine two-dimensional example of the balance of nature." The various chapters identify numerous species and habits of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and small mammals. Unlike other guidebooks that focus on habitats where animals live, Roger Knutson takes a different perspective: the habitat where they died. He's not the first to do so, but his humor raises this study out of the dusty bins of academia to make this little book (5 x 8 inches and 80 pages) one that you'll read from cover to cover.

"The" field guide for the naturalist in a hurry

Roger Knutson, a biologist at Luther College, IA, has put together a truly ingenious little book. A guide to the "really most sincerely dead" animals one often sees along streets, roads, and highways. While some may dismiss this book as a parody of other field guides, it is full of accurate, meaningful biological information about animals that frequent roads and roadsides, and that often find themselves smashed into two dimensions.Is this book funny? Yes! Is it a parody on other field guides? Perhaps.So, what is this book about anyway? This is a guide to the animal remains left behind after most carrion feeders and decomposers are done with a dead animal. EEEeeewwwww. OK, OK, perhaps it is a bit grotesque, but there is meaningful biological information to be had there.The book is well written, it is fun, and can be used throughout much of North America. It makes a great gift for the natualist on your gift list. After all, let's face it, most of us spend more time on the road than we do out "in" nature. As a biologist myself, I give this book 5 stars for biological content and for the tongue in cheek approach to this somewhat unsavory topic.Give it a try! Or give it to someone else.

A fairly good reference, and funny!

This book makes a great gift for the person who has everything! It certainly gets people's attention....and actually, you can identify the "flattened fauna" spotted while hiking with this book. I liked it.