From the African long-tongued fruit bat to the wrinkle-faced bat of Mexico and Central America, Walker's Bats of the World is an astonishingly complete guide to this fascinating, beneficial, and varied order of mammals. It includes scientific and common names, as well as the number and distribution of species, measurements and physical traits, habitat, daily and seasonal activity, population dynamics, home range, social life, reproduction, and longevity. Textual summaries present accurate, well-documented descriptions of the physical characteristics and living habits of bats in every part of the world. Endangered species and those having singular economic importance are given particular attention. Through five highly praised editions Walker's Mammals of the World has remained the most comprehensive-the preeminent-reference work on mammals. Now for the first time a single large segment of that encyclopedic work-the section on Chiroptera, or bats-is available in paperback as a separate volume. Lavishly illustrated with pictures by noted wildlife photographers, the book includes photographs of many rarely seen bats. As in the complete Walker's Mammals, most photographic illustrations depictlive animals rather than skins or skeletons. Since publication of the first edition in 1964, Walker's Mammals of the World has become a favorite guide to the natural world for general readers and an invaluable reference for professionals. Now Walker's Bats makes a significant portion of that work accessible to a new audience

Ernest P. Walker (1891-1969) began work on Mammals of the World in the early 1930s, when he became assistant director of the National Zoo in Washington.

Ronald M. Nowak is the author of the fourth and fifth editions of Walker's Mammals of the World. His other works on mammalogy include North American Quaternary Canis and several parts of the National Geographic Society's Wild Animals of North America, for which he also was editorial consultant. He received a doctorate in biology from the University of Kansas in 1973 and has worked as a mammalogist ever since. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia.