Platypus, Echidnas, Opossums, Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallabies, and Wombats - Monotremes and marsupials include a host of animals that have intrigued mammal fanciers for centuries. Monotremes are a very distinctive ancient group of mammals with only a handful of extant species in Australia and New Guinea and marsupials, with roots in South America, likely reached Australia via Antarctica some 50 million years ago. With relatives remaining in America, Marsupials have adapted to an amazing diversity of lifestyles and habitats. Volume 5 of HMW provides complete coverage of these two important groups of mammals. Lavishly illustrated with color photographs showing different behaviors of all of them, the text contains the latest up-to-date information on all families of Monotremes and Marsupials, both Australasian and American. This volume also includes a Special Chapter on Extinct Marsupials, by Kristofer Helgen.

Volume 5 includes coverage of:
Family Tachyglossidae (Echidnas)
Family Ornithorhynchidae (Platypus)
Family Didelphidae (Opossums)
Family Caenolestidae (Shrew-opossums)
Family Microbiotheriidae (Monito del Monte)
Family Notoryctidae (Marsupial Moles)
Family Myrmecobiidae (Numbat)
Family Dasyuridae (Carnivorous Marsupials)
Family Thylacomyidae (Bilby)
Family Peramelidae (Bandicoots)
Family Phascolarctidae (Koala)
Family Vombatidae (Wombats)
Family Burramyidae (Pygmy Possums)
Family Phalangeridae (Cuscuses, Brushtail Possums and relatives)
Family Pseudocheiridae (Ring-tailed Possums and Greater Gliders)
Family Petauridae (Striped Possums, Leadbeater's Possum and Lesser Gliders)
Family Tarsipedidae (Honey Possum)
Family Acrobatidae (Feathertail Gliders and Possums)
Family Hypsiprymnodontidae (Rat Kangaroos)
Family Potoroidae (Bettongs and Potoroos)
Family Macropodidae (Kangaroos and Wallabies)

Following in the footsteps of the highly lauded Handbook of the Birds of the World series, the newly announced Handbook of the Mammals of the World is already creating a buzz. To be completed over the next several years in eight volumes, this series is expected to be an extraordinary and unique project, illustrating and describing in detail every mammalian species on the planet.

The pre-order discount term is over, but future volumes will be available at a discount.