Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, And Highways | 
| Author: Roger M. Knutson
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $0.96
You Save: $8.99 (90%)
New (33) Used (14) from $0.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 228447
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 92
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 4.6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1580087558
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.973
EAN: 9781580087551
ASIN: 1580087558
Publication Date: August 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: New, unread, unused and in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages, may have a remainder mark.
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Book Description
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 don't recognize it? This is the field guide for you! FLATTENED FAUNA fills an important gap in our natural history knowledge and fosters a heightened respect for the ecology of the paved environment.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 good gift June 14, 2008
i got this book for my ex-boyfriend (before we broke up). he's a country boy and he loved this book.
 not worth it January 12, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this book for my son, who drives alot as a pizza delivery guy. I don't recall the price, but it is a very thin book, and not worth whatever I paid. it is funny though, and an unusual subject....
Wonderful book. October 13, 2005
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
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.
Handy-Dandy Guide September 30, 2005
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Life in suburbia is grand. When my daughter was 4, my wife ran over a squirrel and started crying over is as my daughter said, "He must have been in an awful hurry to see his family." Although I'm fortunate enough to live close enough to protected open space for our street to play host to a family or two of deer, road kill is about the closest I come to seeing anything beyond a momentary "Something wild ran by," so this comes in handy. There's a lot of raodkill in various shapes, and after three days, about the only way you're going to be able to figure out what it once was is this guide.
 A Realistic Wildlife Viewing Guide February 12, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
"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.
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