For a number of reasons, American wildlife seems to get short shrift compared to African wildlife. There are lots of books about conservation of American wildlife, but not much about the animals and plants themselves. Still, I've found a few books about wildlife of the Americas:
| Natural history | Wildlife | History and conservation | America's National Parks |
Natural history of North America
These books discuss the natural history of North America.
AFTER THE ICE AGE: THE RETURN OF LIFE TO GLACIATED NORTH AMERICA
Pielou, E. C.
c.1991, Univ. of Chicago
ISBN: 0-226-66812-6
OUR CONTINENT: A NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA
c.1976, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-153-1
Survey of the history, geology, topography, and wildlife of North America.
These books are about the wildlife of North America -- mainly mammals, but other subjects too.
ELK: BEHAVIOR, ECOLOGY, CONSERVATION
Bauer, Erwin & Peggy
c.1995, Voyageur Press
ISBN: 0-89658-275-2
A detailed look at the elk, how it lives and how it fits into the ecosystems it inhabits. Erwin and Peggy Bauer are highly skilled and experienced wildlife observers and photographers. They've done several of these "ecology and conservation" books: so far, I've seen one each on whitetail deer, elk, and moose.
MOOSE COUNTRY
Runtz, Michael
c.1991, NorthWord Press
ISBN: 1-55971-190-6
A detailed examination of the moose, the giant deer of northern North America.
MULE DEER COUNTRY
Geist, Valerius
c.1990, NorthWord Press
ISBN: 1-55971-209-0
PREDATORS OF NORTH AMERICA
Bauer, Erwin
c.1988, Grolier Books
ISBN: 1-55654-027-2
Comprehensive profiles of major North American predators: cats, dogs, bears, and mustelids. Not as in-depth as books that focus on only one species, but on the other hand it's about the only book I've found that deals with some of the less well known predators, like wolverines and martens.
SURVIVORS IN THE SHADOWS
Turbak, Gary
c.1993, Northland Publishing
ISBN: 0-87358-561-5
WILD ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA
National Geographic Society
c.1960, National Geographic Society
ISBN:
A look at major wildlife of North America, mainly mammals. This is the first edition, published in 1960 before conservation movement really got rolling.
WILD ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA (Revised Ed.)
Various
c.1987, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-700-9
A look at major wildlife of North America. This is the revised edition, published 1987, with more photographs and updated information.
WILD HUNTERS: PREDATORS IN PERIL
Hummel, Pettigrew, Murray
c.1991, Roberts Rinehart
ISBN: 1-879373-27-0
This book talks about the need to preserve North American predator species: bears, wolves, cougars, and wolverines. Published under aegis of the World Wildlife Fund, which is known for being somewhat less than objective. So I take what this book says with a grain of salt, and I check anything it says with other sources.
WILDLIFE IN AMERICA
Matthiessen, Peter
c.1987, Viking Books
ISBN: 0-670-81906-9
History and conservation issues
History and conservation issues in North America after European contact.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LEWIS AND CLARK
Snyder, Gerald S.
c.1970, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-087-X
This book from The National Geographic Society retraces the famous Lewis and Clark expedition and examines the land they traveled through.
JOHN MUIR'S WILD AMERICA
Melham, Tom
c.1976, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-186-8
John Muir was one of the first great American conservationists. This is a look at the wild America he knew, and how it's withstood the test of time.
MIRACLE UNDER THE OAKS: The Revival of Nature in America
Stevens, William
c.1995, Pocket Books
ISBN: 0-671-78042-5
Around 1990, a group of conservationists in northern Illinois decided to try to rescue one of the last traces of an ecosystem called "oak savanna," which once dominated northern Illinois. They started by clearing vacant areas that might be suitable for transplanting oak-savanna plants and trees. Then they started transplanting oak-savanna plants from elsewhere into these pilot tracts. To their surprise, they soon found the pilot tracts being colonized by species of savanna plants that they hadn't transplanted. Somehow, those plants' seeds had survived decades of bad conditions, only to sprout when better conditions appeared. And where the plants went, many species of animals followed. An excellent story of ecological conservation, and how a small group of determined people can make a difference.
National and local parks of North America
These books are about some of the many parks in North America.
AMERICA'S WILD WOODLANDS
NGS
c.1985, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-542-1
AMERICA'S WONDERLANDS: OUR NATIONAL PARKS (3rd ed.)
c.1975, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-004-7
NATIONAL PARKS OF AMERICA
Muench, David & Udall, Stewart
c.1993, Graphic Arts Center
ISBN: 1-55868-124-8
Photo-essays by David Muench on the major national parks of the United States.
THE PLACE NO ONE KNEW: GLEN CANYON ON THE COLORADO
Porter, Eliot
c.1968, Ballantine
ISBN:
A photo-essay about Glen Canyon, one of several stunningly beautiful canyons that were flooded by the damming of the Colorado River in the 1950s. Glen Canyon lies upstream from Grand Canyon. Today it's drowned beneath Lake Powell, the lake created by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam.
WILD LANDS FOR WILDLIFE: AMERICA'S NATIONAL REFUGES
Grove, Noel
c.1984, National Geographic Society
ISBN: 0-87044-482-4
