Vladimir and Yuri Smirin - well known wildlife artists as well as biologists - travelled extensively through the former Soviet Union on their expeditions studying mammals. The chapters are grouped according to the habitats visited - desert, mountains, coast, steppe and forest - and describe the authors' observations of seals, Arctic foxes, jeyrans, ibex, chamois, elk (at an elk farm), gorals, pikas, great gerbils, burunduks, and several other small mammals.