Useful in both developed and developing countries, this book is a comprehensive manual for designing and implementing inventories of mammalian biodiversity anywhere in the world, and for any group, from rodents to open-country grazers. The book emphasizes formal estimation approaches which supply data that can be compared across habitats over time. Beginning with brief natural histories of the twenty-six orders of living mammals, the book describes in successive chapters the field techniques - observation, capture, and sign interpretation - appropriate to different species. The contributors provide guidelines for study design, discuss survey planning and statistical techniques, and outline methods of translating field data into electronic formats. An essential handbook.