Though intended for the layperson rather a hard-core ichnologist, this book is a nifty little tool to carry in the field, to pass the time identifying traces produced by bear, skunk, deer, opossum, beaver or raccoon in any substrate, in summer or in winter. This is also a text in which ichnologists can reevaluate the approach to identification of trace fossils and reconsider who forms the audience ichnologists are trying to reach. Perhaps a lesson can be learned from MTSN because the audience Gibbons will reach includes anyone interested in learning about mammals and tracking in general. As ichnologists our audience should be every discipline outside our own, encouraging others to use ichnology to understand better paleoenvironments, paleoecological relationships, or paleohydrologic and paleoclimatic settings in which trace fossils were constructed.
Diane K. Gibbons
Diane K. Gibbons is an accomplished naturalist and illustrator and has spent over twelve years studying wildlife tracking with some of the best trackers in the United States. She has a Masters of Science in Environmental Biology from Antioch New England Graduate School. Diane leads workshops in tracking, wilderness skills and nature awareness, and lives in southern New Hampshire with her husband Paul and their four dogs.
