In my Africa: a guide to reference material (London, Hans Zell, 1993), works relating to the biological sciences were deliberately excluded. In order to fill a part of this gap, I am hoping to produce a series of lists of major reference sources relating to African flora and fauna. The first listing was concerned with sources relating to the birds of Africa (see ARD, 75, 1997, 12-38); the present article covers African mammals.

In the zoological context, ‘reference material’ is defined as works which can be used to identify mammal species and their distribution within Africa, and to find information on their habits and behaviour. The major categories are:

Taxonomic checklists which attempt to establish complete listings of scientific and popular names for all species known to have occurred within a particular region (zoogeographical, regional, national, a particular game park, etc.).