The food chain’s a great place to be if you’re at the top. Most of us mammals are not so fortunate. That situation can make for a wary existence, avoiding predators while searching for producers or prey. This reality may also explain why observing and studying mammals is no mean feat. Many are nocturnal, solitary, or elusive. Others can only be observed in remote or difficult-to-access habitats.

San Diego County’s reputation for habitat and biological diversity is no secret. This southwestern corner of the United States has more biodiversity than any other county in the country and, with the rest of California, ranks as one of the top ten biodiversity regions on earth.

Seventeen years ago, the San Diego Natural History Museum (NAT) began the daunting task of researching and cataloging all of the county’s mammals. Over the years, the NAT collaborated with more than 45 biologists to do just that. The result was worth the wait. The carefully

crafted and beautifully illustrated San Diego County Mammal Atlas is the definitive guide to the   91 terrestrial and 31 marine mammals found here.

No one is better equipped to introduce the Atlas and its warm-blooded wildlife than lead editor and museum mammalogist Scott Tremor. Join Scott as he introduces us to our wild neighbors, new and familiar. Gain an appreciation that only comes from understanding. While many of us have been looking at birds, the mammals have been looking at us.

It’s time we took notice.