GENIUS NOSES

A prodigious portrait gallery of prominent proboscises.

Digging deeply into the world’s wild animal populations, Konstantinov picks a plethora of notable noses to depict in face-forward postures, from members of the elephant and pig families on down to elephant seals, anteaters, star-nosed moles and molelike desmans, shrews and their cousins, aptly named Pinocchio frogs of New Guinea, Madagascar leaf-nosed snakes, and snout beetles. Not to mention, of course, koalas, tapirs, and male proboscis monkeys with their “giant schnozzles.” Along with both common and scientific identification labels Anlauf provides notes on each creature’s geographical distribution and whether it is macrosmatic (meaning its sense of smell is how it makes its way through the world) or microsmatic (its sense of smell is secondary to other senses)…even when, as with insects, the “nose” isn’t what does the smelling. She also highlights each schnoz’s distinctive feature or structure, such as the ratlike Solenodon’s ball-and-socket joint or the unusual way the star-nosed mole detects underwater odors. Translated from German, the entries are arranged loosely (“flying creatures,” “ground-dwellers,” “water creatures,” etc.); there’s an index by species name, a graphic size chart at the end, and a world map modeled after the AuthaGraph map, showing all the continents at their relative actual sizes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

On the nose for young naturalists.