Hawkey's Atlas of Wild and Exotic Animal Haematology

Jaime Samour and Mike Hart
CRC Press, £78.00

This beautiful and wide-ranging 'atlas of wild and exotic animal haematology' is a brilliant resource for veterinary students, veterinary surgeons and any zoologist who may need to study samples of blood from a wide range of wild or zoo animals. Full of clear and clearly-described images of blood cells, advice is given on the best ways to sample various animals’ blood, plus there is information on how samples should be prepared, with points of note including potential difficulties to avoid.

The authors have built on earlier work, A Colour Atlas of Comparative Veterinary Haematology by Christine Hawkey, to further extend the scope. The authors’ passion for their subject is clear from the introductory chapters and the attention to detail and clarity throughout.

The early chapters contain information about the history of haematology, the invention of the microscope; and blood sampling from small and large mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates (including from two rather large spiders, shown in photos). It gives details of normal and abnormal red blood cells’ appearances, including relative sizes of cells for different species and an explanation of why there is a difference. There is also a chapter on blood parasites that affect wild and exotic species.

This is an interesting read as well as a useful resource, containing a multitude of clear photographs of microscope images.

Dr Amanda Hardy MRSB