The list of native mammals of the New Zealand Region (including a slice of Antarctica) is completely different from that of any other country in the world. There are no indigenous four-legged land mammals at all. Instead, there are just two living bats of unique and ancient descent, plus 57 species of seals, dolphins and whales.

New Zealand's Native Mammals describes this vast array, and celebrates their extraordinary history and diversity; their influence on Maori culture; their ruthless exploitation by 19th century sealers and whalers; and their contemporary recovery. Professor Carolyn King explains how long isolation in a remote corner of the prehuman South Pacific has nurtured the evolution of a native mammal fauna like no other.