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Introduction to the 6th German Edition*

Teaching at schools, colleges, and universities often requires quick recourse to comparative
data, whether for working out and presenting certain regularities or for comparing the figures gained from experiment and observation to those of the literature. The tables presented here were compiled to put an end to the time-consuming search for such data.
This compilation is primarily intended for those studying to become teachers and those
already teaching at schools, colleges, and universities, for studies have shown pupils questions are usually morphological in character, involving properties such as body size and
weight. This volume aims to give teachers rapid access to such numbers. Much of the data,
due to its nature, has long been known and is thus found primarily in older literature,
which is not always easy to procure; the most recent of research findings, however, have also been incorporated.
The tables are comparative in character, for only in this way can regularities be recognized.
Use of statistical data has been the exception rather than the rule, since they are often subject to change. The tables cannot be complete and were not intended to be. There was conscious effort to select those organisms native to our geographical region and commonly
found in biology lessons and practical training. Where possible, the data have been supplemented by extreme values, and these have been marked by an exclamation point (!) in the
tables. Furthermore, in this 6th German edition* taking Kunsch/Kunsch: Der Mensch
in Zahlen [Humans in Numbers], 2001 as its model several of the sections are prefaced
by Numbers that Amaze tables in order to attract the readers attention and to induce
him or her to compare and search. Even though these tables, given their specialized topics,
are chiefly aimed at biologists, most of them offer the interested lay reader items of interest.
The majority of the tables require little explanation. For this reason, there was a basic decision to forgo the addition of more detailed elucidating texts. Unless there were reasons to
organize the data according to size or a specific system, the organisms in the tables are listed alphabetically. This is specifically indicated in all tables where this is not the case.
The fact that this book has now gone into its 6th edition and has also appeared in Russian
shows that its guiding conception is basically correct. Nevertheless, inconsistencies have
been eliminated and data updated for each new edition. The 6th edition has once again
been thoroughly revised and expanded.

Ludwigsburg, Germany, Spring 2002

*The basis for the present translation [Translators note]

Rainer Flindt