The reference edition offered to the reader is not quite usual Its author - Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR - as if turns the pages of the Red Book of the USSR and, in the form of essays with elements of amusement, talks about the life of rare and endangered vertebrates of our country - about their habits, characteristic features, about the danger that threatens them, and measures, accepted for their salvation The text is perfectly complemented by illustrations taken from the Red Book of the USSR.