Endangered Species Books

this book is beautiful and impressive in every way.
It inspires me to protect the planet and all its creatures.

Like most people I purchased this book to use as a coffee table book. Although this book does have some nice images in it. It does not have the wow factor that you would normally expect from a good coffee table book. I would suggest purchasing Ocean by Robert Dinwiddie. (ISBN 0756622050). That book is 1000 times better (in content, pictures, and volume of material), and will keep you entertained much longer.

The northwest Hawaiian islands, stretching all the way to Midway are rarely visited because of their remoteness and fragility. This beautiful book gives a comprehensive tour of the area. The coffee table format allows the strange lands and creatures to be seen at their best. The authors' skill and dedication to their topic shows clearly in both photos and text. Recommended for all nature lovers.

I've lived in Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, where many of these photos were taken, for several months while working as a marine ecologist, so I've seen a large portion of these organisms, marine and terrestrial. Yet, despite the thousands of hours I've spent in the water there, Middleton and Liittschwager managed to find and photograph many organisms I've never seen before. Their photographs are unique because they mostly have a white background, so the organism is more starkly highlighted. Personally and as a marine ecologist, I think it's important to see the habitat and the other organisms that the organism may interact with, plus it's more interesting; however, that is what most fish or invertebrate books do and what any person with a camera or dive camera can do - Middleton and Liittschwager's technique is unique, much more difficult to accomplish, and therefore very special. Definitely a gorgeous book to keep on your coffee table - and a great way to see the organisms of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. One of my favorites is the group of images of one albatross growing up - from an egg to looking like an adult - I've always wanted to do that myself. This book will especially be a treasure for those lucky few who will visit Midway in the coming years as the new visitor program begins. I highly recommend it for those who have seen the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and those who haven't but want to.

Secondly, somehow this book was not packed very well. Others before me have commented on this, and I agree. I've ordered lots of things from Amazon and never seen this before; however, for an expensive book with glossy covers that you don't want to get scratched, it really wasn't packed very well. However, my copy was not damaged in any way, so no worries. I just think Amazon should talk to whoever is packing these books!!

Like the other reviewer, my book was improperly shipped, this time in a box too large so it sloshed around on its journey, getting dinged in the process.

However, the book itself is magnificent. It is a gorgeous, comprehensive collection of images detailing the flora and fauna of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. This thriving Archipelago is beautiful in every sense of the word, and the intimate portraits that Middleton and LIttschwager have painstakenly produced of these creatures are superb. This is a jewel of a book, for photographic as well as conservationist reasons.

I have read all of these books in order. I was lucky enough to discover Jessica Speart when the first book first came out. I have seen the growth of this person and almost feel like I know her. Some people feel that her character is unrealistic... I for one do not because it is has so many things that my own life does.
Her friends are an eclectic collection of misfits much like my own. Rachel Porter is gutsy and gritty but also very real. I feel this is one of the best books in the series because it takes us to a greater depth of the side characters. I must say though, without giving anything away, the end caused me some remorse

I have read all of Jessica Speart's Rachel Porter series and have to say each one is better than the last - if that's possible! I love all of the characters: Rachel; her boss, Charlie; her friend, Terri. Speart's writing is very descriptive and I find myself totally immersed into the story, as if I were a spirit on Rachel's shoulders, experiencing each moment with her. I tend to be a "cozy" mystery person, but Speart's books are one of the few exceptions I make. "Black Delta Night" was an absolutely fantastic book delving into the black market caviar industry. It's a must-read for anyone who enjoys good mysteries.

In case you are a fan of Nevada Barr (like me) it may be helpful to know that I also enjoy this author. The main character is a bit pluckier than Anna Pigeon and the writing style is lighter and more humorous. Overall, I agree with Barr's quote. Speart breathes a different kind of life into environmental themed mysteries. Another good environmental mystery writer to check out is Skye Katherine Moody.

While not as well written as the Anna Pigeon series, Rachel Porter more than makes up for it with her bizarre friends. Her landlord the gay ex-wrestler, gourmet cook Vinnie, her transvestite doggie yamulke designing friend are only two of a cast of way out characters. In this novel Rachel stumbles onto an illegal paddlefish roe business, run by an overweight Russian mafiosi who thinks he's Elvis. But this is only a side line for him, his real business is the white slave trade.

This is an entertaining and highly unrealistic novel. Good for an escape and alot of fun.

As the author of a mystery novel in its initial release, I find the works of Jessica Speart most enjoyable. In this fresh Rachel Porter mystery, Ms. Speart has her lovely and wild protagonist transferred to Elvis Country, where her superiors expect her to stay out of trouble because no trouble ever happens along this Tennessee/Kentucky portion of the Delta. Oops, that transfer proves to be a mistake. Rachel discovers a poaching operation backed by the Russian Mafia. Her discovery leads to murder, and we all know who plans to solve the murder. In BLACK DELTA NIGHT, Rachel is in top form, as is Jessica Speart's writing. We have a terrific book here.

THIS IS THE BEST TIGER BOOK I'VE EVER READ(so far)! The photos are classic, the information is great, and you can most certainly tell that the writers and photographers put a ton or two of effort into it. If you like tigers(like many do)I suggest you buy this book. Oh and tigers come only a couple of inches away from being tied on my love scale with my favorite animal, the lion, so it makes this book all the better! Anyway, I love it to pieces, and you will too! Get it while it's fresh, off this site, or in any book or nature store!

"Is the tiger a lost cause, or is there some reason of hope?" K.Ullas Karanth, one of India's best known tiger specialists asks and then goes on to convincingly make a case for tiger conservation and why he believes that wild tigers can survive. A conservation Zoologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the author has studied wild tiger for over 15 years.

In The Way of the Tigers, the author emphasizes why scientific studies are essential for the process of tiger conservation. The book is informative and takes the reader into the world of tigers. Karanth discusses the rationale behind saving tigers and why the primary challenge before us today is to channel the human fascination for the tiger to positive conservation action.

Karanth looks at the methods and results of scientific work such as radio-tracking and other methods used to count wild tigers. He also explains the evolution of tigers, their distribution and how humans have interacted with tigers since prehistoric times. He gives you an overview of the natural habitats, prey species, and behavior and biological needs of tigers and also delves into how modern science has helped replace traditional myths on tigers. The book also discusses the reasons why tiger populations are in decline-the main socio-economic threats to the tiger - habitat destruction for agriculture, development projects, exploitation of forest produce and hunting and poaching.

He summarizes conservation movement in India and efforts made so far to save the tiger providing a compelling and optimistic raison d'etre on why he believes that the tiger can be saved. He states that "wild tigers can survive the 21st century if we can temper our compassion for the animal with knowledge and pragmatism". An interesting and enlightening book on the crucial issue of tiger conservation.

"Is the tiger a lost cause, or is there some reason of hope?" K.Ullas Karanth, one of India's best known tiger specialists asks and then goes on to convincingly make a case for tiger conservation and why he believes that wild tigers can survive. A conservation Zoologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the author has studied wild tiger for over 15 years.

In The Way of the Tigers, the author emphasizes why scientific studies are essential for the process of tiger conservation. The book is informative and takes the reader into the world of tigers. Karanth discusses the rationale behind saving tigers and why the primary challenge before us today is to channel the human fascination for the tiger to positive conservation action.

Karanth looks at the methods and results of scientific work such as radio-tracking and other methods used to count wild tigers. He also explains the evolution of tigers, their distribution and how humans have interacted with tigers since prehistoric times. He gives you an overview of the natural habitats, prey species, and behavior and biological needs of tigers and also delves into how modern science has helped replace traditional myths on tigers. The book also discusses the reasons why tiger populations are in decline-the main socio-economic threats to the tiger - habitat destruction for agriculture, development projects, exploitation of forest produce and hunting and poaching.

He summarizes conservation movement in India and efforts made so far to save the tiger providing a compelling and optimistic raison d'etre on why he believes that the tiger can be saved. He states that "wild tigers can survive the 21st century if we can temper our compassion for the animal with knowledge and pragmatism". An interesting and enlightening book on the crucial issue of tiger conservation.

Of the making of coffee-table books about tigers there seems to be no end. Text traditionally hasn't mattered much; tigers are so alluring that most book buyers are content just to gaze at pictures of them.

The Way of the Tigers is different. Author K.Ullas Karanth is a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist and perhaps India's leading authority on tigers. Karanth explains what is- and is not true about these secretive big cats to which he has devoted the past 21 years. He outlines as well what will be asked of all of us if tigers are not to disappear from the wild.

The latest information is here, from tiger genetics to the little understood but indispensable role basic biology must play in the future if the success or failure of tiger management is to be assessed. The author has little patience with romantics who insist that tigers and a growing human population can harmoniously share the same shrinking forests. If tigers are to survive, he believes, the course is clear: "establishing protected reserves and buffering them with compatible land use; delinking tiger habitats from the forces of market-driven commerce; (and) enlisting sufficient public support for tigers both locally and globally to ensure these goals are met". Everyone, everywhere, he writes, can find a part to play in that effort.

Meanwhile he urges us to resist the pessimism that can be fatal to the cause. Things looked bad for the tiger in the 1970s, too, Karanth reminds us. But in India, at least, thanks to political will, private resolve, and the commitment of a handful of forest officials, the tiger's slide toward extinction was halted-even reversed for a time. "If wild tigers do not survive the twenty-first century", the author concludes, "it will largely be because we, the current crop of tiger conservationists, have lost this sense of purpose, clarity of thinking, and sense of hope. By failing to inspire the next generation....the present day doomsayers may be making self fulfilling prophesies".

Dr. Ullas Karanth is one of the most respected conservation biologists working to save the tiger from extinction in the wild. In this book, Dr. Karanth presents interesting information regarding the tiger's place in ancient culture, its biology, evolution and behavior. The book ends with the best discussion I have ever seen on the past and future of tiger conservation throughout the world, particularly in India and Nepal which contain most of the world's tigers in the wild.

The book is written with a view towards educating the INTELLIGENT layman about the main threats to tigers and the methods of tiger conservation. The text is not watered down for the benefit of those who merely wish to have a book that looks pretty; however, it is a pleasure to read, since Dr. Karanth's clarity of thought and writing are apparent throughout.

The author summarizes the research of other biologists (Drs. George Schaller, John Seidensticker, Mel Sunquist) and presents his own work on the monitoring of tigers and their prey. One learns how the densities of the tiger's ungulate prey species in a given area can be estimated. Since tiger numbers are positively correlated with the numbers of the cat's ungulate prey, this provides biologists with methods of estimating the number of tigers in a given area. For accurate counts, the author proposes the use of remote cameras to photograph tigers, which can be uniquely identified by their stripe markings. This "camera trapping" approach, as it is called, can be combined with powerful statistical methods to estimate the proportion of tigers in the population that were actually captured by the cameras, thus giving a total count of tigers in the sampled area.

Fascinating glimpses of tiger behavior are presented through the results of fieldwork in the Kanha and Nagarahole National Parks (India) and Chitwan National Park (Nepal) by the eminent scientists mentioned above. Much of what is known to science regarding tiger behavior and ecology is the result of these systematic studies. The methods and goals of modern field biology are carefully distinguished from the subjective impressions recorded by hunter-naturalists in the first half of the last century.

In an age when the media is choked with enormous amounts of misleading information, it is refreshing to find a book that gives sound scientific information in a clear and precise fashion. Dr. Karanth points out, for example, that while the much - publicized poaching of tigers for body parts is undoubtedly harmful, the poaching of the tiger's ungulate prey is likely to be equally, or more, disastrous. An especially attractive feature of the book is the pains the author takes to refute age-old and popular myths about tigers. For example, many people believe that white tigers are a separate race that need to be conserved (they are merely genetic mutants), or that keeping tigers in captivity by private citizens somehow contributes to tiger conservation (this is a colossal delusion).

As another reviewer notes, Dr. Karanth's criticism of the concept of 'sustainable use' of tiger habitats by humans is interesting. This fashionable concept, so dear to social activists who know little and care less about tiger conservation, cannot be applied to tiger range countries like India. This is because the number of potential consumers of products from tiger habitats is out of all proportion to the available resource base. Sacrificing, on the altar of 'sustainable use', the few protected areas where breeding tigresses still thrive can only spell doom for the species.

Dr. Karanth ends the book on an optimistic note: given the tiger's history of survival under extremely adverse conditions, there is a hope for this magnificent King of Cats if rational action, based on sound science, is applied to tiger conservation. The deep sense of hopelessness about the fate of wild tigers that one often comes across in the media is useless at best and counter-productive at worst. The first thing that concerned people should do if their efforts are not to be downright harmful to the survival prospects of tigers is to get informed before intervening. This book is a splendid attempt to provide such information.

This is one of the most informative and complex book I have read about Elephants so far, and I've read a lot! It is an easy read, which is great for all the info that's inside.

This is for people who are interested in learning a bit more about the history of the elephants and how and when it all started that humans used these majestic animals for wars and started hunting them for ivory.

The book ends with some wonderful thoughts about the future co-existence between humans and elephants and what's at stake.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the fate of endangered wildlife, not just elephants. And to anyone interested in Africa, for it is the story of much more than the elephant. Meredith has written a beautiful, captivating, and often heartbreaking and enraging account of the African elephant's encounter with mankind, and how the species has suffered from man's insatiable greed, in particular for the ivory of this beautiful animal. There is also an excellent account of efforts to reverse the catastrophic decline in the African elephant population, due to the ivory trade.

As readable as a fine novel, this book also offers a great introduction to the unique nature of the elephant--the largest land mammal, and yet one of the most intelligent, sensitive, and emotional. If you do not know much about elephants, you will never look at an elephant the same way again.

As other reviewers have pointed out, most of this book is not about the elephants themselves. I knew this going in, but as I enjoyed looking at history from the perspective of salt (Mark Kurlansky, "Salt"), I was hoping I would enjoy "Elephant Destiny" more than I did. The chapters on the elephants are toward the end (chapters 18-22), and are fascinating: it would be hard for them not to be, the social life of elephants is so interesting. For those of you who are not going to read this book, or parts of it, the two main researchers into elephant behavior are apparently Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole, and Katy Payne has a book on elephant communication. Meredith mentions elephants swimming across rivers. Fossils of pygmy elephants have been found on some Asian islands, and it is speculated their ancestors actually swam to the islands.

_Elephant Destiny_ by Martin Meredith is a well-written and fast-reading account of the human and natural history of the African elephant. Roughly two-thirds of the book is an account of human interaction with this species, what impact it has had on art, culture, and its uses in human warfare, its role in providing an impetus to the exploration of Africa and most importantly of all the ivory trade. The other third provides interesting information on its biology, particularly its behavior and interaction within elephant herds.

Elephants were long sought after by various ancient civilizations. As early as 3000 BC the Egyptians had developed different hieroglyphs to distinguish between wild elephants and trained ones, and when elephants disappeared from Egypt they organized a number of expeditions southwards to Nubia and beyond (the land they called Punt) in large part to acquire ivory, which was used in everything from combs to gaming boards to especially goods to fill the graves of the pharaohs. In ancient Israel ivory was so revered that in 1000 BC King Solomon ordered the construction of a great ivory throne, overlaid with gold. The Greeks in the fifth century BC even developed a type of statuary known as chryselephantine in which ivory represented the flesh of a figure while gold stood in for clothing and hair. To help fill the insistent Greek demand for ivory local specialized Ethiopian elephant fighters known as Elephantomachoi arose. Two rival dynasties arising from the death of Alexander the Great both used war elephants, though while the Seleucids were able to obtain new elephants from India, the Ptolomies had to undertaken epic supply trips to get African elephants. Later the Carthaginians, particularly under Hannibal, were big advocates of war elephants, something that was at first successful against their Roman adversaries but later was countered by new Roman tactics. Though the Romans did not use African elephants in warfare they were fond of their use in entertainment, either trained elephants to be put on display or combatants to fight other animals or gladiators. The Romans also had an insatiable demand for ivory, particularly as insignia of office, to decorate temples and palaces, and in a wide range of luxury goods.

Much of the human history portions of the book are accounts of the discovery of new elephant herds in different parts of Africa, of how perhaps the natives did not know the value in overseas markets of the ivory in their vast elephant herds, and the "ivory rushes" that occurred as European and Arab hunters, traders, and others flooded in to take advantage of the new resource, be it the veldt of southern Africa, the jungles of Central Africa, or the game plains of East Africa. Though well-written and one cannot discount the bravery of many of the ivory hunters (Meredith provided many contemporary, first-hand accounts of the great difficulty in hunting elephants, often on foot as horses could not survive in much of Africa), it was somewhat depressing to see such magnificent animals suffer (even some of the hunters seem to realize this, if only for a moment) as well as to see the many associated unsavory aspects of the ivory trade. One observer, a British mariner by the name of Alfred Swann, wrote after encountering a huge caravan of slaves bearing ivory "Ivory! Always ivory! What a curse the elephant has been to Africans! By himself the slave did not pay to transport but plus ivory he was a paying game!" Sometimes it seems the slave trade would not have existed had there been no ivory in the region, slaves were often used primarily to transport ivory from the interior to the coast, and even in areas where the Africans were not enslaved any ivory they possessed was outright stolen and they were often forced to fulfill quotas of ivory (and punished severely if they failed).

Nevertheless the European, Arab, and Asian demand for ivory was impossible to satisfy. African ivory was prized above Indian ivory, as it was finer-grained, richer in tone, and larger. East African ivory was known as "soft" ivory and was white, opaque, gently curved, smooth, and easy to work. West African ivory was "hard" ivory and was less intensely white but glossier and more translucent. As Europe and the United States entered the industrial revolution not only did rising prosperity increase demand for such items as ivory combs, cutlery handles, and ornaments, the invention of new machinery made possible completely new mass-produced products such as piano keys and billiard balls (both required vast amounts of ivory, as each keyboard needed a pound and a half of ivory while billiard balls, in order for them to roll properly, had to be cut from the dead center of the tusk and thus a tusk could produce at most five balls). No other material responded so well to the industrial machinery of the Victorian era, as ivory could easily be cut, sawed, or etched, was quite flexible, and could be sliced into transparent paper-thin sheets; "[i]vory was in many ways the plastic of the era." Even shavings and scraps were used; boiled down to make gelatin, burned to make Indian ink, or used in fertilizer and in hair dye.

Of course the entire book is not just the ivory trade. Surprisingly the first scientific African elephant dissection did not occur until the 1940s! There was so little research on the species that scientists were surprised to find that elephant herds are organized into family units of closed related cows and their offspring (first suggested by researcher Irven Buss), not lead by "herd" or "sire" bulls and that elephants use long-distance calls made with sounds well below the range of human hearing to coordinate their movements.

The closing chapters of the book chronicle the ivory wars of the latter part of the 20th century and the ongoing and contentious debate over whether culling is needed in national parks and whether ivory is a sustainable resource or not.

This is a wonderful, well written, illustrated book about elephants and their role throughout history, as well as their present state in the world. I confess, I did not know much about elephants before reading this book. I now feel I know something about them, and what I have discovered is fascinating. I did not realize how complex and intelligent these magnificent creatures are, nor how dangerously close to extinction they have become. It would, indeed, be tragic were that to happen, for elephants are sociable, sentient, and intelligent.

The author takes the reader on a tour throughout history, describing the elephant's interaction with humanity and its role in the affairs of mankind and its impact on the environment. The book traces the influence of the elephant and the various uses to which mankind has put this great creature. From being used as a conveyance in times of war, to being paraded as an object of wonder and curiosity, to being hunted down mercilessly for its ivory tusks, the elephant has had a somewhat checkered history in terms of its interaction with human beings.

The author also carefully relates the elephant's own social structure, which is a sophisticated and complex one. Their mating rituals, their family life, and their handling of death are all addressed by the author, who paints a picture of a multi-faceted and remarkable society of elephants. It is only in the twentieth century that its complexity has begun to be understood by man. It is hoped that this is not a case of too little, too late.

Unfortunately for the elephant, however, its positive qualities have taken a backseat to its value as a commodity. Elephant tusks may eventually bring about the demise of the entire species, if the world does not take heed. A portion of this book is devoted to the ivory wars that have decimated the great elephant herds of Africa, turning elephants into an endangered species. Were elephants to be driven to extinction by pure, unadulterated greed, it truly would be tragic. This book effectively drives that point home.

I grabbed this book because it is so hard to find books about West Africa, and because it appeared to be so well reviewed. But I hated it! The wildlife aspects didn't captivate me; but the writer's whole attitude to the people he met alternately shocked and dismayed me. He talks of people's villages "littering" the landscape; refers to languages as "dialects" without seeming ever to recognise the incredible complexity of the culture in Senegambia; patronises the people he meets; never bothers to learn the correct names for things ("tom-toms" is not really a term used for African drummers) ... refers to how he likes his African musicians "wild" and gets dismayed when they instead start wearing "modish trousers" in Paris ... His driver buys a charm to hang from his window but discards it, jealous of his compatriot's "shiny" souvenirs ... He treats people like children and the descriptions of wildlife fail to grip. A very very great disappointment.

This book had me laughing out loud on the beaches of Zanzibar. Matthiessen turned the landscape into a fascinating wealth of experience, and simultaneously managed to describe the most frightening experiences with wit and humour. He is a travel writer of great skill, and certainly inspired me not only to travel through Africa, but also to the thrills of light aircraft flights. Meanwhile, in more mundane settings, such as taking a shower, his encounter with the mongoose left me in hysterics. Sat as we were, in a resort that had run out of Coca Cola, much to the horror of the assembled guests, Matthiessen most light-heartedly led me through more daring scrapes and moments of sublime comedy than I could ever experience at a beach resort. What a fantastic counter-balance to the average holiday travails.

_African Silences_ by Peter Matthiessen is a well-written account of three different trips to the continent by the author.

The first essay detailed a trip he made in 1978 to West Africa, accompanying primatologist Gilbert Boese on a wildlife survey of Senegal, Gambia, and Ivory Coast. When the journey began Matthiessen was hopeful, as it was a region he had not previously visited and included such varied terrains as long-grass savanna, forest, and the Sahel, an arid country that stretches all the way east to Sudan, a land of "parched thornbrush of baobab and scrub acacia, red termite hills, starlings and hornbills."

Matthiessen did see some wildlife. In Niokolo Koba, the last stronghold of large animals in Senegal, he spied baboons, several monkey species, several antelope species (such as duiker and waterbucks), hippos, forest buffalo, warthogs and parakeets. Along the Senegalese coast, in a mangrove swamp, he spotted the unusual palm-nut vulture, a striking white bird that lives mainly on the nut of the oil palm.

Largely though the author saw remarkably little wildlife. He noted that some researchers felt that some mammals - such as the black rhino, wildebeest, and zebra - if they ever occurred in West Africa, vanished long ago. Others believed that the poor soil of the region could not support much in the way of large game animals, though Matthiessen pointed out its similarities with the soil of the famous East African game plains. No, West Africa lacks wildlife simply because it is more populous than East Africa and has been inhabited a great deal longer, with people present raising crops of pearl millet and sorghum, burning woodland, and hunting for at least the last 2000 years, competing for the same land favored by the megafauna. In addition, there isn't much impetus to preserve wildlife for the tourist trade as there is in East Africa and also the populous nations of this region are filled with poor, protein-starved desperate people, viewing wildlife as a much needed part of their diet. Indeed in several languages in West Africa the word for "animal" is the same word for "meat." As a result, most of the region has virtually "unobstructed poaching" and in some nations, such as Nigeria, it is unusual to see any live wild animal outside of its one game reserve (the black rhino, giant eland, and all but 9 of its 32 hoofed mammal species have gone extinct in Nigeria).

His second essay takes place in the same year but in Zaire, where the author journeyed to look for the very rarely seen Congo peacock (according to one source at the time only one non-African had ever seen one live in the wild) and the gorilla. After a delay in the broken-down, littered, depressing city of Kinshasa, the author journeyed deep into the forested interior (Zaire is huge, comparable in size to Europe). While Matthiessen got some good observations of gorillas and delighted in some of the animals unique to the highlands, such as the red-faced woodland warbler, regal sunbird, and the L'Hoesti monkey, the peafowl eluded him.

The longest and most enjoyable essay in the book was that describing his 1986 sojourn through Central Africa to determine the status of the small forest elephant of the Congo Basin. Since the savanna or bush elephant (_Loxodonta africana africana_) had at the time been imperiled by rampant ivory poaching, conservationists feared that poachers would turn to the smaller forest race (_L. a. cyclotis_). Ivory trade proponents argued that large numbers of the forest race were hidden in the dense jungle and could continue to support the ivory trade while ecologists feared that in fact the forested interior was inhospitable habitat and forest elephant numbers had always been low. In addition to the importance this would have on getting international support to curtail or stop the ivory trade, researchers wanted to know if there really was a third race, perhaps even a separate species, of elephant, the pygmy elephant (_L. pumilio_). Did it exist at all? Were they merely smaller members of the more common forest race?

Matthiessen and those he traveled with found many surprises, such as the presence of "bush" elephants deep in the forest. Were they refugees from the ivory trade, wandering individuals who had simply journeyed deep into the jungle, or did they always exist there, perhaps genetic evidence that the now nearly continuous forest was once broken up into a number of refugia, separated by savanna and grassland? They also found many individuals showed characteristics of both bush and forest races, indicating a very wide zone of hybridization and speculated that the "pygmy elephant" was merely a juvenile forest elephant, which as a race had offspring independent at an earlier age.

The entire expedition made for great reading. It was a long one, covering 7000 miles, beginning in Kenya and ending in Libreville, on Gabon's Atlantic coast, largely concentrating on the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Zaire. Made in a light plane, it was a perilous journey, the pilot and the author at the mercy of the titanic thunderstorms of the region, continually having to risk arrest by landing in unauthorized areas to refuel, dealing with corrupt officials, and almost never able to put down thanks to the "awesome inhospitality of the equatorial forest," as any light plane landing in the jungle would "disappear into this greenness like a stone dropped from the air into the sea." The immense forest, "undulating in all directions to the green horizon," a "dark green sea," was, while dangerous to fly over, nevertheless magnificent, containing all the greens in the world - "[f]orest green and gray-green, jade, emerald, and turquoise, pond green, pea green," a land of hard to find but nevertheless remarkable wildlife, including gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, bongos, buffalo, and such primates as the vervet or green monkey, a carrier for the dangerous "green monkey disease," said to be related to the AIDS virus. Matthiessen also spent some time with a group of pygmies, the Mbuti.

I have tremendously enjoyed reading this book. This book takes a reader on a perilous journey in Senegal, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast as well as Gabon and Zaire. Author's prose, as always, is powerful and lyrical, shows the grim reality of people and wildlife in the area. Despite the previous reviewer's opinion, I am giving this book the best rating possible. The author's intention was to document the reality. This book is not work of fiction. In my opinion the book is excellent.

I have tremendously enjoyed reading this book. This book takes a reader on a perilous journey in Senegal, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast as well as Gabon and Zaire. Author's prose, as always, is powerful and lyrical, shows the grim reality of people and wildlife in the area. Despite the previous reviewer's opinion, I am giving this book the best rating possible. The author's intention was to document the reality. This book is not work of fiction. In my opinion the book is excellent.

This is a surprisingly good read! I was very impressed with Lord's ability to tell a very complex story in an interesting and engrossing way. I remained surprised that the book kept my attention and that I wanted to read on. I can highly recommend it!

As the title of this review points out, Beluga Days is a book that will appeal to a much broader readership than scientists in marine labs or whale researchers devoted to habitat conservation. I've never read a book about whales in my life, but this one gave me a chance to catch up to all those who have. I'll also say that I don't often read books that are strictly about animals, but perhaps that's why I liked this one so much.

Nancy Lord writes with the creativity and skill of a novelist or creative essayist, and Beluga Days, as a result, is no dry documentation. She manages to write both scientifically and intuitively, and brings investigative and relational research techniques with her into this multi-dimensional book. I found myself drawn into the stories of the players in this environmental drama, moved for the first time about a topic that had I had never before known about.

Lord paces the story well, answering questions I had just as I was about to ask them, and interspersing fact with feeling as often as her situations lent themselves. Throughout the book, she introduces "witnesses" for both sides of the Cook Inlet Beluga debate and gives all voices a fair chance to speak to her readers. This is probably one of the most balanced and un-biased environmental interest books I've read in a long time.

Nancy Lord has written not only a factual representation of the endangerment of the "White Whale," but a beautiful one, too. Her investment in the issue and time spent peering at all possible angles is readily apparent, and the picture she presents should be studied by any who claim similar interests.

On a smaller note, I found the hand-drawn maps at the front of the book very helpful while reading about various Alaskan locations, but would have appreciated even more visual aids like these throughout the book. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, there are several strange but obvious editing errors in the text that tended to distract me from the content of the chapters. But these complaints do little to mar the quality of the writing, or the "wholeness" of the story it presents.

If you're looking for a good book to learn the science and sociology of studying belugas, monitoring subsistence hunting and more, this is a very good read. Lord doesn't automatically excoriate Alaskan oil companies, nor does she buy that every bit of Native lore, whether "Indian" or "Eskimo," about belugas is necessarily true.

Lord's connection with a variety of environmental groups, leaders of both strands of Native Americans, scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service and more, mean that she doesn't offer, nor find, "easy" answers for the subpopulation of belugas in Alaska's Cook Inlet, either.

However, the number of people she talks to for this book leads directly to two of its shortcomings.

One is that it doesn't have an index.

Two is no pictures.

Three is a mechanical/copy editing gripe. A lot of long dashes dropped out of copy, and the two words separated by the long dashes ran together. In one or two other cases, two words ran together where it doesn't appear a long dash was missing.

This book was on the 4/5 star border, probably, overall. The first two omissions definitely move it to 4-star range. The mechanical/copy error came close to moving it another notch lower, due to its frequency.

That said, the book would be more helpful with an index.

Nominally this book is about an endangered whale species. But in reality it goes much deeper than that. It is he story of trying to protect an endangered animal species. Ms. Lord goes into great detail in explaining that there are many interests involved in trying to put the Beluga whales under protection. The conflict to me is best summarized by the introduction of one character who is a spokesman for both the native hunters (who are blamed for driving the Belugas to the edge of extinction) and for a group of environmentalists who want to protect them. He can be quite honest in both camps.

That reflects the understanding that Ms. Lord brings to this book. There are two, or perhaps many sides to the story, and she brings them all out with understanding and some compassion.

Perhaps her strongest points are in dealing with the various Governmental agencies whose biggest problem seems to be not protecting the Beluga's but who is going to be in charge.

One minor complaint - I'd really like to see some pictures of these animals. The only picture in the book is the one on the front cover.

The title of this review is something of a cliche. Whales have gone from being considered a natural resource to an animal that receives very favorable treatment in the popular press. At least in the United States popular sentiment has turned against hunting of these animals. Today, commercial whaling operations employ tour guides, not harponists. Whale watching has replaced whale hunting. But understanding these creatures and the challenges they face, as well as deciding how best to help them, remain strikingly difficult issues. 'Beluga Days,' by Nancy Lord, discusses many of these issues in detail as she focuses on a small genetically distinct set of Beluga Whales and the many obstacles to their survival.

Nancy Lord is a Cook Inlet salmon fisherman living near Anchorage, Alaska. Like many others, she became entranced by the small Beluga (white) Whales which shared the salmon she harvested. In the 1990s, she also began to notice a sharp decline in their numbers, observations that were borne out by scientific surveys of the population. She then threw herself into conservation efforts only to discover that the issues and motivations of various parties involved varied widely. The population decline, it seems, was due primarily to native subsistence hunting. But the native Alaskan hunters, who were themselves subdivided into those with Eskimo and non-Eskimo heritage, were understandably upset at the prospect of acknowledging their mismanagement of a communal resource. Moreover, they were unwilling to give up yet another one of their traditional rights. Other participants also had different motives. In the book we meet many of them: George Hayden, the old fisherman who fondly recalls the "Beluga Days" when the town would celebrate a largely ceremonial hunt; Kris Balliet, a leader in the movement to get the Beluga Whales classified as an endangered species, but someone who frequently made mistakes in dealing with local Alaskans; oil representative Judy Brady, passionate about the Belugas and frustrated by the blame heaped (without scientific justification in this instance) on her industry; and Joel Blatchford, the Inupiat Eskimo who was simultaneously a spokesman for the hunters and for an endangered species listing. Each of these people, and many others, receive a sympathetic portrait in Lord's book. As she writes about these people it becomes clear that the preservation of Beluga Whales, and the best means of doing so, is a multifaceted issue.

If the supporters of preservation had multiple agendas, the government to whom they were appealing had only one: proper political procedure. The book describes in agonizing detail how slowly both the state and federal government agencies moved even as the Beluga population declined towards critical numbers. Courtroom debates went on at length, various agencies fought over jurisdiction, and aside from a "depleted" listing among marine animals, little was accomplished. This was immensely frustrating for all concerned, and Lord herself highlights part of the problem in her book. Citing Garret Hardin, she notes the Beluga's had become a "tragedy" of the commons. Lacking any form of established property rights, it was easy to hunt them to extinction, but difficult to preserve them. Lord correctly notes that such property rights can be communal instead of individual, but by the 1990s, tribal communal controls had broken down at Cook's Inlet. And it turns out, government agencies were a poor alternative. If nothing else, this book points to the need for serious reform in protecting endangered species.

But at the end of the book, Lord raises a far more important issue. Should we even try to save the whales at all? What difference would it really make? These are almost heretical questions for an environmentalist, but Lord gives them a fair hearing nonetheless. After all, extinction is a natural part of evolution's paradigm. Arguing that "humans cause extinction" is simply silly, because it presupposes that humans are not a part of nature, a claim that no evolutionary biologist would make. On a more practical level, Lord askes whether Belugas will ever again be a significant part of a subsistence diet. She concludes, probably not. Native populations have grown and it is unlikely that Belugas will ever offer more than a token tie to their past even should the species survive. And what of the rest of us? Will those of us who have never watched the Beluga Whales in Cook Inlet miss them when they are gone? Lord attempts to answer these questions as best she can. Some frankly do not admit to easy answers. She wants to assert a moral basis for preservation, a claim that all Belugas, even those taken in traditional hunts, are important. But on what basis? Ultimately, the solution lies in an older, spiritual paradigm. We are the caretakers of the earth, and if we want to watch Belugas, we must find a way to do so. Is this view anthrocentric? Yes, emphatically so. Is it unscientific? Probably. But it has a hope of working. And the proof lies in the new preface to the 2007 edition of this remarkable book. There we find that in 2006, for the first time in years, families lined up on the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet to watch a large pod of Beluga Whales. We as a society are richer for it.

If you have even the slightest interest in conservation issues, by all means get this book. Lord is an excellent writer and her deeply personal journal of discovery makes for fascinating reading. This is by far one of the best nature books to appear in this decade.

A classic tale of good versus evil, this book is a touching story about the things people (or crocodiles) will do for their family. It teaches that no matter how different you may be with your relatives, you are still family and should help each other.
Bill and Pete go all the way from Egypt to the United States to rescue Bill's cousin, Jane Allison. Many mishaps occur, but all is well at the end of the story. There is also a suprise ending, but you have to read the book to find out. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a little family-oriented adventure.

I am shopping for books for my little baby nephew, hes only 8 months old, but for his first birthday i am getting him lots of books. I read Bill and Pete when i was little and i STILL like reading them! i am SO excited to see another Bill and Pete book! that just made my day!

My three year old son enjoyed this book so much I went to the library and took out, Bill & Pete Go Down the Nile & Bill & Pete To The Rescue. He requested they be read to him every evening, when I had to return them, he was so sad. He asked me if we could buy them so he could have them always.

My 3 year old daughter got this book as a birthday gift and she loved it! The book introduces kids to the issues of endangered species, and through Bill and Pete's action it teaches them how each one can make a difference.

I don't know what I liked most about this book -- the sly, dry humor or the wonderfully naive illustrations. This is a funny, funny book about a pair of really good friends -- a young crocodile and his young toothbrush (a bird). It also is a grand adventure with suspense and action. Quite a lot for a book for 4-8 year olds. Here's one you won't mind reading again and again.

I heard about this book in a magazine before it came out, and I just had to own it. The combination of rare photographs and case studies on each animal were irresistable. Such animals would be forgotten without the artistic eye of Purcell and the efforts of naturalists to complile their stories.The photographs of the museum specimens are haunting, but with a clear purpose. It shows the importance of conserving the species we have left, so that we do not have to depend upon mishapen skins to remember them. I hope those who read this book recognize the human error in the past so that we cannot make the same mistakes in the future.

I'm afraid I was dissapointed in the book. Either it was a lame attempt at an artsy style or there was a decision to try and keep costs down by limiting the number of photographs. In way too many cases the photographer seemed to be obsessed with dramatic lighting of extreme closeups. Although the photos were well done, in very few cases were there full body pictures. In other cases the head would be brightly lit while the rest of the body (of what there was included) would be in deep shadow. The most dissapointing were the Cuban Macaw, and the Cape and Barbary Lions. The text, although well written, was also very sparce, and could have used some map diagrams to show population ranges. In short, there was a lot of empty space that could have been filled with photographs and information. The only reason I would reccomend the book is that as far as I know its the only one of its kind. I sincerely hope someday another book will be made with more descriptive text, and several photographs of various angles for a more "scientific" and comprehensive coverage. Those stuffed animals will not last forever and there is definitly a need for a well documented record.

The photos in this book are not images you want to put in your child's nusery, but they tell the story of animal extinction better than any post-card shot could. This book highlights the finality of extinction as well as the importance of natural history museums.

The Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis of Leiden, Netherlands, exhibits a collection of extinct and near extinct animals. Photography on this part of the museum collection is done by Rosamond Purcell. Texts are written by Lars v.d. Hoek Ostende, Martien van Oijen, Rinus Hoogmoed, René Dekker and Chris Smeenk. Editing was done by educational officer Lars. So the bibliographic refernce best should read: Swift as a Shadow, ed. Hoek Ostende (Lars v.d.) Photography Rosamond (Wolff) Purcell. Being a museum employee I may not appear to be an objective reviewer but the collection is famous. Photography and text are fully worth buying it!

Each photograph of Swift as a Shadow greets the reader as a quick slap in the face. The range of 'grotesquely beautiful' images leaves the reader with a sense of helplessness when the initial awe of beauty turns to the realisation that in most cases the creatures displayed are gone forever. The multitude of animals, birds and even fish represented is an amazing array seldom found in one volume. Some animals represented are quagga, barbary lion, thyacine, javan tiger. The birds are an extensive collection (usually more than one example) representing most of the infamous and unfortunate extinctions of our time; Carolina Parakeets, Passenger Pigeons, Great Auk, Pink Headed Duck, Labrador Duck, Paradise Parrots (amazing!) Huias plus Dodo bones and Elephant Bird eggs to name a few!

Text is sparse, and given the stark, sometimes ghoulish photgraphic reality, this is not a detraction from the books theme. All photographs are high gloss quality, if a little detail restricted by 'photographing for arts' sake' eg; back neck view only of the quagga, skin pattern only of the Balinese Tiger. I'm sure that enthusiasts of endangered animals will now strongly consider a visit to the Natuurhistorisch Museum of Leiden, Netherlands, once in their lifetime.

Newfoundland is the easternmost outpost of Canada in the North Atlantic, and in 1962, Farley Mowat, already a well known writer, moved to the town of Burgeo on its desolate south coast. The area was remote, reachable only by the weekly steamer and an occasional chartered seaplane. Mowat loved it there, and in the first fifty pages says much about the beauty of the place and the friendly inhabitants.

The local economy was based on fishing, with a recently opened fish-freezing plant. Mowat is scornful of the fish-freezing plant, and generally of much of the modern influences he sees around him -- he calls it "compulsive consumerism, the universal sickness of modern society". In early 1967, the contrast between his views on the world and those of his fellow-villagers were brought shockingly into focus when a seventy foot pregnant Fin whale was trapped in a "natural aquarium" called Aldridge Pond.

It was several days before Mowat found out about the whale. In that time numerous locals had used up almost all the ammunition in the village shooting the whale with high-powered rifles, and had rammed it in a speed boat to carve open its back, for sport. When Mowat found out he tried with little success to get the local authorities to protect the whale, and sent some information to a Canadian news organization to try to get academic interest in the chance to study a big Fin whale up close. That led to a flood of publicity, and simultaneously to much of the village turning against Mowat for being an "outsider" and refusing to let them do as they pleased. Mowat tried to keep their boats from Aldridge Pond and their bullets away from the whale, and many of the locals saw him as an interfering foreigner.

The whale died, ultimately, hungry and in agony from innumerable infected bullet wounds. The last few chapters show Mowat almost out of his mind with rage and frustration at the bureaucratic hurdles in his way and at the bloodthirstiness of his fellow men.

Mowat has been criticized for tailoring his stories to fit his agenda: his motto is "Never let the facts interfere with the truth". However, I'm not aware that this particular story was much changed -- the whale really did exist and did die as he describes. The book is certainly propaganda for the view that humans should live and let live, but it is also a terrific story.

The book is well-written, and is a stirring and depressing read; although one would like to think a modern community would be less bloody in its response to a whale. Recommended.

This is a profoundly moving and important book, and I cannot recommend it too highly. Immensely readable and full of fascinating insights into the other "nations" with which we humans share this planet, it is also one of the very few books I have ever read which changed the direction of my life. For anyone who wants to truly understand this world in which we find ourselves this is one of the "must read" books.

This Farley Mowat book, written in the early 1970s, is one that grabs ahold of you. I could not set it down. It's a true story of a trapped whale off the Newfoundland coast and what happens because of the stupidity of humans. Farley Mowat uses the story to tell of the plight of all whales in human hands. Though much has changed since this was written, whales are still threatened and the story will still disturb you.

A touching, honest, beatifully written true story. This is book that you will not forget after reading.

Farley Mowat has often been criticised for his "embellishments", but while his facts may be suspect his motives are sincere. 'A Whale For the Killing' is a gut-wrenching look at the way we treat our oceans and our world in general. Mowat, always a pleasure to read, made me feel both angry and ashamed in this wonderful book.

"A Whale for the Killing" chronicles the unlikely and you might also say, unseemly doings in a small Newfoundland outport in the 1960s. In what soon proved to be a run of bad luck, one of the largest of the sea mammals, a Fin whale, found itself trapped in a huge body of water near the town of Burgeo. It had managed to just slide over a rocky underwater escarpment and get into the bay, but try as it might it could not get out again.

Farley Mowat's part in the story is rather extraordinary and I won't go into it in detail here, for fear of spoiling it. Suffice it to say that he becomes, as far as such a thing is possible, the trapped whale's guardian and broadcasts the story of its plight throughout the world. His relationship with the mammal develops in conjunction with his relationship with the townspeople of Burgeo and the local and provincial authorities. I would not like to call this a thrilling story, because that seems hardly appropriate, but it is a dramatic one whichever way you look at it. In the process of attempting to rescue the whale, Mowat (and now, through the book, us) learns a great deal more about human nature than he might have imagined he would, beforehand.

Farley Mowat has written innumerable books about wildlife, the environment and the Canadian wilderness in general. This is a book he scarcely planned to write but he brings to it all the skills of the writer who has practised his art over many years. It is a first-rate story about living on Earth in the twentieth century, and it should be widely read for the message it contains about the frailty of all existence.

I personally loved this book and story and thought my 4 year old could handle the plot. She loves whales and mama/baby animal stories so I was hopeful.

It was a complete disaster. She was so worried about the daddy whale disappearing and about the mama whale fighting, etc. She was sobbing uncontrollably, and then I was too. It was just awful.

This is a girl who has never cried about any book before, and we read a ton of them of a huge range of topics.

So, just a warning if you have a sensitive youngster!

This is a great book for children to help them learn about Sperm Whales and provides children with an insight into life below the ocean waves. I would recomend this book to teachers who are looking for a book about Ocean Animals to share with their class. This would also be a good book for a mother to read to her daughter since it talks about the mother/daughter relationship of the whales in this book.

This is a great book for children to help them learn about Sperm Whales and provides children with an insight into life below the ocean waves. I would recomend this book to teachers who are looking for a book about Ocean Animals to share with their class. This would also be a good book for a mother to read to her daughter since it talks about the mother/daughter relationship of the whales in this book.

"Baby Whale's Journey" is a truly magical and beautiful book for young readers. Jonathan London's compassionate and easy-to-read text blends perfectly with the majestic illustrations by Jon Van Zyle. Together, they tell the story of a baby sperm whale's life with her marine community.

The book is full of memorable images: the adult whales protecting the baby from orcas, the mother whale battling a giant squid, and mother and baby simply frolicking in their ocean habitat. Van Zyle's illustrations (most of which stretch across two-page spreads) are superb; Van Zyle is especially adept at capturing the marvelous play of light in the water. "Baby Whale's Journey" is educational, artistically impressive, and emotionally satisfying.