Wildlife Books

Corbett was the premier rogue cat exterminator in the first quarter of last century and highly regarded as the best ever. This collection contains his most challenging hunts including The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, The Chowgarh Tigers, and The Thak Man-eater. Corbett personally had over a dozen real life assignments against known man-killers and these stories are the best of the best. His targets were reportedly responsible for over 1500 human deaths and countless injuries. Given the remote locations and the fact that deaths resulting from infection, etc. were not counted, that total can probably be doubled or even tripled.

Corbett, in his writings, takes you right into the jungles of 1920s India and you'll be hard pressed to find an author who knows more about his surroundings. His success as a hunter results from his ability to get into the minds of these man-eaters and predict their next moves. Corbett does an excellent job of explaining his thoughts as to the reasons these animals have turned to killing humans and remains very objective. Though his job was to destroy these dangerous creatures, it is clear in his writings that he had a profound respect and admiration for them.

If you are a fan of hunting stories and legends, you will love this collection of tales. Each one is an ongoing cat and mouse game between man and beast. Corbett was the best at beating the world's most dangerous animals on their own terms and Man-eaters will be a book you can't put down. Guaranteed!

Corbett was the premier rogue cat exterminator in the first quarter of last century and highly regarded as the best ever. This collection contains his most challenging hunts including The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, The Chowgarh Tigers, and The Thak Man-eater. Corbett personally had over a dozen real life assignments against known man-killers and these stories are the best of the best. His targets were reportedly responsible for over 1500 human deaths and countless injuries. Given the remote locations and the fact that deaths resulting from infection, etc. were not counted, that total can probably be doubled or even tripled.

Corbett, in his writings, takes you right into the jungles of 1920s India and you'd be hard pressed to find a man more familiar with his environment. In reading these stories, you will find that Jim Corbett is not a man out for fame, trophies, or money. In fact, his respect and admiration for the great cats that he hunts goes without question. You find no hatred for these maneaters and in his first words discusses typical reasons these cats turn to human flesh. Its refreshing to see a man in his position with such an objective point of view.

At any rate, these tales are the stuff of legend and should be savored by any person interested in hunting, adventure, or the true history of early 1900s India bush life. If you fall into any of these categories, you will love this collection. Guaranteed!

This book contains the writings of Jim Corbett, a civil servant in British India who happened to be a crack shot and game tracker. Mr. Corbett was hired by the Government on several occasions to dispose of man eating leopards and tigers. What makes Jim Corbett's writings so noteworthy is their direct honesty and utter sense of humanity. Let me say upfront that I love tales of big game hunting, and I bought this book because, among big-game hunting literature, Jim Corbett's books are considered classics, along with the writings of more traditional hunters like Walter Bell and Frederick Courteney Selous. Among these big game hunting classics, Corbett's writings are unique in that, unlike most big game hunters, Corbett didn't seem to derive any "thrill of the hunt." He was doing a job he was very good at to save innocent lives, pure and simple. He had love and sympathy for the animals he was killing, and he became committed to killing them reluctantly. This feeling of respect for the animal and reluctance in its destruction is most evident in The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag.

Once committed, however, Corbett seemed to take personal responsibility for every individual the man-eating leopard killed, and his sense of depression and guilt over each fresh kill done on his watch is palpable in these pages. This particular leopard stalked travelers and towns along the pilgrim's road that led to the shrines in Kedernath and Badrinath, often selecting children or the aged. Reading Corbett's plain, effective prose, the deadly situation takes on a religious significance. Corbett is defeated several times, each failure resulting in more pilgrims killed, and the pilgrims and people in the towns came to believe that the leopard was an evil spirit that had taken on material form.

Let me wrap up by saying that Corbett was a man to be admired for his basic, down-to-earth humanity and his complete lack of self-congratulation. He was simply a man of high character and wrote plainly about being exhausted, disgusted with his failings, and just flat scared. He was also a very humble man and always seemed embarrassed by the extreme expressions of gratitude given him upon his ultimate success in bagging the man-eater.

The final scene, where villagers come to the bazaar where the leopard is on display, is extremely moving. The people came in droves and one-by-one showered Corbett's feet with flowers while reciting tales of their children or loved ones that had been killed by the man-eater. Suffice to say this is one of the most simple and beautifully rendered scenes I have read in any book.

Of all the big game hunting books I have read, Corbett's writings hold a special place for me. His skill as a hunter saved hundreds of lives, ending the suffering of more hundreds, perhaps thousands. Yet he never thought himself a hero.

Perhaps that was the very quality that made him heroic.

McNamee himself is a character in this book, giving it an inviting and personal air, but does not force his views on the reader. He shows the reader a federal wildlife agent tracking a wolf-killer outside of Red Lodge and even opens the window on curious rivalries and tensions between agencies involved in various chapters of the wolf story. Parts of the book are almost dramatic in their intensity, while others slow the pace as the wolves romp and play.

If you have any interest in the return of the wolf to Yellowstone, this book will definitely be an asset to your library.

I would rate this book a '5', if it was the illustrated issue.

readable in general, although sometimes the text is a little awkward and overly detailed and the footnotes could have been better integrated.

here's a complete rundown of the topics covered:
Ch.1: covers issues with the scaling of areas to volumes, how it affects an animal's leg shape, body size, head size, hair, etc.
Ch.2: the energy costs for cold vs. warm-blood, looks more closely at issues w/ body size
Ch.3: looks at theories about the evolution of warm-bloods
Ch.4: looks at theories about whether or not dinosaurs were cold or warm-blooded
Ch.5: adaptations for animals, including in the tundra and desert
Ch.6: why there are hardly any huge cold-bloods, except in unstable, infertile areas like Australia
Ch.7: why there are hardly any large mammals in freshwater regions, although they exist on land and in the ocean. looks at the success of crocodiles.
Ch.8: why there are many species of birds in general and why there aren't many species of large birds
Ch.9: the catastrophic events that happened when there was global warming and decrease of global biodiversity in a previous era

In the title chapter we learn that elephants pump the warm blood from the interior of their bodies to the array of tubes in their ears to dissipate excess body heat. From this consideration Lavers is led to a discussion of whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or not. The evidence he presents makes it clear to this observer that they were, but his cautious conclusion is that the case hasn't been proven quite yet. Lavers hints that the dinosaurs may have to be put in another category, perhaps somewhere between warm blooded and cold, or maybe even somewhere beyond. How about: "I'm hot-blooded, check it and see" (to reprise a rock lyric).

Lavers goes to considerable depth to demonstrate how much we can learn by combining evidence from the fossil record with what we know about the metabolism of animals and how their bodies work. Dinosaur anatomy, for example, strongly suggests a closer kinship with today's avian world than with the reptilian. Furthermore, the large size of many dinosaurs is inconsistent with cold-bloodedness. Reptiles can't get as big as a Brontosaurus because (for one thing) they would not be able to regulate their temperature. Lavers points out that all the really big animals on earth today, with the exception of the giant tortoises, Komodo dragons and some snakes--and they aren't really that big--are warm-blooded. He cites the arguments of Robert Bakker and others to conclude that T. Rex, for example, wouldn't have the metabolic power to run down prey if it were cold-blooded.

I found Lavers's discussion of the difference between non-oxygen-based metabolic reactions capable of "supercharged" bursts of short-lived energy typical of reptiles, and the sustainable aerobic reactions typical of mammals like dogs and humans very interesting. The quick bursts are those of the sprinter who is wasted after at most a few hundred yards, while the aerobic engine sustains the pace of the long distance runner. Also interesting is the material in the chapter "Life on the Edge" about how birds and mammals maintain their body temperatures in the climate extremes of the deserts and the polar regions of the earth. Lavers notes that in very cold places there are no reptiles.

In some of this I am reminded of the famous and splendid essay by J. B. S. Haldane, "On Being the Right Size," published many decades ago. Lavers presents the same kind of reasoned argument based on physiology and anatomy to demonstrate why animals are built the way they are and why it would be difficult for them to be constructed otherwise. One comes away from the reading with a sense of having learned something important and exciting, a sense of having acquired understanding, not merely a collection of facts.

Author James C Halfpenny has beautifully, with just the right amount of anthropomorphism, detailed the lives and experiences of the introduced wolves known to us only by numbers. But like all animal/human interactions even a number can create an emotional attachment, as was the case with the fate of Rose Creek number 10M, the 'Big Guy', whose ultimate sacrifice became the strenghth and symbol of the desire for the Yellowstone experiment to be a success despite the echoes of human hatred still being felt throughout the wilderness.

Ultimately, with all popular wolf books, it is the photographs that are the real joy to most readers, and again this publication delivers. Beautiful and fascinating pictures are presented throughout, and with the well advertised phrase 'no captive wolves" ,a unique claim also, it should be noted, found in David L Mech's Arctic Wolf: Living with the pack (1988) and Jim Brandenberg's White Wolf (1988)and Brother Wolf: a Forgotten Promise (1993) , the photographs take on a special importance of being truely wild and free animals in an environment that had been stolen from them for so many decades. Also included in this text are several Appendices, outlining the original packs and pack members, detailing their histories and social status and also the 2002 wolf packs, their members, offspring and pack locations around the park.

For those wolf enthusiasts who enjoyed the Yellowstone wolf experience in the books, Yellowstone Wolves (Ferguson) Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone (McNamee) Yellowstone Wolf Guide & Sourcebook (Scullery) and Wolves of Yellowstone (Philips & Smith),this is an essential addition to that collection of documents about the most successful animal re-introduction program ever undertaken. As Henry David Thoreau once wrote -" In wildness Is the preservation of the World "-

This scholarly tale of 9-year-old Riley on "Safari in South Africa," with his cousin Alice, aunt Martha, and uncle Max take census of the different breeds of animals.

Riley learns the eco system is the responsibility of everyone and every creature in the world must do its part for the world to continue to survive and have balance. Poachers, predators, and developers however tip the scales of the eco system and cause the animal population to become endangered.

With each animal they encounter, some fun and interesting facts are revealed regarding their behaviors, eating styles, and play.

The authors evoke the help of several zoologist, conservationist, and educators in the animal fields for references and include next to the fun facts illustrations of the references.

This tale has awesome illustrations, set on the background of actual safari scenes and with real pictures of safari wildlife. You too will feel as if you were on this adventure.

The Adventures of Riley in South Africa is one of a series of - Riley's tales. This book contains information on accessing the Internet so kids can continue more adventures, and a passport book with a stamp of South Africa, so when they read a different book they can collect the stamps.

Children will absolutely love this book and learn from it.

**A portion of the proceeds will go to the Wildlife Conservation, Smithsonian Institute: Educational Mission and the World Wildlife Fund.