It wasn't so long ago that wolves and great cats, monstrous fish and flying raptors ruled the peak of nature's food pyramid. Not so anymore. All but exterminated, these predators of the not-too-distant past have been reduced to minor players of the modern era.
'So what?' asks wildlife journalist Will Stolzenburg, who follows in the wake of nature's topmost carnivores, and finds in their absence a world of chaos. As the great predators go missing, an emerging cadre of concerned scientists is uncovering trouble in the biosphere at large.
From obscure jungles of Venezuela to stormy North Pacific coasts, hallowed vistas of Yellowstone to the back yards of suburban America, Stolzenburg traverses aberrant empires of pest and plague, a new world order of murderous deer and rogue raccoons, pathological monkeys and exploding urchins. Here is a startling tour through dying forests and barren seascapes, through nightmarish landscapes starving for those missing masters of the hunt. For anyone who has seldom given thought to the meat-eating beasts so recently lacking from the web of life, here is a world of reason to think again.
Environment
Life Science
Comments
I Must Have This Book.
Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Posted by: Luna_the_cat | July 27, 2008 1:38 PM
I've those ravaging raccoons, bumper crop of bunnies, murderous deer, and hoards of mice. My IDIOT farmer neighbor killed off the coyotes and foxes because he was too cheap to build a proper facility for his chickens. Now I have to deal with the rest of the fauna going nuts since there is no top predator anymore to keep them under control. If the predators had only stayed on MY land, they'd still be here...
Posted by: Gindy | July 28, 2008 7:40 AM
Looks terrific! I'm getting ready to submit a book order today and am looking forward to getting it. Have a feeling that a book like this will go far in opening up our fellows among the environmentally consious that a pleistocene restoration which brings the lions and cheetahs back would do more than just add diversity but would bring out more the wild's inherent potential for complexity. cheers
Posted by: doug l | July 28, 2008 10:32 AM