The Eye of the Crocodile The Eye of the Crocodile Val Plumwood Edited by Lorraine Shannon Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email:
[email protected] This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Plumwood, Val. Title: The Eye of the crocodile / Val Plumwood ; edited by Lorraine Shannon. ISBN: 9781922144164 (pbk.) 9781922144171 (ebook) Notes Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: Predation (Biology) Philosophy of nature. Other Authors/Contributors: Shannon, Lorraine. Dewey Number: 591.53 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU E Press Cover image supplied by Mary Montague of Montague Leong Designs Pty Ltd. http://www.montagueleong.com.au Printed by Grifn Press This edition © 2012 ANU E Press Contents Acknowledgements .................................vii Preface ......................................... ix Introduction ......................................1 Freya Mathews, Kate Rigby, Deborah Rose First section 1. Meeting the predator ..............................9 2. Dry season (Yegge) in the stone country ............... 23 3. The wisdom of the balanced rock: The parallel universe and the prey perspective ........... 35 Second section 4. A wombat wake: In memoriam Birubi .................. 49 5. ‘Babe’: The tale of the speaking meat ................. 55 Third section 6. Animals and ecology: Towards a better integration ........ 77 7. Tasteless: Towards a food-based approach to death ....... 91 Works cited ..................................... 97 v Acknowledgements The editor wishes to thank the following for permission to use previously published material: A version of Chapter One was published as ‘Being Prey’ in Terra Nova, Vol.