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dangers involved. They “snap viciously mimicry’) spent 12 years exploring at any object that enters their mouth. the Amazon and brought back 8,000 Book It helps if this is not a finger. We ‘new’ species. learnt, after the odd minor mishap, to use small pliers”. What wonderful Some collecting was done by military Reviews understatement. Here is a man who officers during their campaigns. One faced tigers, lions, snakes, spiders, French officer used to glue cork inside charging elephants and angry bees. his helmet. Immediately before a battle He has eaten a plate of giant turtle against the Spanish he spotted a beetle, penises thinking they were asparagus, jumped down from his horse to secure recommends peeing through a plastic it, and pinned it to the cork to await tube to avoid mosquito attack, and identification later. thinks killer crabs are all in a days work. The book is full of wonderfully self- Species seeking was a dimension of effacing stories of hardship and drama. imperialism, and Conniff discusses this early in the book. He also describes the The man-eaters of the title are the tigers competitive nature of the naturalist of the Sunderbans, and Freeman finds (a trait still displayed today) and looks huge pug marks in the swamp so fresh at the problem of crediting discoveries he can watch as they fill with muddy to the right person. Should it be the water. He turns his back on a cow for explorer risking life and limb to acquire a second, looks back, and the cow has the specimen, the indigenous but gone, lifted bodily away by the tiger. usually anonymous person who guided Exciting, but I will re-read this book for animals and plants already well known him to it (explorers were nearly always the tortoises and blackbirds, the cranes to the people in the lands concerned. men) or the taxonomist back home who and marmots, and the dry humour and The privations and dangers they faced, named it? genuine passion that emerges from a and frequently succumbed to, are life full of adventure. almost unimaginable. The class-ridden society of the time favoured the stay-at-home scientist MANGROVES AND MAN-EATERS Mark Fletcher Their troubles did not end when they because the explorers themselves were and Other Wildlife Encounters embarked for home in Europe or America, often considered to be mere labourers Dan Freeman which is where they all started from. in the field. There were of course those, Whittles 2011, 224 pages THE SPECIES SEEKERS Specimen collections and notebooks like Darwin, who were famous as both Pbk, £18.99, ISBN 978-184995-009-1 Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit were sometimes lost in shipwrecks. collectors and scientists. The book of Life on Earth We learn that the Frenchman Jules describes an incident on his journeys There is a charming old fashioned Richard Conniff Verreaux spent 13 years in Africa, only when he realised that the Christmas modesty to the adventures in Dan WW Norton, 2011, 464 pages to become the sole survivor when the dinner he had just consumed consisted Freeman’s book about filming wildlife. Hbk, £19.99, ISBN 978-0-393-06854-2 ship with all his finds foundered within of a species of bird he was searching He describes facing death in almost site of the French coast. He wasn’t put for! He was reduced to retrieving the every chapter, yet seems to shrug off This book chronicles the exploits, tragic off by this - he later undertook a fresh remains from the kitchen waste. danger, makes a joke, and carries on. It and triumphant, of those intrepid souls expedition to the Pacific. A similar fate is a refreshing contrast to some of the who, from the 18th Century on, scoured befell Sir Stamford Raffles, of Singapore To be able to name species at all required adrenaline fuelled wildlife programmes the world for ‘new’ species. This was one and Zoo fame. For those whose a system of some sort, and that was around today. of the consequences of colonisation, collections and notebooks did make provided by Carl Linneaus in 1735 with and indeed a way of demonstrating the it back the rewards, scientific and the publication of his Systema Naturae. Freeman produced a classic BBC film supposed superiority of the colonialists, financial, could be substantial. Henry Conniff tells us much about Linneaus: about piranhas, and describes the even though they were ‘discovering’ Bates (whose name lives on in ‘Batesian he seemed to be a flamboyant and

86 87 ECOS 32(1) 2011 ECOS 32(1) 2011 charismatic teacher, and a great self- This is a minor criticism of a book full of communities’ – are places which “fulfil of sacred groves was lost in one decade, publicist. His students’ collecting trips adventure, information and unexpected humankind’s need to understand, and the1990s, while many remaining sites often ended with colourful and noisy insights. It contains a collective noun connect in meaningful ways, to the may have been reduced to below an parades through Upsalla back to the new to me – a ‘curiosity’ of naturalists. environment … and to nature”. The ecologically viable size. University. Even so he had his critics: For anyone with an ounce of that book does not address built sacred the French biologist Buffon said that curiosity about the natural world, or places, such as temples. Sacred natural The one UK case study describes a Linneaus was attempting to “impose an about its famous and not-so-famous sites represent ancient and profound sacred natural site that has several levels artificial order on the disorderly natural personalities, from Linneaus to Walter cultural values; many have been of protection: Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, world” – a discussion still going on Rothschild, or Darwin to Audobon, protected for hundreds, even thousands off the Northumberland coast, includes today. As for ‘splitters and lumpers’ it is it will be a wonderful addition to of years with low levels of disturbance. a National Nature Reserve and marine pointed out that the ‘lumpers’ are busy their library. As well as being high in biodiversity, Wetland of International Importance ‘undiscovering species’! they provide ecosystem services and under the Ramsar Convention. As well Peter Shirley resources such as water and medicinal as attracting birdwatchers to see the Be that as it may, Conniff graphically plants. They have spiritual, cultural, wintering wildfowl, the island has been describes the mania for collecting economic and educational value as a place of pilgrimage since AD635, and displaying exotic specimens, SACRED NATURAL SITES the location for events, ceremonies, venerated as the ‘cradle’ of Christianity dead or alive, in the cities of Europe Conserving nature and culture pilgrimages and tourism. in northern England and southern and America. This was big business – Edited by Bas Vershuuren et al Scotland, and associated with several showmen, museums (usually privately Earthscan 2010, 310 pages Building on two decades of work, the ‘nature saints’. The most notable, owned) and the nobility competed to Pbk, £29.99 ISBN 978-1-84971-167-8 authors explore “humanity’s deepest Saint Cuthbert, is regarded by some as have the biggest and best collections. response to the biosphere – the sacred ‘England’s first nature conservationist’, People voluntarily subjected themselves The significance of sacred natural sites values of nature as exemplified by sacred according to the author of this chapter, to electric shocks from eels, taxidermists for the conservation of biodiversity natural sites” through a multidisciplinary ecologist and sociologist Robert Wild, died early from the effects of working was barely recognised until the late socio-ecological approach. Importantly, one of the book’s editors and Chair of the with mercury and arsenic, and Thomas 1990s; by then many had already the book includes many different IUCN’s Specialist Group on the Cultural Jefferson laid out Mastodon bones in been modified, reduced, fragmented worldviews, aiming to stay true to the and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas. the White House. By the late 1800s or destroyed. In 1998 UNESCO traditional knowledge holders and The resident community of Lindisfarne there were about 150 natural history organised a series of workshops which custodians of these sites, giving voice of just 150 people swells with over half museums in Germany, and 250 in inspired IUCN and WWF, working with to “perspectives that reflect custodian a million visitors (and their vehicles) a the USA. indigenous groups and networks, to interpretations and realities that year. The number of pilgrimages is rising start exploring ways to integrate sacred manifest in these special places”. annually, with increasing interest in Some of the book deals, perhaps in too natural sites into their conservation Celtic Christianity; retreats on ‘God and much detail, with one of the outcomes work, recognising the urgent need to Many sacred natural sites are now Nature’ and ‘Faith and Feathers’ bring of the collecting, displaying and protect the remaining sites, and to raise small, fragmented and modified, but together spiritual and conservation classifying mania: the development of awareness and understanding of their may be the only remaining natural interests. The visitors bring economic ideas about the natural world, especially value amongst conservation managers or semi-natural places in a cultural benefits but also challenges that the theory of evolution. There is much and agencies. IUCN set up the Specialist landscape, the last places where natural threaten to compromise the integrity about Darwin and others, the events in Group on the Cultural and Spiritual regeneration occurs and certain species of the island and destroy that which their lives and the relationships between Values of Protected Areas, which led to survive. Many examples underline the people come seeking. them. Likewise there is a somewhat the development of guidelines and the rapid, accelerating loss of sites across the tedious discussion of the controversies publication of this significant, scholarly world. For example in Xishuangbanna, The experience, evidence and wisdom surrounding the exploits and ethnic and fascinating book, with its urgent China, the number of holy hills recorded in this book is distilled into ten origins of the explorer Paul Du Chaillu. appeal for conservation action. in 1984 was 400; this had declined to conclusions, offered by the editors as a These things have been chronicled 250 in 2005, and only 10-15% of these framework for conservation action. As many times before and a reference Sacred natural sites are defined as remained in a pristine state; 21 tree and well as documenting the biodiversity to them would have been more “areas of land or water having special shrub species were lost in a 30 year value and complex cultural dimensions appropriate here. spiritual significance to peoples and period. In south India, 59% of the area of sacred natural sites, and the losses,

88 89 ECOS 32(1) 2011 ECOS 32(1) 2011 threats and pressures they face, the Weeds have been our company a long stimulating book: lucid, but let down a insects and other wildlife found there, contributors make recommendations to while. They thrive with us; we change little by poor proofreading. the trapping and sampling methods decision makers at local, national and conditions – often knowingly – to their used (for example a malaise trap was international levels for conserving sacred liking. In return, they “sabotage human Martin Spray run for 7 months a year for every one of sites and supporting the communities plans” by their insistence and bad the 30 years) the garden’s habitats and that are their custodians. manners. But they also have beneficial the changes and trends apparent from effects, pointed up in the later chapters. WILDLIFE OF A GARDEN the data. The abundance, diversity and Tess Darwin While they may hide the doings of A Thirty-Year Study seasonal differences are logged, as well some (human) ne’er-do-wells, they also Jennifer Owen as longer term variation (mainly declines support kids’ play, feed a diversity of Royal Horticultural Society, 2010, 261 pages it must be said) in these over the 30 WEEDS. How vagabond plants wildlife, and hide much of the ugliness Hbk, £30, ISBN 9781907057120 years. The most diverse groups were gatecrashed civilisation and changed we insist on living amongst. Weed ichneumon wasps with 533 species the way we think about nature communities and the other life that Anyone involved in nature conservation recorded in just 3 years (1972 – 1974) RICHARD MABEY comes with them, often provide the in towns and cities knows of the and beetles, with 422 species found. Profile Books, 2010, xii+324 pp next-(second) best thing to wildness. importance of gardens for wildlife, and Hbk, £15.99, 978 1 84668 076 2 Mabey looks for example at the case of the impact of gardening (especially the There is an interesting discussion about derelict swathes of Detroit. introduction of exotic plants) on the the value of native and non-native species. Although there is much reworking urban environment. This book is the The plant used by the most moth species and expansion of material from Weeds, of course, by definition are most authoritative and detailed study is Buddleja, with 19 different caterpillars previous books, with Weeds, Mabey our fault. Like shadows, many follow of what is really going on in a suburban feeding on it; the next most used had brings us another entertaining and us around the globe. The commonest garden that we have. It completes a only nine. One criticism is that most of educating read. He weaves botanical, city weeds, says Mabey, in Europe, wonderful trilogy by Jenny following the book (145 pages) is devoted to insects ecological, historical and biographical Australia and North America are the her earlier ‘Garden Life’ published and other invertebrates. Mammals, birds strands into a fine review of the lives same bunch of species. Some of these in 1983 by Chatto and Windus and and amphibians only have 10 pages of plants. Its subject matter is both are Europeans, but the world’s most ‘The Ecology Of a Garden: the first 15 between them. This is partly, no doubt, broader and narrower than the title: troublesome weeds are tropical grasses. years’, published in 1991 by Cambridge because of the dominance of invertebrate narrower, because it deals almost only These, Mabey does not detail. Chapters University Press. data, but considerable space is devoted with weeds in Britain; broader, I think, are flavoured by such toughs as giant to their life-cycles which is mainly absent because Mabey is reluctant not to use hogweed, ground elder, and plantain; Where the first book was mainly from the vertebrate accounts. Another the interesting material he has to hand and by such less than thuggish and descriptive, Wildlife of a Garden is more issue, nothing to do with the content, even when it doesn’t tell us much about hardly rumbustious examples as self- technical, full of lists, tables and charts. It is that the book is printed on glossy weeds – indeed, sometimes we seem to heal, adonis, and pansy. All are worthy is however very readable, and enlivened paper, making for difficult reading in have wandered. as well as worrying – to various degrees. by plenty of good colour photographs. some lights. Mostly, we can enjoy pansy; but isn’t In his Foreword Chris Packham puts One should not open the book ground-elder also beautiful in flower? – his finger on the value of the book: This book is a worthy successor and expecting detailed insights into the and it tastes good, too. Hogweed and “Continuous, accurate, standardised perfect companion to Jenny’s earlier biology of weediness, or the economics knotweed are well known problems – data – scientific gold”. Jenny Owen works. Together with other invaluable of infestation, or the significance of both brought to beatify our gardens. herself says that there is “Nothing special books on garden wildlife, such as weeds to the fates of nations – or, Again, I would have liked the book to about the Leicester study garden” Michael Chinery’s The Natural History for that matter, their influence on say a little about the global context. modestly forgetting to mention that the of the Garden (Collins 1977), Chris philosophies of nature. What one does garden is special because it is tended by Baines’s How To Make a Wildlife Garden find is snippets and glimpses, and the On the issue of invasion by aliens, Mabey a most extraordinary gardener. (Elm Tree Books 1985) and many others sorts of appetisers and signposts to seems reasonably sure that the dangers since, they provide a wealth of thought- further insight that Richard is so good tend to be exaggerated – at least so far The book takes the reader through provoking information about a subject at providing. The message (at least, the as plants leaping the garden wall are the ecological, topographical and which some still treat with disdain. one I find) is that plants – even noxious concerned, but this part of the story geographical context of the garden, ones - are interesting. didn’t seem to convince. Nonetheless, a detailed reviews of the various groups of Peter Shirley

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OUTSIDE and connections between someone philosopher Will Durant: “Civilization Taylor brings many characters into his Chris McCully with a gift for language and the activity exists by geological consent subject to somewhat wandering dance. Ocean Two Ravens Press, 2011, 210 pages in the natural world which is their focus. change without notice”. But the abrupt conveyor belts, El Nino and La Nina, Pbk, £10.99, ISBN 978-1906120573 geological event is only one of the climatic seesaws, and the Little Ice Age The first books on natural history I read puppeteers. The Dance of Air and Sea are there, of course, as are Windermere Chris McCully is a writer, poet and angler. 50 years ago were written by men of reminds us that a triumvirate of forces char, coccolithophores, and lemmings. He uses fishing as his muse, another the ‘outdoor type’. They fished and spin a civilization’s fate. There are perhaps too many, and the kind of hook with which to approach shot. McCully however, does not ever thread is sometimes obscure. But there the art of looking. Fishing obliges one slip into the cliches of such writing. The Dance is a distinctly English and is much of interest here; and once more to be still, practice observation and Playing a pike he is encouraged by two mildly old-fashioned book, with a few our view of the world is shown to be too patience. The wildlife, like thoughts, workmen from a nearby house who diagrams and no photos, with flowing simple. As has been pointed out, the comes to you. come to watch. They are there fixing text without boxes, but with asides story of the warming effects of the Gulf double glazing. This engaging mixture and anecdotes at every opportunity. Stream is the climatological equivalent Few British schoolboys of my generation of the delicate and blunt in McCully The author, marine biologist and of an urban myth. did not at sometime take up fishing. came as relief to this reader. mathematician, and follower of the line In my case it was both brief and very that civilizations are helping the world Martin Spray rewarding; not in fishes caught but in Recommending such books to get warmer, elucidates the large-scale the introduction fishing gave me to professional or would be professional couplings of ocean conditions and the outdoors. It was sitting still beside conservationists I have in mind a troubling currents – especially the Gulf Stream gravel pits and a shallow river which disconnect between environmental – and those of the atmosphere, and A play by , , was my introduction to natural history science and practice as witnessed first their influence via weather on biological Penelope Skinner and outside of the cover of a book. Later, I hand. In today’s aggressive reassertion species and communities. He ponders National Theatre (25 January - went off in other directions but those of market forces, even on ‘ownership’ such questions as what ecological 2 April 2011) experiences remained as did the lessons. of state woodlands and NNR’s, it may be shifts might accompany future changes I have found much, seen much, simply that useful defences for conservation are in circulation in the oceans. And he I love plays. The joy, immediacy and by lying down or sitting quietly in being raised up by writers like McCully: highlights the importance of long-term ease of being educated, informed wild places. anglers, mountaineers, long distance ecological research projects and long and entertained, without the effort of cyclists and walkers. These should data-sets: the Gloucestershire roadside reading. Like buses, three plays tackling Outside is a beguiling title. Relocated to not be overlooked. Outside is well verge data that Arthur Willis started climate change rolled into London the Netherlands in 2007, McCully found produced, finely written and illustrated collecting at Bibury 40 years ago have earlier this year. Eager to explore the himself facing uncertainty about his in black and white by McCully’s sadly few parallels. big issues of our age, the National role in life; not a crisis, more a serious own photographs. Theatre commissioned ‘Greenland’. question for someone who is used to Reading the book gives an impression Four playwrights collaborated to tackle forming responses, finding expression Barry Larking of the intricacy of the dance, and the different themes and spent six months for those thoughts. This was the genesis subtleness of many of the effects on interviewing scientists, politicians, of Outside – walking beside canals species and communities, both aquatic philosophers and businessmen, and looking at what he saw for some THE DANCE OF AIR AND SEA and terrestrial. Taylor predicts, for attempting to comprehend our reflection of himself as an observer: How oceans, weather, and example, an increase in kidney stones. changing relationship with the planet. “What was I for? Where did I fit in?” life link together It also makes one wonder at how little The outcome of this knotty question Arnold H. Taylor attention we – whether uninterested Connected but separate narratives was unplanned and yet grew into a Oxford University Press, 2011, person in the street, conservationist, included a fieldworker who had spent group of writings “around 1000–1200” xiiii+288 pages or ecologist – tend to give to marine years counting guillemots and observing words about fishing, published in an Hbk, £16.99, ISBN 978-0-19-956559-7 ecology: yet as Taylor points out, for spring coming earlier. A teenager angling journal (obviously, a rather instance, marine diatoms provide discovering activism was suspended literate one). These short essays gave As I write this in March 2011, a few one fifth of Earth’s primary (i.e. in a shopping trolley whizzing above the resultant book its form, a diary in days ago events vindicated the blunt photosynthetic) productivity. the stage, and superfluous plastic some sense, of thoughts speculations message of sharp words of American packaging was dumped onto the stage.

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Sitting on the front row I felt the full Was the play just preaching to the exponential, or other such functions) or force of the weather and was snowed converted? While I have to declare an ought one to compare the linear model on by hundreds of pieces of paper interest in conservation, I do think it to a second order polynomial?”. tumbling earthwards. largely succeeded in engaging a non- specialist intelligent theatre going For non-specialists who persevere, and of Another strand was a scientist whose crowd. The feedback gained from the course also for the scientists the book is new model challenged today’s mantra ‘Talkaoke’ discussion with audience mainly aimed at, there are sections less- of limiting global warming to less than members afterwards, showed the steeped in such technical details. Insightful two degrees above pre-industrial levels, production had encouraged debate chapters are focused on topics such as instead predicting a catastrophic four and made people think. It’s hard to the ecosystem effects of recolonising wolf degree rise by the end of the century. say though whether it would have populations in Banff and Yellowstone One character made the point that appealed to the average man in the National Parks in North America, studies if smoke creeps towards you, do you street, if such a person exists. I do think of a snowmobile wolf hunt in northern ignore your instincts to act if everyone however, there is general confusion Canada and an analysis of differing else is ignoring the approaching fire? in the populace between weather husbandry techniques to reduce wolf Being made aware of this effect makes and climate, having overheard people predation on livestock in Alberta. you more likely to question following questioning global warming’s existence the masses who do nothing. with the last two winters being so cold. The results of some of the research There are of course, deeper discussions presented in the book are revealing, Lyndsey Marshal was outstanding going on within some scientific and not least those from Isle Royale, where playing Ed Millband’s assistant environmental circles, on the flux of the the authors conclude that nearly 50 negotiating in Copenhagen. The social climate, such as the debate between years of predator-prey interactions politics of all the delegates at the Peter Taylor and Alastair McIntosh on are inadequate to predict future wolf- meeting was fascinating. My impression the BANC web site. wolves across much of their range in moose dynamics on the island. This post Copenhagen was that many the northern hemisphere. Topics include is based on the fact that the first two people blamed China, but the reality The written word is wonderful, but in advances in the genetic studies of wolf decades of studies recorded markedly was more complex. I did learn that order to make environmental issues populations, the dynamics of wolf- different behaviour dynamics than Obama had been concerned about relevant and reach as many people as moose interactions on Isle Royale in the subsequent two decades. This the weather closing in and anxious to possible, we need to use a whole array Lake Superior, the effects of inbreeding unpredictability could almost be taken leave, prematurely announced to the of measures, from TV documentaries depression in the recolonising as symbolic for the future of the wolf press that a deal had been done. The and social media, to plays. Scandinavian wolf population, and itself, particularly in regions such as smaller developing countries were not studies of the ecology and management Scandinavia where the long-term impressed and rebelled. Jocelyn Murgatroyd of wolf populations in eastern Europe. viability of the small and genetically- isolated population is tenuous. Given The reviews for ‘Greenland’ were This is not a popular book for a the ambitious scope of the title of the mixed at best. Some critics thought it THE WORLD OF WOLVES general audience. It is squarely aimed book, one surprising omission is any disjointed, but to me the different story New Perspectives on Ecology, at the specialist, and indeed some of coverage of wolves in Russia, where a lines flowed easily. I believe they got Behaviour and Management the chapters are dense and almost significant proportion of the world’s the balance right between presenting Edited by Marco Musiani, Luigi Boitani, inaccessible to a lay person. To get the wolf population lives. information and keeping people and Paul C Paquet. most out of this title, readers will need interested in the story. Relationships University of Calgary Press, 2010, to be comfortable with understanding In conclusion, the book provides an up were formed, characters were funny and 398 pages, £23.50 questions such as “More generally, is it to date account of recent wolf research, well observed. Everyone was impressed Pbk, ISBN 978-1-55238-269-1 appropriate to compare the parsimony of but is more suited for experts and by the polar bear’s appearance. Probably a linear model (e.g., y=a0 + a1X) with any scientists than wilderness advocates and animatronics, possibly a person inside, This is a serious, heavyweight book of the non-linear models that possess the non-specialists. life-like certainly. that presents a wealth of data and same number of parameters as a linear information from recent studies about expression (e.g., hyperbolic, inverse, Alan Watson Featherstone

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