1999. Assuming that is the one being referred to here?
Animal books that other ZooChatters should read
- Thread starter birdsandbats
- Start date
Interestingly, it appears to be the 1999 book
I strongly recommend you snap it up, birdsandbats!
I have these Errol Fuller books too and wholeheartedly agree that they are "must read" books.
I also recommend Errol Fuller's "The Lost Birds of Paradise".
However, for anybody seriously interested in dodos, I think that
The Dodo and the Solitaire: A Natural History (Jolyon C. Parish; 2013)
is a better book on the subject than Fuller's dodo book.
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Got it!Interestingly, it appears to be the 1999 book
Along with the Durrell and Attenborough books already cited - which I can strongly recommend myself - I think the following books by Errol Fuller are also very much on the "must-read" list for any Zoochatters with a serious interest in recently-extinct species:
Lost Animals
Dodo - From Extinction to Icon
Extinct Birds
The Great Auk
They are listed in order of ease-of-obtaining; the first is still in print, the second reasonably cheap and easy to find second-hand, the third easy to find second-hand but pricey, and the final one difficult to obtain and usually pricey when you do.... although I struck lucky and found a copy for 20 quid in Oxfam a year or two ago
Of these, the first and the latter two are the most important; Lost Animals reproduces photos of a great number of species or subspecies which (although now extinct) were photographed whilst extant, in some cases depicting the only such records known; Extinct Birds is a comprehensive look at all extinct bird species and subspecies known from good material from the historical era; The Great Auk is a monograph compiling more or less everything known about the species in question, including images of every extant taxidermy mount.
For anyone else interested in The Great Auk, there are still several used copies available on Amazon for around ~$20 US.Got it!
I just read The Last Butterflies by Nick Haddad, highly recommend it!
Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned this one (I forgot about it earlier) but everyone should read A Sand County Almanac.
Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned this one (I forgot about it earlier) but everyone should read A Sand County Almanac.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Havent seen these mentioned yet, but with regards to species conservation of endangered Brazilian species there are two books written for popular audiences which IMO stand well above the rest.
Faces in the forest - Karen B. Strier : About her field studies of the Muriqui (Northern subspecies) in the Atlantic rainforest, the behavioural ecology of this primate and challenges of conservation.
Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird - Tony Juniper : Engagingly written book on the natural history of the Spix macaw and the challenges facing its ex-situ / in-situ conservation.
Faces in the forest - Karen B. Strier : About her field studies of the Muriqui (Northern subspecies) in the Atlantic rainforest, the behavioural ecology of this primate and challenges of conservation.
Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird - Tony Juniper : Engagingly written book on the natural history of the Spix macaw and the challenges facing its ex-situ / in-situ conservation.
I've nearly finished Memoirs Of A Coarse Zoo Keeper by George Jacobs. A really good read detailing the trials and tribulations, alongside some very dubious practices, about being a zoo keeper in the sixties and seventies. A massive eye opener to someone born in 1985.
Along with the Durrell and Attenborough books already cited - which I can strongly recommend myself - I think the following books by Errol Fuller are also very much on the "must-read" list for any Zoochatters with a serious interest in recently-extinct species:
Lost Animals
Dodo - From Extinction to Icon
Extinct Birds
The Great Auk
They are listed in order of ease-of-obtaining; the first is still in print, the second reasonably cheap and easy to find second-hand, the third easy to find second-hand but pricey, and the final one difficult to obtain and usually pricey when you do.... although I struck lucky and found a copy for 20 quid in Oxfam a year or two ago
Of these, the first and the latter two are the most important; Lost Animals reproduces photos of a great number of species or subspecies which (although now extinct) were photographed whilst extant, in some cases depicting the only such records known; Extinct Birds is a comprehensive look at all extinct bird species and subspecies known from good material from the historical era; The Great Auk is a monograph compiling more or less everything known about the species in question, including images of every extant taxidermy mount.
The GREAT AUK signed book by ERROL FULLER + History & Photo 100% PROOF | eBay
There are 3 signed copies of The Great Auk available on eBay at the moment...
For bird lovers I can highly recommend the Poyser monograpf on The Sparrows by Dennis Summers -Smith. It is a fascinating survey of a widespread and successful, but often disregarded group of birds and has a lot of interesting observations. For anyone interested in island bigeography Lost Land of the Dodo by Anthony Cheke is an indispensable overview of the entire history of the extinctions on the Mauritius, Reunion and the other Indian Ocean islands
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
In addition to the two excellent David Quammen books you mentioned I would reccomend "Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic" by the same author.
Although it isn't directly animal focused it is nevertheless a very chilling and relevant book. It connects zoonotic pandemics such as Ebola , Avian influenza , Mahrlberg virus , hanta virus , Sars, AIDS and HIV to their emergence and spillover into human populations as a result of ecological disequilibrium such as deforestation, habitat loss and bushmeat hunting .
Extremely relevant to conservation of biodiversity in the tropics and to human health literally everywhere on earth.
That is definitely an excellent book and one that I would also definitely recommend.
I have read it a few times already and as you already explained it very much focuses on the (re-)emergence of (potentially) very devastating diseases as the result of human influence on nature. It is a chilling book but also very interesting.
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I couldn't agree more , I think we should all acquiant ourselves with the topic of zoonoses. "Spillover" is the kind of book that whenever I glance the spine protruding from my book shelf sends a shiver up my spine literally.
The Search for Lost Frogs by Robin Moore was a very interesting on amphibian rediscoveries.
Are any zoochat members seeking copy of Fowler & Cubas, editors. 2001. Biology, Medicine and Surgery of South American Wild Animals. Iowa State University Press. 536 pages, used-like new.
I find it surprising that The Sixth Extinction wasn't mentioned yet, though I imagine most on this forum have already read it.
If anyone is into the deep-sea, Claire Nouvian's The Deep, is worth a read, and a look. Lots of nice deep-sea photographs in there.
I haven't read the book but it sounds like it got something right.
The most important things that come to my mind from having read that (now somewhat dated) book and now living through Covid-19 is that Sars-Cov2/Covid-19 has quite a few characteristics of the worst-case scenarios or "The Next Big One" pandemic discussed in the book, that there are some disturbing parallels between past pandemics and the current, such as governments trying to cover things up, and that collectively and at the political and economic level we really haven't learned anything from past pandemics and warnings (such as Ebola, Sars and Mers), and that we really will have to make some changes this time to prevent another pandemic in the future.