Witness to Extinction
Price:
$32.95 (06)Description
The tragic recognition of the extinction of the Yangtze River Dolphin or baiji in 2007 became a major news story and sent shockwaves around the world. It made a romantic story, for the baiji was a unique and beautiful creature that features in many Chinese legends and folk tales. The Goddess of the Yangtze, as it was known, was also the lone representative of an entire and ancient branch of the Tree of Life. But perhaps the greater tragedy is that its status as one of the world's most threatened mammals had been widely recognized, yet despite wide publicity virtually no international funds became available.Samuel Turvey here tells the story of the plight of the Yangtze River Dolphin from his unique perspective as a conservation biologist deeply involved in the struggle to save the dolphin. This is both a celebration of a beautiful and remarkable animal that once graced one of China's greatest rivers, its natural history and its role as a cultural symbol; and also a personal, eyewitness account of the failures of policy and the struggle to get funds that led to its tragic demise. It is a true cautionary tale that we must learn from, for there are countless other threatened species that will suffer from the same human mistakes, and whose loss we shall not know until it is too late.
Features
- An impassioned account of how, despite its being widely acknowledged as one of the world's most endangered species, the Yangtze River Dolphin became extinct
- Reveals a picture of a beautiful creature now tragically lost, describing its natural history and behavior, and explaining what made it so unique
- Explores the mythology, culture, and natural history of the China's greatest river, the Yangtze
- A genuine first-hand account: Turvey was heavily involved in the struggle to save the dolphin and was the lead author of the 2007 paper which declared that the animal was probably extinct
- Looks beyond this animal to other critically endangered species, and asks what lessons we have to learn both about the politics of extinction and the management of unique ecosystems
Reviews
"A compelling narrative...In a style that evokes Dian Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist, Turvey weaves natural history, ecology, and politics into a tapestry that illustrates the pattern of human impact across the globe. Turvey provides a valuable resource for conservation and restoration professionals to debate very important issues for biodiversity."--Journal of Environmental Quality
"A must-read perspective for those who think of conservation as a vigorous fight to save biodiversity rather than an academic discipline. Written from the point of view of a scientist actively involved in the fight to save the dolphin, the book seethes with personal anger while at the same time being highly scholarly."--Quarterly Review of Biology
"Turvey fuels his pages with precise rage at the bureaucratic indifference, middling science and international hypocrisy that led to the species death of the whitefin river dolphin, or baiji, from the Yangtze River in China."--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Withering in his criticism of the Chinese bureaucracy, the rivalries between competing research institutes, the reluctance of outside scientists to become involved, and the frequently self-serving machinations of environmental activists, Turvey's book is a harsh cautionary tale that's honest and realistic about what's needed to save species facing extinction."-- Publishers Weekly Online
"Recommended: This book makes the extinction of the baiji personal. The dolphin's disappearance is an insult to all of society, but most pointedly to the few who saw the end coming and tried to do something useful beyond talking, convening meetings, and publishing status reports. This book will provide a point of entry into the limited scientific literature on this lost species. It will also give readers a taste of the life of a person dedicated to not letting this type of extinction happen again in another context."--CHOICE
Product Details
256 pages; 12 B&W halftones; 5-1/2 x 8-1/2; ISBN13: 978-0-19-954947-4ISBN10: 0-19-954947-8About the Author(s)
Samuel Turvey is Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology, a department of the Zoological Society of London. He is a conservation biologist with a principal interest in the history and prehistory of human-caused extinctions and in developing conservation strategies for today's threatened species. He was deeply involved with the conservation efforts surrounding the Yangtze River dolphin, and was the lead author of the 2007 paper in Biology Letters which declared that it was probably extinct, generating tremendous international media attention. He has published numerous other academic papers in a range of scientific journals, including Nature.
