I’m often moved to ranting whenever I’m presented with a reminder of one of the many extinctions our species has committed. A recent rant was inspired by a new book from Princeton University Press: Prof. Gísli Pálsson’s “The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction,” a gripping narrative history of the the extinction of the Great Auk.
With vivid and compelling illustrations provided by Gabriel Ugueto, Prof. Garrod leads his readers – with the enthusiasm about his subjects for which he has become so well known and respected – through what is presently known about this very curious Ordovician creature.
Mark Avery and I have certainly been in sync (as the kids say these days) with what books we’ve been reading. No sooner had I picked up the recently arrived advance review copy of Michael Blencowe’s forthcoming book “Gone; a Search for What Remains of the World’s Extinct Creatures” than I happened to open up Mark’s blog to see what he had reviewed this Sunday and what-do-you-know; it was “Gone” (the book “Gone,” that is; Mark’s blog is very much still there).
As of 2019, the largest carnivore (well, mostly, and at least, officially) in the UK is the Badger, an adult boar (male) of which is, on average, just over ten kilograms in weight and just under a meter in length. The largest herbivore in the same region is the Red Deer, the stag of which […]