Crocodile (eBook)

Dan Wylie (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2013 | 1. Auflage
224 Seiten
Reaktion Books (Verlag)
978-1-78023-123-5 (ISBN)

Infos

'Tick, tock, tick, tock.' Thanks to Peter Pan, this sound, if heard near water, means run: a hungry crocodile is on its way. J. M. Barrie isn't fully to blame for spreading the word that crocodiles are our enemies, or at least the enemies of one-handed pirates—innumerable songs, stories, and legends have characterized these reptiles as a symbol of pitiless predation and insatiable appetite. Tracking twenty-three crocodilian species from India and Egypt to Africa, Australia, and beyond, Crocodile advocates that we do a complete one-eighty in our views of these magnificent creatures.

Dan Wylie traces the crocodile in myth, art, and literature, demonstrating that though we commonly associate the reptiles with ferocity and deceit, they have also often been respected and revered in human history. Discussing how crocodiles were all but wiped out in the middle of the twentieth century by hunters and skin traders and are now making a comeback, he reveals that, as apex predators, they are today an increasingly important indicator of the health of an ecosystem and may outlive humans like they did dinosaurs. Presenting a concise, cogent case for why we should respect these fearsome animals, this beautifully illustrated volume is a tribute to one of the world's ultimate survivors.

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From the croc that terrorized Captain Hook in Peter Pan to the leviathans depicted in films like Lake Placid and Dinocroc, innumerable songs, stories and legends have characterized crocodilians as pitiless predators with insatiable appetites. Yet although we commonly associate crocodiles, alligators and gharials with ferocity and deceit, they have also often been respected and revered in human history. Crocodile tracks 23 crocodilian species from India and Egypt to North America, Africa, Australia and beyond, and compares what science has discovered about the lives of these reptiles with their depictions in myth, art and literature around the world.Crocodiles were all but wiped out in the middle of the twentieth century by hunters and skin traders and are now making a comeback; as apex predators, they are today an increasingly important indicator of the health of an ecosystem. Indeed, they may outlive humans, just as they did the dinosaurs. Presenting a concise, cogent case for why we should respect these fearsome animals, this beautifully illustrated volume is a tribute to one of the world’s ultimate survivors.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.7.2013
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Natur / Ökologie
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Naturführer
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 1-78023-123-7 / 1780231237
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78023-123-5 / 9781780231235