reading notes

by David Quammen

ISBN: 0393051404

Indian lions, Australian crocodiles, Romanian bears, and Siberian tigers, oh my! Quammen, while noting other types of predators, keeps his focus on these four keystone species in this fascinating and hefty tome.

What are keystone species? They are animals that are “of inordinate importance to the overall structure of an ecosystem.” In other words, the whole system will fall out of balance without these beasties. They tend to be predators, and thus directly keep species under them in the food chain in check. Quammen does a wonderful job of explaining concepts like keystone species and trophic cascade, as well as explaining what to wear on a snowmobile trek in the Russian Far East and how to tan a crocodile skin.

The way that Quammen ranges from serious ecological discussion, to descriptions of slurping Maldhari tea, to musing about the meaning of it all is a strength of the book. (He is not without quirks, though — I think nearly every time he sat down to eat with extremely rural or indigenous folk, it was the best type of whatever they were serving that he’d ever eaten.) Reading this book is following a curious, intelligent mind on a mission.

That mission is to explore what man-eating predators mean: what is their place in the world? what should it be? what do they mean for people — people near the predators as well as people halfway round the world? It is a wide-ranging mission, and Quammen knows he is asking some questions that aren’t really answerable. He insists that alpha predators are of psychic import, yet he does not sentimentalize these animals. He always points out when his conjectures are not well-grounded in science. He writes himself into the narrative in ways that do not disguise the privilege of his position.

The result is that I respected Quammen’s point of view, generally agreed with him, and appreciated that he considered the complexity of the situations he was investigating. As he points out, there is a big difference between advocating a zero-tolerance, protectionist stance regarding tigers when you live thousands of miles away from any, and when a tiger has eaten your dog in the backyard. There is a difference between insisting lions should be left alone in human-free habitat when you aren’t the human feeding your family with the proceeds of keeping cattle you graze within the lions’ hunting range. Quammen calls this the Muskrat Conundrum: “it is inevitable that the costs exacted by alpha predators be borne disproportionatley by poor people.” He asks how we should redistribute these costs, and the benefits. Quammen isn’t afraid to throw out theories, or, in this case, a “notion” that “the extermination of alpha predators is fundamental to the colonial enterprise.”

There is just so much packed into this book: stories of escape from crocodile attacks, bear hunting with The Shot One (Nicolae Ceausescu), Hell’s Angels clubs ordering pickled croc heads, a discussion of the Alien movies, UN population reports, and newly discovered ancient cave paintings. Not to mention copious notes and bibliography. Quammen’s prose is both erudite and compulsively readable; it is one of the few 500+ page books I’m tempted to shove at people and insist they read. Think PBS, The Learning Channel, and Discovery all combined, only better because this is in book form and can dig deeper and take its time.

The one thing this book does not have (save the dustjacket illustration, with the outstreched tiger arm that looks nearly human) are illustrations: no images of any kind are reproduced. I think it works well. We all have pictures of crocodiles, lions, tigers, and bears in our minds — and part of Quammen’s project is getting us to examine the pictures in our heads. He also wants us to realize that unless we are luckier than he thinks we will be, someday pictures will be all we have of these marvelous creatures. Highly recommended.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2004 at 9:49 pm and is filed under nonfiction.