ANIMALS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

by Margaret Ayer ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1970

The mountain tribes of Southeast Asians will not speak the name of the tiger, fearing to attract it to the area. Instead they use some complimentary substitute name, such as 'the master.'"" Pragmatic and mythological folkways alike are inseparably intermeshed with zoological material here--appropriately insofar as the integration reflects cultural patterns, if problematically for reference. The beginning sets the scene (briefly mentioning the effect of the present war on the terrain) and indicates the import of animals in native art, literature, even chronology (Year of the. . . ); succeeding chapters incorporate the lore as it corresponds to ""Life in the Waters,"" for instance--fish being of small intelligence die easily and may therefore be killed by Buddhists for food--or life ""Along the Coast"" where adaptable species cope with the ebb and flow of tides until they're scooped up. On the house gecko (Malay for lizard) called a chinchuck after its clucking sound, a felicitous eating image: ""An insect vanishes in a flash, while the chinchuck pauses for a moment with a rather astonished air, like a child who has swallowed its wad of chewing gum."" Indigenous--see the section on birds flocked with stories--or not, as re carnivores, reptiles, and rodents, the depth and difficulty of the data vary unevenly: a whole chapter deals just with ""The Largest Animal--The Elephant""--how it's captured and domesticated for work use, its former status as the mount for duelers, the unusual albino types over which Thailand and Burma once warred. Small surprises abound throughout what amounts less to a utilitarian (although indexed) book, than to an edifying enterprise--biological, ecological, anthropological.

Pub Date: June 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION