THE EMPTY ARK

by Philip K. Crowe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 12, 1967

Philip Crowe, a retired State Department official who travels three months of the year at his own expense, describes here three trips he made for the World Wildlife Fund to estimate the survival status of rare species and what is being done to protect them. In East Africa and the Middle East he tracked the addax, ibex, white oryx, spoke with leaders (including Selassie) about conservation plans. In Venezuela he noted the red siskin ""which has the footloose habit of mating with canaries when kept in captivity,"" along the Amazon, crocodiles (he considers himself one of their few friends), in Peru, vicuna, the even rarer chinchilla, the guano birds. His South American sojourn included the rarely visited Falklands. He pursued the Tahitian fly catcher, dampens concern about the Australian kangaroo despite the huge catches now made annually. And in Outer Mongolia he sought ""the only true wild horse left in the world."" Lacking Gerald Durrell's narrative flair, Mr. Crowe's Ark seems destined for the archives, engendering the greatest interest among conservationists, scientists.

Pub Date: June 12, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION