AT HOME IN THE WILD

by Frances & Dorothy Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1977

The Woods' introduction points out that most endangered and extinct animals have become so because ""something has happened to their homes,"" and they end with a list of those--grizzly bear, Mexican duck, etc.--whose homes have been disturbed. But often that theme (and the title) seem merely tacked on to a routine rundown of endangered or protected animals, their life cycles and habits. A change in homes would not seem to apply, for example, to the brown pelican endangered by DDT and fishermen, the pronghorn which ""came back"" when killing it was outlawed, the whales doomed by the whalers--or to such examples of benevolent interference as the transplantation to foster parents of excess whooping crane eggs, as it's known that only one from each nest survives. With countless other examples from buffalo to trout this could be read as one more progress report on American animals at the edge--but the authors' fusty first-person anecdotes, and graceless prose (""Our northern boundary, too, with Canada, has some interesting peripheral animaLs--including the boundary between Alaska and Canada"") make it a dull job.

Pub Date: June 1, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION