Extinct And Vanishing Mammals Of The Western Hemisphere With The Marine Species Of All The Oceans

Excerpt from Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Western Hemisphere, Vol. 11: With the Marine Species of All the Oceans Dr. Francis Harper, of Philadelphia, under arrangements made by Dr. Phillips, undertook this work and devoted many months of care ful research to the preparation of material on the Old World mammals, treating in his report (as yet unpublished) about 400 forms. Dr. Allen made use of a special bibliography of references to literature collected by Dr. Harper, and with this as a basis prepared the present work on the New World and marine mammals, assembling much additional material to complete it. The harper-allen study could never have been brought to its present state of completion had it not been for the most generous financial assistance received in the form of gifts from many individual over a period of seven years, a special grant from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society (1937, No. And a publi cation grant from the Boone and Crockett Club and the Conservation Committee of the New York Zoological Society. The American Committee takes this opportunity to express its gratitude to Dr. Allen and to Dr. Harper for their months of work in the preparation of material for reports on recently extinct and vanishing mammals of the world. We wish also to thank the forty financial contributors of information from many parts of the world. We are indebted further to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, whose famous library proved of inestimable assistance, and to the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, for the use Of its library and other facilities. Thanks are due also to Dr. John Eric Hill, of the American Museum of Natural History, for his contributions to Dr. Allen's volume, and to Mr. Paul H. Oehser, editor Of the United States National Museum, for the editorial supervision of this volume through the press and for the preparation of the index. The draw ings for the illustrations were made especially for this work by Mr. Earl L. Poole, of the Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The rapid growth of the American environmental movement in recent decades obscures the fact that long before the first Earth Day and the passage of the Endangered Species Act, naturalists and concerned citizens recognized—and worried about—the problem of human-caused extinction. As Mark V. Barrow reveals in Nature’s Ghosts, the threat of species loss has haunted Americans since the early days of the republic. From Thomas Jefferson’s day—when the fossil remains of such fantastic lost animals as the mastodon and the woolly mammoth were first reconstructed—through the pioneering conservation efforts of early naturalists like John James Audubon and John Muir, Barrow shows how Americans came to understand that it was not only possible for entire species to die out, but that humans themselves could be responsible for their extinction. With the destruction of the passenger pigeon and the precipitous decline of the bison, professional scientists and wildlife enthusiasts alike began to understand that even very common species were not safe from the juggernaut of modern, industrial society. That realization spawned public education and legislative campaigns that laid the foundation for the modern environmental movement and the preservation of such iconic creatures as the bald eagle, the California condor, and the whooping crane. A sweeping, beautifully illustrated historical narrative that unites the fascinating stories of endangered animals and the dedicated individuals who have studied and struggled to protect them, Nature’s Ghosts offers an unprecedented view of what we’ve lost—and a stark reminder of the hard work of preservation still ahead.

In The Empty Ocean, acclaimed author and artist Richard Ellis tells the story of our continued plunder of life in the sea and weighs the chances for its recovery. Through fascinating portraits of a wide array of creatures, he introduces us to the many forms of sea life that humans have fished, hunted, and collected over the centuries, from charismatic whales and dolphins to the lowly menhaden, from sea turtles to cod, tuna, and coral. Rich in history, anecdote, and surprising fact, Richard Ellis’s descriptions bring to life the natural history of the various species, the threats they face, and the losses they have suffered. Killing has occurred on a truly stunning scale, with extinction all too often the result, leaving a once-teeming ocean greatly depleted. But the author also finds instances of hope and resilience, of species that have begun to make remarkable comebacks when given the opportunity. Written with passion and grace, and illustrated with Richard Ellis’s own drawings, The Empty Ocean brings to a wide audience a compelling view of the damage we have caused to life in the sea and what we can do about it. "