Dynamic naturalist Michael Blencowe has travelled the globe to uncover
the fascinating backstories of eleven extinct animals, which he shares
with charm and insight in Gone.
'Really, really well written' - CHRIS PACKHAM
Inspired by his childhood obsession with extinct species, Blencowe
takes us around the globe - from the forests of New Zealand to the
ferries of Finland, from the urban sprawl of San Francisco to an
inflatable crocodile on Brighton's Widewater Lagoon. Spanning five
centuries, from the last sighting of New Zealand's Upland Moa to the
2012 death of the Pinta Island Giant Tortoise, Lonesome George, his
memoir is peppered with the accounts of the hunters and naturalists of
the past as well as revealing conversations with the custodians of
these totemic animals today.
Featuring striking artworks that resurrect these forgotten
creatures, each chapter focuses on a different animal, revealing
insights into their unique characteristics and habitats; the
history of their discovery and just how and when they came to be
lost to us.
Blencowe inspects the only known remains of a Huia egg at Te Papa, New
Zealand; views hundreds of specimens of deceased Galapagos tortoises and
Xerces Blue butterflies in the California Academy of Sciences; and pays
his respects to the only soft tissue remains of the Dodo in the world.
Warm, wry and thought-provoking, Gone shows that while each
extinction story is different, all can inform how we live in the
future. Discover and learn from the stories of the:
- Great Auk. A majestic flightless seabird of the North Atlantic and
the 'original penguin'.
- Spectacled Cormorant. The 'ludicrous bird' from the remote islands
of the Bering Sea.
- Steller's Sea Cow. An incredible ten tonne dugong with skin as
furrowed as oak bark.
- Upland Moa. The improbable birds and the one-time rulers of New
Zealand.
- Huia. The unique bird with two beaks and twelve precious tail
feathers.
- South Island Kōkako. The 'orange-wattled crow', New Zealand's
elusive Grey Ghost.
- Xerces Blue. The gossamer-winged butterfly of the San Francisco
sand dunes.
- Pinta Island Tortoise. The slow-moving, long-lived giant of the
Galápagos Islands.
- Dodo. The superstar of extinction.
- Schomburgk's Deer. A mysterious deer from the wide floodplains of
central Thailand.
Ivell's Sea Anemone. A see-through sea creature known only from
southern England.
A modern must-read for anyone interested in protecting our earth and its
incredible wildlife, Gone is an evocative call to conserve what we
have before it is lost forever.
