Wildlife of the Caribbean– book review
By Gabriel Thoumi Wildlife of the Caribbean is the only book of its kind. It is a comprehensive guide to the fauna and flora of the Caribbean Islands, containing color images on a broad range of animals and plants including birds, mammals, plants, seashells, fish, turtles, cetaceans, and others. The primary goal of the Wildlife of the Caribbean is to promote an interest and knowledge by locals and tourists in the natural environment...
A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania – book review
By Gabriel Thoumi A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania provides the most up-to-date guidebook for trekking in Tanzania. It includes detailed species accounts and delightful photos of 135 of the larger mammals of Tanzania. It is the first book to include both marine mammals and recently discovered species of Tanzania. While Tanzania has over 340 recorded mammal species, over 200 of these are rodents, bats, and shrews. For...
The Amazing World of Flyingfish – book review
By Gabriel Thoumi Do you remember when you were a kid and you heard about flyingfish for the first time? I do. I was amazed. Fish that could fly! I wondered how far they flew and if they flew for real. The first time I saw flyingfish in person, I had the good fortune to be sailing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, south to north. We were giddy with delight to see these amazing small fish of the sea. In The Amazing World of...
A Sparrowhawk’s Lament: How British Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring– book review
By Gabriel Thoumi Great Britain is known as a nation of birdwatchers – or twitchers – who will travel to great lengths to conserve bird habitat and to observe birds in the wild. Yet in certain circumstances, Great Britain’s birds of prey are persecuted. This cultural dichotomy is explored in wonderful detail in A Sparrowhawk’s Lament: How British Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring. Great Britain has 15 species of birds of prey,...
Birds of Kenya’s Rift Valley – book review
By Gabriel Thoumi Birds of Kenya’s Rift Valley is another Adam Scott Kennedy tour de force! Following up on the Kennedys’ series of bird and mammal books for Kenyan and Tanzanian travelers, previously described here on Mongabay.com. The Birds of Kenya’s Rift Valley is ideal for the traveler on safari visiting the Rift Valley’s national parks, such as Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Mount Longonot, and Hell’s Gate. The...
The Extreme Life of the Sea – book review
By Gabriel Thoumi The Extreme Life of the Sea, written by father and son team Stephen R. Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi, is simply a tour de force, a splendid must read for any natural history enthusiast. In The Extreme Life of the Sea, we are taken through the challenges of the Earth’s oceans. From its great depths and abysses to extreme pressures and anaerobic environments, and in each location, we learn about the remarkable...
Change on the roof of the world: new book explores climate change and the Tibetan Plateau
Excerpt from the new book Meltdown: China’s Environmental Crisis by Sean Gallagher Adapted By Caroline D’Angelo With soaring mountains and vast grasslands, the Tibetan Plateau covers approximately one quarter of China. The plateau’s glaciers hold the largest store of freshwater on earth outside the North and South Poles. Though remote and sparsely populated, the plateau is of crucial importance to China and its downstream...
Carl Safina on the gulf spill (video)
Last month on the one year anniversary of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (dubbed the US’s worst environmental disaster), author Carl Safina spoke about the impacts of the spill and the even bigger disaster that the media has overlooked. Safina has recently come out with a book called: A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout. For a recent interview with Carl Safina: The ocean crisis: hope in troubled waters, an...
