Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare: An Ecologist's Perspective

by Paul Colinvaux

Book Overview

Here is one of the most provocative, wide-ranging, and delightful books ever written about our environment. Paul Colinvaux takes a penetrating look at the science of ecology, bringing to his subject both profound knowledge and an enthusiasm that will encourage a greater understanding of the environment and of the efforts of those who seek to preserve it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691023646
• ISBN13: 9780691023649
• Release Date: November 1979
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

It will help you know more about the natural world

This book is clearly written introduction to various aspects of the natural world. Colinvaux tells us why every species has its niche, why big fierce animals are rare. He discusses the efficiency of life, the nation state of trees, the social lives of plants. He asks why the sea is blue, takes a look at the ocean system, the regulation of the air, considers what hunting animals do, speaks about the social imperatives of space, and why there are so many species. He concludes with considerations of the stability of Nature, and People's place in it. Among the most illuminating discussions for me was his explanation of the differences between the red- earth unfarmable land of the tropics, and the brown farmable earth of the temperate. His description of the relatively empty - of- life sea, the 'desert sea' as he calls it was also informative. His whole description of how size in plants and animals helps determine their overall frequency and mass was too , for me, something new. Most of the subjects he writes about are ones I do not know enough to really question or contradict him about. But I can attest that the work is a tremendously interesting one.

Everything you always needed to know about ecology*

*But didn't know that you wanted to ask. Actually, when I purchased this book from Princeton University Press, I thought it would be about the lives of tigers, leopards, jaguars and other big, fierce animals. I've read and enjoyed a few such zoological tomes over the course of a lifetime---on seagulls, on penguins, or koalas---though my usual fare lies in literature, history, travel, and anthropology. So, when I finally took Colinvaux's work off my shelf, I was rather surprised to find that it was about the whole circle of Life. I kept on reading though and now am glad I did. If you feel yourself lacking a scientific background, like your reviewer, and you have some basic curiosity about the field of ecology, this book is going to be just the ticket. The author has a genius for keeping it simple, keeping it clear. From the idea that every species has its niche, he expands to a host of other topics like the amazing inefficiency of plant life in converting available energy into growth (around 2%, compared to the efficiency of human-made engines, at least 20%); the grouping of trees in forests, the social life of plants; why the sea is blue (no life in it); the composition of soils in different parts of the world; how different sets of plant communities succeed one another as the environment changes; the peaceful coexistence of the vast majority of plants and animals instead of the vicious "law of the jungle" sometimes depicted in other literature. I'm just scratching the surface here. Many of the topics explored bear on the hot issues of the day, for instance global warming, pollution, and exploitation of earth's resources. Each topic is very understandable. If I were a high school or community college biology/ecology/botany teacher, I bet I could make a couple semesters' lectures out of this one book, it's that good. When the author tries to analyze human behavior and geopolitical rivalries on the basis of ecological principles in the last chapter, I think he falls between the cracks. Certainly human beings are animals only recently graduated from hunting and gathering. Their child-bearing habits must hark back to the Ice Age as Colinvaux says. But to try to predict human history on the basis of ecology alone is risky. The predictions made in the 1970s already look out of date. Other than this small criticism of one chapter, I heartily recommend this book. And it seems that the scary, ferocious Tyranosaurus rex (largest predator that ever lived) is a myth. It was a lazy carrion-eater. Ah well, sorry, Rex, you looked great in Jurassic Park !

How rare! A thinker who can write!

Interesting, humorous, lucid, balanced -- Paul Colinvaux's book is one of the finest books I've read. He takes biological conundrums and makes them crystalline. Controversial topics are handled with balance and grace. Abstruse terms are explained simply and wittily.Written in 1978, the book is a little dated in some areas. For instance, he has a whole chapter on the increase of carbon dioxide in the air and never once mentions global warming. But this is a very small issue. Most of the book is timeless, and invaluable.

Books like this are so rare!

One of the finest books I have ever read. Wide-ranging, delightful & extremely easy to read, it's about a whole lot more than just big fierce predators, although you'll probably enjoy that part too! As I read this book, I felt like an explorer taking my level of understanding about our planet to a much, much deeper level than ever before. I'd give it 10 stars if they'd let me.

A masterful exposition of the science that asks ``why?''

I read this book recently, and wish that I'd read it when it was first published 20 years ago. Colinvaux is fascinating in his relentless search for the answer to the ``why?'' questions of the natural world --- - why are there so many species (why not more?) - why are there more species in the tropics than in the tundra? - why do deciduous trees drop their leaves? - why do there appear to be ``societies of plants'' (deciduous forests, coniferous forests)? - why are plants so inefficient at converting sunlight to plant matter? - and, of course, why are big fierce animals rare (and why aren't there bigger, fiercer ones)? This is not just a book about ecology, it is a book about thinking.