A collection of one hundred loving eulogies, Daniel Hudon, science writer and poet, celebrates and mourns those species that share this planet with us no longer. He gives a literary voice to the losses stacking up in our present-day age of extinction. Natural history, poetic prose, reportage, and eulogy blend to form a tally of degraded habitats, and empty burrows, and of the songs of birds never to be heard again.
“The recent animal extinctions include twenty-eight reptiles, thirty-four amphibians, sixty-three fish, sixty-three insects, ninety-two mammals, one hundred and sixty-six birds and more than three hundred mollusks. Who are these animals? Where did they live? What do we know of their biology and natural history? Each animal had its own evolutionary history, ecological niche and characteristics that made it a unique form of life. But they have disappeared from the Earth due to our actions and without proper recognizance. The beginning of wisdom, the Chinese say, is to call things by their rightful names. In many cases, the names are known by scientists, and what little is known of the animal’s habits is hidden away in scientific papers. These details need to be brought to light to make the species come alive, at least in our imaginations, to help bring the enormity of what has and is happening within our grasp.” (from the Introduction)
- Title: Brief Eulogies for Lost Animals: An Extinction Reader
- Author: Daniel Hudon
- Publisher: Pen and Anvil
- Year: 2017
- Paperback
- Condition: New
- Length: 137pp
- Dimensions: 5.5” x 8.5”
- ISBN: 0991622286