On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden Hennessy Elizabeth
On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden Hennessy Elizabeth An insightful exploration of the iconic Gal pagos tortoises, and how their fate is…
Specifikacia On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden Hennessy Elizabeth
On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden Hennessy Elizabeth
An insightful exploration of the iconic Gal pagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing worldThe Gal pagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. This book tells the story of the islands' namesakes--the giant tortoises--as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. For sixty years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers.
The tortoises, Elizabeth Hennessy demonstrates, are not prehistoric, but rather microcosms whose stories show how deeply human and nonhuman life are entangled. In By doing so, it brings into stark relief the paradoxical, and impossible, goal of conserving species by trying to restore a past state of prehistoric evolution.