Gone: Stories of Extinction

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 K?kako. 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 Gal�pagos 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. �