Predatory Pre-Orders

I've written before about my addiction to Amazon's preorder button (also google play). Thanks to a Scribd subscription I order fewer books than I used to... but "fewer" is a relative term when you're obsessed with books. Since it's been awhile since I summoned up the energy to post, I thought I would start out with a subject near and dear to my heart: animals that can rip your face off. More popularly known as "charismatic megafauna," these are the big, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous creatures that draw crowds to zoos, help fund conservation, and spur ecotourism. They're also the creatures that drew me to animal studies and that make up the focus of my research. It's a dream of mine to see one of them up close, but I'll settle for a plethora of pre-orders to read!

February

1. No Beast So Fierce - Is it possible (never mind proper) to have a favorite killer animal? If so, this tigress is mine. She's beautiful, cunning, and she wouldn't have decided that people were tasty if people hadn't injured her and left her unable to hunt the typical prey of chital and sambar deer. She also taught her cubs to hunt people, an unfortunate characteristic of female man-eaters. The lesson? People create their own monsters. Then they slay them and turn them into trophies... and eventually books.





March - is free of man-eaters. Time to catch up on fiction!

April

Yellowstone Cougars: ecology before and during wolf restoration - Just as pet cats and dogs don't get along, wild cats and wild dogs typically prefer to give each other a wide berth. For example, Amur tigers are known to prey on domestic dogs and mountain lions know the deep bell tones of hunting hounds (a fact I regret, as I think it should be illegal to hunt them at their current numbers). I'm interested to see what this new study has to say about Yellowstone's mountain lion population in light of the return of the park's wolves.

Hans Kruuk came to my attention because of the book Hunter and Hunted - a title I admire for its content and breadth. This latest title looks to be more personal, focusing on the ways his life has intersected with the predators he studies.












I've taken to referring to these type of titles as "animal biography," and I have a love-hate relationship with them. I love getting to know a single animal (or group of animals) deeply. I love that they tend to popularize a species and draw interest and conservation dollars. I hate that they tend to end with the animal's death. Surely we could tell stories about animal successes as well as animal tragedies? If you'd like to read other examples, check out A Wolf Called Romeo, Heart of a Lion, Death at SeaWorld, or Lion Hearted.




Both May and June are also predator-free (so far). (May is, however, a great month for wild horse books!)

July 

 It's difficult to explain my extreme excitement over this title. 1. It's from Routledge under a new banner called "environmental humanities," so I'm super excited that that's a thing. 2. Human-Animal connection is so my jam! Can't wait! 3. Routledge is bloody expensive, but also usually very good.












August



 I consider my big cat library to be awesome (especially considering the bills I need to send out every month; yay student loans!), but I do not currently own a title on the Scottish Wildcat. Excited to see that change this summer!








October

 This is a great year for wolf books. Paula Wild just released a new title and I've already purchased Wisdom of Wolves.  This one looks to take the same tack as The Killing of Wolf Number Ten or the recently popular American Wolf. Excited to see!
















November

Almost as rare as bobcat books and Scottish Wildcat books are books about the lynx. The only one in my collection that isn't a state-produced monograph is The Lynx and Us which my wonderful husband ordered for me from the UK. This book is more about the absence of the lynx than its presence but at least it will add to its story.