Britain was a very different place 15,000 years ago - home to lions,
lynx, bears, wolves, bison and many more megafauna. But as its climate
changed and human populations expanded, most of early Britain's largest
mammals disappeared. Will advances in science and technology mean that
we can one day bring these mammals back? And should we? In The Missing
Lynx, palaeontologist Ross Barnett uses case studies, new fossil
discoveries and biomolecular evidence to paint a picture of these lost
species and to explore the ecological significance of their
disappearance.
He discusses how the Britons these animals shared
their lives with might have viewed them and investigates why some
species survived while others vanished. Barnett also looks in detail
at the realistic potential of reintroductions, rewilding and even of
resurrection in Britain and overseas, from the successful return of
beavers in Argyll to the revolutionary Pleistocene Park in Siberia,
which has already seen progress in the revival of 'mammoth steppe'
grassland. As widespread habitat destruction, climate change and an
ever-growing human population lead us inexorably towards the sixth
extinction, this timely book explores the spaces that extinction has
left unfilled.
And by helping us to understand why some of our
most charismatic animals are gone, Ross Barnett encourages us to look to
a brighter future, one that might see these missing beasts returned to
the land on which they once lived and died.
The Missing Lynx : The Past and Future of Britain's Lost Mammals - Ross Barnett
- Product Code:New
- Availability:In Stock
-
£9.99