08 May 2014

Beast Friends

Chimpanzees have Jane Goodall; gorillas had Dian Fossey; and jaguars have Alan Rabinowitz.

Some fortunate species have had amazing human ambassadors that connected them with humans everywhere, and Rabinowitz's work with jaguars has revolutionized our understanding of and connection to jaguars. Two years ago, I blogged about some of the previous contributions he has made to the study and protection of big cats. Now, he's back with a new book called An Indomitable Beast, which he'll release in September.

In his first book, Jaguar, Rabinowitz impressed me with his ability to communicate the experiences he's had with jaguars. Most biologists have close contact with the species they study, but Rabinowitz shares Goodall's ability to put the public in those experiences through strong storytelling. For this reason, I'm looking forward to his new book.

An Indomitable Beast tells the story of the jaguar's successes and its threats and the work being done to protect it; but the book also promises to further explain how Rabinowitz earned his knowledge of these cats (the stories about this in Jaguar took hold of me and haven't let me go). It's this blurring of the human and the animal that makes Rabinowitz's work (and that of others like him) so valuable. The stories provide common ground with nature. For more information about An Indomitable Beast, click here.

By communicating their connections with animals, researchers like Rabinowitz show us the ways to develop our own relationships with nature.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.