The Hunt for the Golden Mole: All Creatures Great & Small and Why They Matter

by Richard Girling

Overview

Taking as its narrative engine the hunt for an animal that is legendarily rare, Richard Girling writes an engaging and highly informative history of humankind's interest in hunting and collecting – what prompts us to do this? what good might come of our need to catalog all the living things of the natural world?



Girling, named Environmental Journalist of the Years 2008 and 2009, has here chronicled – through the hunt for the Somali golden mole – the development of the conservation movement, the importance of diversity in the animal kingdom, including humankind within this realm, as well as a hard look at extinction.



The Somali mole of the title, first descibed in print in a text book published in 1964, had as sole evidence of its existence only the fragment of a jaw bone found in an owl pellet, a specimen that seemed to have vanished as Girling began his exploration. Intrigued by the elusiveness of this creature and what the hunt for the facts of its existence might tell us about extinction, he was drawn to the dusty vaults of museums of natural history where the most rare artifacts are stored and catalogued, as he found himself caught up in the need to track it down.



Part quest, part travelog, the book that results not only offers an important voice to the scientific debate about extinction and biodiversity it becomes an environmental call to arms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619025851
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	11/10/2015
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	708,676
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Richard Girling is an award–winning environmental feature writer for The Sunday Times. In 2002 he was named Specialist Writer of the Year at the UK Press Awards and was short listed for the same award in 2005 and 2006. This is his first work of narrative nonfiction.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Dr Storer in the Chair 1

Chapter 2 Rhinoceros Pie 20

Chapter 3 Beings Akin to Ourselves 39

Chapter 4 Werewolf Seized in Southend 67

Chapter 5 Penitent Butchers 89

Chapter 6 Resurrection 112

Chapter 7 Chopsticks 131

Chapter 8 Ol Pejeta 151

Chapter 9 The Virtuous Circle 174

Chapter 10 Unpronounceable Teeth 202

Chapter 11 Valete et Salvete 221

Chapter 12 Unbelicvabilia 242

Chapter 13 The Mole 268

Afterword 293

List of Illustrations 295

Further Reading 297

Acknowledgements 299

Index 301

Editorial Reviews

"Though Girling presents a sobering assessment of the state of the world's fauna, he does so with the dramatic flair of a novelist and eye for detail of a travel journalist. The result is a page–turning, thought–provoking treatise on a desperate environmental crisis." —Booklist, Starred

"The Hunt for the Golden Mole is...an informed and informative, provocative and rousing work. Exploring the startling changes in our attitudes to exotic and extraordinary animals over the past 200 years, and surveying the current scene – notably the mass slaughter of elephants in Africa, and such heroic projects as Edge of Existence, which works to protect endangered species – Girling brings passion to vital issues, and may help move at least a few readers to action." —The Telegraph

"This is a book that bursts into life from the first page. Part memoir, and part survey of a bewildering variety of animal species, Richard Girling's rousing, fascinating study takes the reader on a romp down the corridors of museums and zoos, into previous centuries and back again, and in and out of the lives of extraordinary and flamboyant characters: hunters, trappers, scientists and circusmen."— The Sunday Times

"The Hunt for the Golden Mole is an engaging story which illustrates the importance of every living creature, no matter how small, strange or rare. It is a thoughtful, shocking, inspiring and important book." —The Guardian

"That rarest of delights: a roaring book of huge importance written by a master storyteller exploring our fragile relationship with the animal kingdom, offering insights into how a hopeful future could yet be snatched from the jaws of despair. Not a hint of preaching, not a whiff of worthiness. A great story written not by an idealist but by a pragmatist with a heart of gold with a clear eyed view of the world." Sir Tim Smit

"I loved this book. This is natural history at its funniest, most curious, enlightening and heartfelt. I couldn't put it down. It was like going on safari with Gerald Durrell, Rachel Carson and Redmond O' Hanlon … I was alternately wide–eyed with wonder, appalled and then tickled to laughter. It's beautifully written. And it's powerful. An elegy to every living thing on this remarkable planet. Impossible to finish without being uplifted by the wonder of the natural world and driven to do something about its plight." Nicholas Crane

From the Publisher

08/25/2014
Girling, an environmental journalist, explores the antecedents to both the current crisis of species extinction and the modern conservation movement. He crosses boundaries impressively, discussing the philosophical underpinnings of ecological preservation, the historical and sociopolitical environment in which early naturalists and big game hunters commingled, the biological basis for determining the nature of speciation, and the basic principles of systematics used to define evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. Girling’s accessible presentation never oversimplifies complex issues, and the book also includes fascinating descriptions of his trips to Kenya and Mozambique to explore successful ways humans and wildlife have found ways to coexist. He is not shy about pointing out the huge problems associated with poaching, problems arising from the efforts of organized crime and terrorist networks, as well as the occasional closed-mindedness of environmental groups unwilling to think beyond doctrinaire positions. The book’s only downside is Girling’s description of his search for bones of the Somali golden mole, bones that were found only once in an owl pellet in 1964. The search, as a metaphor, is powerful, but the reality of the search is far less exciting. Nonetheless, Girling has produced a provocative and thoughtful text. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-09-09
When award-winning British environmental journalist Girling (Greed, 2009, etc.) read an entry in Mammal Species of the World that described "an entire species 'known only from a partially completed specimen in an owl-pellet,' " he decided that the discovery of this improbable species, the Somali golden mole, would make a good story. He was right.Rightfully concerned about predictions that "[a] fifth of all the world's vertebrates…were facing extinction," the author examined a list of endangered species. He was surprised to learn about a species he had never before heard of, which was first discovered in 1964 by a professor at the University of Florence who made the discovery while on a trip to Somalia, discovering the fragmentary remains of the mole in a disused oven inhabited by owls. Efforts to find indications of other members of the species failed. Girling explains his surprise that this singular, incomplete specimen of a lowly mole deserved a place on an endangered-species list along with the rhinoceros, whose fate is threatened by the illegal trade in horns. He ponders the broader issues of conservation—e.g., whether saving some species should be prioritized and the desire to strike a balance between the needs of impoverished African villagers and preserving the wilderness. "For far too long," he writes, "the natural and human worlds have been perceived as warring entities whose interests are irreconcilable." Is it reasonable to worry about the fate of an obscure mole? In the course of writing the book, Girling uncovered a more important truth: It is not the endangerment of particular species that is important, but the whole, "complex webs of inter-dependent relationship that we call ecosystems." Ultimately, "[i]n its very obscurity the mole stands as a symbol for the whole unsung, unheard-of majority of mammalian life." Deep issues concerning our place in nature addressed with grace and enthusiasm.

Kirkus Reviews