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The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture
The rare and endangered Chinese alligator has long held a prominent place in Chinese culture and mythology. Here John Thorbjarnarson and Xiaoming Wang, who have been at the forefront of efforts to conserve these remarkable creatures, provide comprehensive details about the biology, behavior, history, and cultural and conservation significance of the animal thought to be the basis of the Chinese dragon legend.

Though more than 10,000 Chinese alligators live in zoos and breeding facilities, just a few hundred still exist in the wild. Much of their natural habitat has been lost to human development, leaving wild Chinese alligators clinging to small areas where the Yangtze River meets the Pacific Ocean. Thorbjarnarson and Wang recount how and why the species declined to the point where it is perhaps the most threatened of all crocodilians, discuss ongoing conservation works, and project what the future is likely to bring for the Chinese alligator. Their scientific synthesis sits in stark contrast to the alligators' unique relationship with Chinese culture, where folklore views it as a water deity related to dragons.

Illustrated throughout and featuring the most up-to-date biological information available, this volume is a complete overview of the Chinese alligator, a conservation and cultural icon.

1111369886
The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture
The rare and endangered Chinese alligator has long held a prominent place in Chinese culture and mythology. Here John Thorbjarnarson and Xiaoming Wang, who have been at the forefront of efforts to conserve these remarkable creatures, provide comprehensive details about the biology, behavior, history, and cultural and conservation significance of the animal thought to be the basis of the Chinese dragon legend.

Though more than 10,000 Chinese alligators live in zoos and breeding facilities, just a few hundred still exist in the wild. Much of their natural habitat has been lost to human development, leaving wild Chinese alligators clinging to small areas where the Yangtze River meets the Pacific Ocean. Thorbjarnarson and Wang recount how and why the species declined to the point where it is perhaps the most threatened of all crocodilians, discuss ongoing conservation works, and project what the future is likely to bring for the Chinese alligator. Their scientific synthesis sits in stark contrast to the alligators' unique relationship with Chinese culture, where folklore views it as a water deity related to dragons.

Illustrated throughout and featuring the most up-to-date biological information available, this volume is a complete overview of the Chinese alligator, a conservation and cultural icon.

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The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture

The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture

by John Thorbjarnarson, Xiaoming Wang
The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture

The Chinese Alligator: Ecology, Behavior, Conservation, and Culture

by John Thorbjarnarson, Xiaoming Wang

Overview

The rare and endangered Chinese alligator has long held a prominent place in Chinese culture and mythology. Here John Thorbjarnarson and Xiaoming Wang, who have been at the forefront of efforts to conserve these remarkable creatures, provide comprehensive details about the biology, behavior, history, and cultural and conservation significance of the animal thought to be the basis of the Chinese dragon legend.

Though more than 10,000 Chinese alligators live in zoos and breeding facilities, just a few hundred still exist in the wild. Much of their natural habitat has been lost to human development, leaving wild Chinese alligators clinging to small areas where the Yangtze River meets the Pacific Ocean. Thorbjarnarson and Wang recount how and why the species declined to the point where it is perhaps the most threatened of all crocodilians, discuss ongoing conservation works, and project what the future is likely to bring for the Chinese alligator. Their scientific synthesis sits in stark contrast to the alligators' unique relationship with Chinese culture, where folklore views it as a water deity related to dragons.

Illustrated throughout and featuring the most up-to-date biological information available, this volume is a complete overview of the Chinese alligator, a conservation and cultural icon.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780801893483
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 05/17/2010
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 7.20(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

One of the world's most respected experts on crocodilians, John Thorbjarnarson was a senior conservation zoologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society during the writing and designing of this book. Dr. Thorbjarnarson was a tireless advocate for conservation, and it was during one of his many conservation-related trips in early 2010 that he contracted a fatal case of malaria.

Xiaoming Wang is an expert on the Chinese alligator, a professor of biology at East China Normal University, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, and one of China’s leading conservation biologists.

Table of Contents

Foreword, by George B. Schaller
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. The Earth Dragon
2. The Family of Dragons: Crocodilians of the World and Their Conservation
3. The History of Crocodilians in China
4. Alligators as Dragons
5. A Dragon's Life: Ecology and Behavior of the Chinese Alligator
6. The Dragon's Demise: Why the Chinese Alligator Disappeared
7. Habitat and Population Status
8. The Future of the Alligator in China
Literature Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

Lee Fitzgerald

Drs. Thorbjarnarson and Wang are the ideal scientists—and truly the best qualified—to write this book. The story of the Chinese alligator is interesting on its own, and it primes those new to crocodilian conservation with what caused global declines of crocodilians and how crocodilian conservation has worked in many areas.

— Lee Fitzgerald, Texas A & M University

From the Publisher

Drs. Thorbjarnarson and Wang are the ideal scientists—and truly the best qualified—to write this book. The story of the Chinese alligator is interesting on its own, and it primes those new to crocodilian conservation with what caused global declines of crocodilians and how crocodilian conservation has worked in many areas.
—Lee Fitzgerald, Texas A & M University

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