Title American Serengeti : the last big animals of the Great Plains / Dan Flores

Published Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2016] ©2016

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Description 1 online resource (213 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents Introduction: American Serengeti -- 1. Empires of the Sun : Big History and the Great Plains -- 2. Pronghorns : Survivors from a Lost World -- 3. Coyote : The American Jackal -- 4. Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses : The Horse Trade and the American Great Plains -- 5. The Most Dangerous Beast : The Grizzly, the Great Plains, and the West -- 6. A Dream of Bison -- 7. Wolfsong Redux -- 8. Loving the Plains, Hating the Plains, Re-Wilding the Plains Summary "Bison. Horses. Coyotes. Wolves. Grizzly Bears. Pronghorns. A la John McPhee and Edward Hoagland, noted Western and environmental historian Flores dazzles with his vivid, informed, and richly detailed essays on six iconic animals of the American Great Plains. Diving into their genetic past as far back as the Pleistocene epoch and on up to restoration efforts in recent times, Flores is especially evocative and illuminating about the lives of these animals (and their interactions with humans) in the several centuries running from the dawn of the Age of Exploration through the end of the Indian Wars"-- Provided by publisher "America's Great Plains once possessed one of the grandest wildlife spectacles of the world, equaled only by such places as the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, or the veld of South Africa. Pronghorn antelope, gray wolves, bison, coyotes, wild horses, and grizzly bears: less than two hundred years ago these creatures existed in such abundance that John James Audubon was moved to write, 'It is impossible to describe or even conceive the vast multitudes of these animals.' In a work that is at once a lyrical evocation of that lost splendor and a detailed natural history of these charismatic species of the historic Great Plains, veteran naturalist and outdoorsman Dan Flores draws a vivid portrait of each of these animals in their glory--and tells the harrowing story of what happened to them at the hands of market hunters and ranchers and ultimately a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Great Plains with its wildlife intact dazzled Americans and Europeans alike, prompting numerous literary tributes. American Serengeti takes its place alongside these celebratory works, showing us the grazers and predators of the plains against the vast opalescent distances, the blue mountains shimmering on the horizon, the great rippling tracts of yellowed grasslands. Far from the empty 'flyover country' of recent times, this landscape is alive with a complex ecology at least 20,000 years old--a continental patrimony whose wonders may not be entirely lost, as recent efforts hold out hope of partial restoration of these historic species. Written by an author who has done breakthrough work on the histories of several of these animals--including bison, wild horses, and coyotes--American Serengeti is as rigorous in its research as it is intimate in its sense of wonder--the most deeply informed, closely observed view we have of the Great Plains' wild heritage"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-196) and index Notes Print version record Subject Animals -- Great Plains -- History Herbivores -- Great Plains -- History Predatory animals -- Great Plains -- History Grassland animals -- Great Plains -- History Grassland ecology -- Great Plains Natural history -- Great Plains Human-animal relationships -- Great Plains -- History Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Great Plains -- History Environmental degradation -- Great Plains -- History Wildlife conservation -- Great Plains -- History NATURE -- Endangered Species. NATURE -- Animals -- Wolves. NATURE -- Animals -- Bears. Grassland ecology. Grassland animals. Animals. Ecology. Environmental degradation. Herbivores. Human-animal relationships. Natural history. Nature -- Effect of human beings on. Predatory animals. Wildlife conservation. Bison Gabelbock Grizzlybär Pferd Präriewolf Wolf SUBJECT Great Plains -- History Great Plains -- Environmental conditions Subject Great Plains. Great Plains Genre/Form History. Form Electronic book LC no. 2015049990 ISBN 9780700622283 0700622284

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