Copyright Date:
2022
Edition Date:
2020
Release Date:
05/24/22
Pages:
xiv, 271 pages
ISBN:
0-295-75097-9
ISBN 13:
978-0-295-75097-2
Dewey:
599.7840978
Dimensions:
23 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews
(Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
A well-written, learned exploration of the world of a charismatic and sometimes troublesome animal.Montana native and journalist Chaney has been around grizzly bears for decades and, unlike most folks, has encountered them "outside the safety of a zoo enclosure or a car window." Encounters of just about any sort evoke fear and/or reverence, and any closer knowledge of Ursus arctos horribilis requires a heady degree of risk. Early on, the author marvels at the skill and luck of a backwoods explorer in Glacier National Park who managed to bring down a charging grizzly with a .22 pistol, far less firepower than the .45s and .357s that other backwoods types typically pack. Those real-life encounters are ever more likely for humans who live in the New Hampshireâsized grizzly heartland, taking in portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. As Chaney notes, when the bear was first listed as endangered, "the Cray 1 Supercomputer set world records with a memory of eight megabytes," a fraction of the computing power that we carry in our pockets. Just so, things change in the natural world, and the grizzly now turns up on porches and in driveways, not as afraid of us as it should be even as we prove ourselves to be its most dangerous foe. "The grizzly bear needs space: Hundreds of square miles per animal," writes the author. "It needs food: Forty thousand calories a day. It needs tolerance, for the days it decides to take what we think rightfully belongs to us. It needs to be left alone." Can we do so? Chaney is a writer in the Peter Matthiessen school, deftly weaving anecdotes and human history with ursine natural history and bringing in memorable characters. These include Doug Peacock and Chuck Jonkel, both of whom have done much to prove, as does this lucid book, that grizzlies lie somewhere between the vicious creatures of legend and the cuddly critters of our imagination.Fans of bears-and of hearty nature writing-will take pleasure in Chaney's paean.
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Kirkus Reviews
(Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Bibliography Index/Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-257) and index.
Confronts the unintended consequences of a conservation success story Four decades ago, the areas around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks sheltered the last few hundred surviving grizzlies in the Lower 48 states. Protected by the Endangered Species Act, their population has surged to more than 1,500, and this burgeoning number of grizzlies now collides with the increasingly populated landscape of the twenty-first-century American West. While humans and bears have long shared space, today?s grizzlies navigate a shrinking amount of wilderness: cars whiz like bullets through their habitats, tourists check Facebook to pinpoint locations for a quick selfie with a grizzly, and hunters seek trophy prey. People, too, must learn to live and work within a potential predator?s territory they have chosen to call home. Mixing fast-paced storytelling with rich details about the hidden lives of grizzly bears, Montana journalist Robert Chaney chronicles the resurgence of this charismatic species against the backdrop of the country?s long history with the bear. Chaney captures the clash between groups with radically different visions: ranchers frustrated at losing livestock, environmental advocates, hunters, and conservation and historic preservation officers of tribal nations. Underneath, he probes the balance between our demands on nature and our tolerance for risk.