Crocodile: Evolution's Greatest Survivor [Hardcover]

Lynne Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2007

Following the fascinating history of the crocodile, this story tells the tale of an ancient animal whose ancestors have roamed the earth since the time of the dinosaurs. Addressing the true nature of this intriguing animal, this resource explores its evolutionary survival, the 23 living species in the world today, and the extinction they face due to habitat intrusion. Also explored are the myths and legends surrounding crocodiles and the vicious reputation they have amongst humans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kelly, an Australian writer and science teacher, gives readers a thorough tour of crocodilian evolution in this lively biological biography. Kelly builds her scientific investigation on a solid cultural foundation, by introducing the crocodile through folk tales of indigenous Australians, Africans, Americans and South Asians; similarly, fossils showing crocodilies have changed very little in more than 200 million years adds relevance to the old stories and weight to the sobering fact that, today, mankind has managed to kill off many crocodilian species that eons of natural selection never could. Among chapters on biology, featuring photos and drawings of characteristic behavior and skeletal structures, Kelly covers the scientific minds who came before her, such as 19th century naturalists Sir Richard Owen and Thomas Huxley ("Darwin's Bulldog"), who feuded famously over still-unresolved taxonomy issues. In addition, Kelly recounts the tales of famous crocodile hunters and infamous attacks on humans by crocodilians, discusses the continuing demand for crocodile hides and meat and investigates crocodile farming in relation to other types of animal husbandry. Kelly's treatment is clever, entertaining and complete, making this a fine read and a great example of species history done right.
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Review

"Equivalent to a thorough nature documentary. . . . Readers will come away knowing quite a bit about the crocodile."  —Library Journal

"Superbly readable and exceptionally well-researched."  —Choice

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741144981
• ISBN-13: 978-1741144987
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Writing dominates my life. I started with educational books - 10 of them - logical because I was a teacher. I specialized in gifted education, and have now produced most of my best material as a suite of 50 online units. They are available from my website, through my little company, EUMY Education (EUMY = Enrichment Units for the Middle Years).

I wrote a novel, "Avenging Janie", published in 2004. I want to write more fiction, but non-fiction dominates my life at the moment. I have had three popular science books published in Australia, the US and UK: "The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal", "Crocodile: evolution's greatest survivor", and the latest: "Spiders: learning to love them". I overcame my arachnophobia a bit too well, and now I am obsessed by spiders. "Skeptic's Guide" has now been translated into Russian.

I have a full-time doctoral scholarship in the English Program at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, as a science writer. I have been investigating the way non-literate knowledge systems encode knowledge, especially the pragmatic stuff - animals, plants, all sorts of medical stuff including a pharmacopoeia, laws, navigation, genealogy, history, land and resource rights plus all sorts of ethical metaphors. I am constantly astounded by the range and cleverness of the mnemonic devices contemporary oral cultures use to aid remembering so much information. All those I have researched use indexed structured information systems to ensure knowledge is not lost. I am now applying the understanding of the way oral mnemonic work in the archaeological context, and getting some amazing results. Focus contexts are the British Neolithic, the mound-building cultures of the American Southeast and the Ancestral Pueblo of the American Southwest. A lot of enigmatic sites and objects really fit the pattern well - from monumental earthworks, stone and timber circles and incredible ancient buildings, to 'non-utilitarian' handheld objects.

This topic is leading me in so many directions that I expect quite a few books will emerge from it. But first - lots more peer review and gaining support for my theories. And a doctorate!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, June 1, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Crocodile: Evolution's Greatest Survivor (Hardcover)

Crocodile is a delightfully informative and entertaining non-fiction novel. Tracing back the history of the crocodilian for thousands of years, and returning to describe how humans have effected these wonderful animals, you will not be able to put it down.
From Chapter 1, the reader is taken aboard the H.M.S Beegle, to make first contact with the Australian Salt Water Crocodile, leaping from the water to snap bats from the air. From there on, we learn of the myths and legends surrounding the crocodile, the biological phenomenons of the crocodile, and all sorts of other fascinating information, all wrapped up in around 288 pages.

Though very informative, Crocodile is unique amongst its kind, as it is not just a book of different kinds of crocodilian and their different identifying features. Crocodile is a novel, that goes in-depth to lots of interesting information, historical facts and real life interviews, without ever taking on that common, twenty page, wrote learned, uninformative fact book.

All in all, an astounding book, can't wait for the next one. Hats off to Lynne Kelly!