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Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators

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These days, no one of good sense and alert conscience can fail to feel a deep and unprecedented anxiety over the fate of the planet. Climate change, pollution of the earth, air, and water, overpopulation, the end of nonrenewable energy sources: the environment seems to be pushed beyond its ability to recover. Even those public policies which at one time were thought to be innocently beneficial to humans have, in many cases, proven to be destructive of ecological stability.

One of them, as William Stolzenburg demonstrates in his excellent Where the Wild Things Were, is our centuries old declaration of war against predatory animals. In eliminating many of them, we thought we were improving the world. In fact, however, predators are "keystone species" whose existence holds up the "archway of life." Remove them, and the whole shebang comes down. A classic example of this, documented by Stolzenburg, is the rampant over-population of white tail deer in the U.S. and the devastating consequences to flora and fauna, that resulted from the near-eradication of wolves.

Even worse, essential predators can be eliminated unintentionally and unpredictably by interfering with the ecological balance. The killing of sea otters, for example, has allowed sea urchins (otter food) to flourish, which means that Pacific kelp (sea urchin food) is in grave danger of extinction, which in turn is creating havoc on kelp-eating whale populations. The complexity of the whole thing is exponentially increased when one stops to consider that all species are predatory--even those we'd never think of in such terms, such as starfish(to mussels)--and so everytime we deliberately or accidentally raise or lower species populations, we're risking grave upsets in the balance of the whole. When it comes to the ecological web, touching any strand shakes the entire structure.

Stolzenburg's Where the Wild Things Were is sober reading, but it's also essential. The author has the knack of explaining ecological systems in ways that the layperson (like myself) can follow. Reading his book doesn't only ratchet up the anxiety over the fate of the planet that I mentioned earlier. It also, thankfully, invites the reader to be wonder-filled at the connectedness of nature, and better resolved to cooperate with it.

Sheer genius... I cannot sing enough positive praises about "Where the Wild Things Were"... Truly an education in ecology... William Stolzenburg does a thorough job of presenting diverse viewpoints... All of the topics were fascinating... The author's writing is moving, powerful, and provocative... I could go on and on with superlatives...

I am extremely excited to introduce family and friends to "Where the Wild Things Were"... My hope is that this book will receive the vast exposure it so richly deserves...

Mr. Stolzenburg describes research into the effects of large predators on ecosystems. The focus is on research that has taken place in the last 20 years or so, but I think that's just because that's when most of the research has been done. I understand that the author has biases, but he does an excellent job of communicating research findings in an objective, insightful manner.

Reading this book really jolted me out of my previous beliefs about predators, which was that, while they were great for a story, they didn't serve any irreplaceable role in the world. It also gave me a clearer understanding of some of the weaknesses with the Endangered Species Act. Now I'm even almost willing to quit complaining about the bear that wanders through our neighborhood every summer.

This book is well-written and easily understood by a layperson like me. In places, it is almost like a murder mystery. I found myself getting to the end of a chapter on otters and not being able to put the book down because I wanted to find out what happened to them next. Time passed quickly while I read this book. It actually kept me awake at night, which doesn't usually happen with a nonfiction book about nature. What a great book!

This is an excellent summary of many field studies that prove the importance of apex predators. It's a quick and compelling read, and expect it may become required reading for all interested in environmental issues. The book paints a rather bleak picture of the situation we face, and now I notice it's conclusions everywhere. He talks at length about the DC area, where I live, which adds to my own personal awareness of the issue. I'd recommend it to anyone: it's written for laypeople but can be useful for scientists as well.

I am an environmental idiot. I try to grasp the concepts behind global warming, extinction, habitat loss, and biodiversity and come up gasping for People Magazine. Will Stolzenburg is my oxygen mask. He writes in such a way that is gripping, visceral and imparts a deep and lasting knowledge of the issues we face in the biological world. I bought 20 copies of this book - it will be my Christmas present to everyone. I wish I could buy enough for the whole world. It's that good.

I can't recommend this book enough. Stolzenburg writes beautifully and loves his subject. He has a great deal of respect for the scientists whose work he writes about. This book is like a slap upside the head, and I mean that in a good way! His keen appreciation of the beauty and grandeur of nature is evident throughout the book.

He loves large predators because of their powerful positive influence on ecosystems, but also simply because he finds them beautiful in and of themselves.His ultimate prognosis is a bit difficult to determine, but I think it is one of guarded and limited optimism. I think he believes that the future of "rewilding" will be very limited in scale.

Spoiler alert on the following quote -

His parting words: "I can only believe, from somewhere deeper than any logic center of the brain, that a life of incomprehensible loneliness awaits a world where the wild things were, but are never to be again."

William Stolzenburg's "Where the Wild Things Were" summarized the past sixty years of scientific discoveries concerning the importance of predators as keystone species--remove these vital carnivores from the "Web of Life" and entire ecological systems collapse.

In this book, Stolzenburg recounts the history of predatory biology as a series of riveting mystery stories. In his capable hands, the stories read like literature; they are thrilling and exciting. As I read each tale, I couldn't help but feel like I was a voyeur tagging onto the coattails of one brilliant scientist after another, each one passionately hell-bent on finding the scientific truth buried in a puzzle of conflicting evidence. Eventually, when the facts fell into place, I was filled with the thrill of discovery. I can't recall many books that have made me feel so intellectually stimulated and delighted!

I actually read this book twice. The first time, I borrowed the book from the local library and only spent a few hours browsing through the text, reading here and there, trying to pick up the sense of the whole. I had to return the book before I could read it in earnest, but that brief encounter did not impress me. Browsing the book did not unlock the magic in its pages. A few weeks later, my Advanced Readers Copy arrived and I took the time to settle down and give this book my full attention.

I soon discovered that this is not a book to browse. To enjoy this collection of scientific stories, readers have to read it cover to cover--they have to give themselves over to the work and let the author pace their reading. Readers have to allow themselves the time to let each story play itself out from beginning to end. If they do, they will find that these tales will ignite their imagination and pull them along on thrilling journeys of scientific discovery.

If you are interested in the concept of predators as keystone species, don't miss reading this outstanding introduction and history. This is one of those rare science books that help you understand the humanity behind the science. It is also one of those rare science books that help you feel the joy of scientific discovery.

This book is highly recommended for both the professional and nonprofessional reader. The book is meticulously researched. For those who want to pursue the science further, there are fifty pages of notes and bibliography at the end.

I would recommend this book to anyone, even people who do not like non-fiction. This book is enjoyable and easy to read but does not lack in information. I am an avid hiker who loves the outdoors and it has made me look at the forest in a completely new view. I look around at the greenery and wonder if amongst the nettles and poison ivy there are any new tree shoots, and what wild flowers would abound if the deer had not eaten them all. In short if the deer still had places they feared due to the predators we now lack. Mr. Stolzenburg is a wonderful author and he took his time to detail all necessary information. The concept they speak of between predator and prey, and how it effects the entire ecosystem is so obvious and simple, yet it is not the one that most of us think of, and is certainly not the one that we are taught. Please read this book, you will be glad you did.

For fans of science writing, not to mention lovers of nature and animals, this is a very well-written and occasionally heartbreaking look at the developing science of predation. Stolzenburg presents important breakthroughs and controversies surrounding this relatively new discipline, with especially insightful explorations of whether the human world would truly benefit from a natural environment possessing a full slate of superpredators. Throughout history, large predators have been willfully exterminated, either out of spite or through scientific misunderstanding of their impacts on ecosystems. But modern scientists are finding that the anthropocentric view of villainous predators conflicts with their crucial roles in their ecosystems, as the big carnivores regulate the populations and behaviors of their prey species. Remove the predators and ecological chaos can ensue, with one very clear example being the pampered deer in my home state of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile the reintroduction of predators, such as the noteworthy story of the wolves of Yellowstone, can lead to immediate improvements in the health and biodiversity of ecosystems that were damaged by the superpredators' previous removal or disappearance.

Stolzenburg covers all sides of the issue, from debates among pioneering scientists to the policy disputes brought by unscientific citizens and politicians, built around engaging stories of the crucial ecosystem services performed by unfairly maligned predators ranging from grizzly bears and wolves to killer whales and even otters and starfish. Here Stolzenburg offers great insight into recent developments in not just the science of predation, but public attitudes toward the so-called monsters of the animal kingdom. The world needs big predators, and humans would be wise to appreciate all the ways that these predators accentuate our natural world. [~doomsdayer520~]

Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators, is a new and important contribution to conservation and ecology by William Stolzenburg (Bloomsbury, 2008)
The author looks at cases, both experimental and real-life, where the top predators have been wiped out, and looks at what happens next. It turns out that a lot of things happen, none of them good. One result is an explosion of "mesopredators" (the second-tier carnivores, ranging from coyotes to raccoons to feral domestic cats) which wreak havoc on ecosystems without the larger predators to compete with (and sometimes eat) them. Plants and prey animals have evolved for one type of ecosystem and are often helpless in an altered one. While his examples come from all over the world, it's the North American ones that will cause the most consternation to most readers. Who foresaw that killing the eastern wolves and cougars would result in a gigantic deer population explosion (far beyond the ability of hunters to keep up) that wrecked the habitats of many smaller creatures? Who knew that bringing in a new apex predator (whalers) and wiping out the northern Pacific great whales started a cascade that drove the former apex predator (killer whales) to decimate seal and sea otter populations in many areas, resulting in kelp forests being replaced by barren seafloor overrun with the urchins the otters used to keep down? There are many such examples, some almost despair-inducing. One of Stolzenburg's important points is that, ecologically, human hunters don't replace the predators: they hunt in specific seasons rather than all year round and pick off the largest animals instead of the weakest.
This book should be must reading for anyone involved in wildlife management or conservation biology including everyone in the FWS, EPA, or state wildlife agencies.


Matt Bille, author, Shadows of Existence: Discoveries and Speculations in Zoology