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A Sheltered Life - The Unexpected History of the Giant Tortoise (Hardcover, illustrated edition)
Loot Price: R1,504
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A Sheltered Life - The Unexpected History of the Giant Tortoise (Hardcover, illustrated edition)
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For millennia the mighty giant tortoises lived in isolation on
remote oceanic islands such as the Galapagos, Seychelles and
Mauritius. Then in the sixteenth century sailors discovered that
they were good to eat, and their strategic location led to a
wholesale plunder of their population by passing ships.
Later, many Victorian scientists became fascinated with these
creatures, directly inspiring the first understanding of ecology
and biogeography and Darwin's theory of natural selection. The
giant tortoise was also the subject of the world's first
conservation fight in the 1870s. Indeed many people's lives have
been touched by these gentle giants. The French were happy to
surrender the island of Mauritius in 1810, but baulked at handing
over their mascot tortoise, and the British and American
governments were forced to concede the tortoises in a major Cold
War incident. The twentieth century saw the establishment of
wildlife reserves in the Galapagos and elsewhere, but it has been
too late for many species. However, modern genetics has been able
to track down members of what were once believed to be extinct
populations.
A Sheltered Life is a fascinating look at one of the world's
strangest and most wondrous animals--whose significance in modern
science and culture cannot be underestimated.
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