Lost Land of the Dodo: The Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion and RodriguesThe Mascarene islands in the southern Indian Ocean - Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues - were once home to an extraordinary range of birds and reptiles. Evolving on these isolated volcanic islands in the absence of mammalian predators or competitors, the land was dominated by giant tortoises, parrots, skinks and geckos, burrowing boas, flightless rails & herons, and of course (in Mauritius) the Dodo. Uninhabited and only discovered in the 1500s, colonisation by European settlers in the 1600s led to dramatic changes in the ecology of the islands; the birds and tortoises were slaughtered indiscriminately while introduced rats, cats, pigs and monkeys destroyed their eggs, the once-extensive forests logged, and invasive introduced plants from all over the tropics devastated the ecosystem. The now-familiar icon of extinction, the Dodo, was gone from Mauritius within 50 years of human settlement, and over the next 150 years many of the Mascarenes' other native vertebrates followed suit. The product of over 30 years research by Anthony Cheke, Lost Land of the Dodo provides a comprehensive yet hugely enjoyable account of the story of the islands' changing ecology, interspersed with human stories, the islands' biogeographical anomalies, and much else. Many French publications, old and new, especially for Réunion, are discussed and referenced in English for the first time. The book is richly illustrated with maps and contemporary illustrations of the animals and their environment, many of which have rarely been reprinted before. Illustrated box texts look in detail at each extinct vertebrate species, while Julian Hume's superb colour plates bring many of the extinct birds to life. Lost Land of the Dodo provides the definitive account of this tragic yet remarkable fauna, and is a must-read for anyone interested in islands, their ecology and the history of our relationship with the world around us. |
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Lost Land of the Dodo: An Ecological History of Mauritius, Réunion & Rodrigues Anthony S. Cheke,Julian Hume No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
abundant Aigrettes Aldabra animals appears areas Barnwell Barré bats birds Bojer’s bones Booby breeding bulbuls Carl Jones cats caves century Chapter Cheke collected colonised comm conservation Cossigny cyclone day-geckos deer Dodo Dutch early Echo Parakeet ecological eggs endemic exotic extinct fauna feral Flat Island flightless Flying-fox Fody geckos genus goats grey Gunner’s Quoin habitat Ile aux Aigrettes Indian Ocean introduced islets Kestrel land latans Leguat lizards Lougnon lowland Madagascar mainland Malagasy Mascarene Mauritian Mauritius and Rodrigues Mauritius Fody Mauritius Kestrel mentioned Merles monkeys museum mynas native forest nest Newton North-Coombes 1971 numbers palms parrots pers Petrel Phelsuma Pingré Pink Pigeon plants population predators probably Probst rabbits rats recent recorded Red-tailed Tropicbirds released reported reptiles Réunion Round Island Safford seabirds seen Seychelles Shearwaters ships Skink snakes Solitaire species specimens Staub Strahm subfossil survived Tafforet tortoises trees Tropicbirds Turtle upland vegetation Vinson Wedge-tailed Shearwaters White-eye wildlife