| Description |
1 online resource (xii, 359 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Contents |
"God almighty, that's a jaguar!" -- "It pays us again and again" -- "Among all big cats, we know least about them" -- "We all felt really blessed" -- "Well drawn and unmistakable" -- "The model for how to live" -- "Jaguars possess the power of God" -- "Blood of the valiant" -- "He believes he is a jaguar" -- "There it is, I'm going to shoot it" -- "Cows are more important than cats" -- "We just stopped seeing them" -- "To ensure our namesake is protected" -- "Siga el Pisto" -- "Living in the same place it always has" -- "Pretty well hunted out" -- "These animals could become wonderful teachers" -- "It's good if it's dead" -- "A flagship species for conservation" -- "The mother liquor from which we have come" -- "To see one at all is a lifetime experience" -- Saving and studying jaguars |
| Summary |
When the nature writer Richard Mahler discovers that wild jaguars are prowling a remote corner of his home state of New Mexico, he embarks on a determined quest to see in the flesh a big, beautiful cat that is the stuff of legend-yet verifiably real. Mahler's passion sets in motion a years-long adventure through trackless deserts, steamy jungles, and malarial swamps, as well as a confounding immersion in centuries-old debates over how we should properly regard these powerful predators: as varmints or as icons, trophies or gods? He is drawn from border badlands south to Panama's rain forest along a route where the fate of nearly all wildlife now rests in human hands. Mahler's odyssey introduces him to unrepentant poachers, pragmatic ranchers, midnight drug-runners, ardent conservationists, trance-induced shamans, hopeful biologists, stodgy bureaucrats, academic philosophers, macho hunters, and gentle Maya Indians. Along the way, he is forced to reconsider the true meaning of his search-and the enduring symbolism of the jaguar |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-342) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Jaguar.
|
|
Panthers.
|
|
NATURE -- Animals -- Big Cats.
|
|
SCIENCE -- General.
|
|
Panthers
|
|
Jaguar
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2008051628 |
| ISBN |
9780300155938 |
|
030015593X |
|
