The Balance of Nature

by Lorus Johnson Milne, Margery Milne

Lorus and Margery Milne, the well-known biologists and nature writers, here, out of the richness of their knowledge, picture the wonderful interrelationship of all life - the dynamic equilibrium between differend kinds of animals and their environment.The world of nature is constantly filled with drama, much of it invisible to ordinary eyes, but vivid and sometimes even lurid to the eyes of such suberbly trained observers. In this unusual book the Milnes disclose the fierce impact of man upon animal life and of animals upon one another and upon the plant life of the earth.It is no simple story, for the balance of the earth's creatures is delicate, complex and multiple. A change affecting one species may ultimately affect another species with which it has no direct or obvious contact. These chain reactions are inherently fascinating, and the Milnes, out of their wealth of experience, present them in all their colour and excitement.How do grasshoppers today take the place of bison and prairie dogs in the balance of nature on our Great Plains?With what success did the Jamaicans import ants, ferrets, giant toads, and then Indian mongooses to their island?How is crocodile hunting in Africa related to a shortage of food fishes and an increase in deaths from rabies?How fast do deer reproduce, and what happens when they are not controlled?Why is the U.S. Government air-lifting families of beavers to remote mountain streams?What kitchen habit has altered the fate of wild horses and whales?Why are Masai tribesmen a threat to game they rarely hunt?How did the Welland Ship Canal bring disaster to Upper Great Lakes fishermen, but good fortune to gulls?Is America threatened by a plague of rabbits?What positive benefit does the tsetse fly bring?What plants first colonize a new lava field?What animals benefit from forest fires?How do islands make and destroy species?Why are the rat, the English sparrow, the cockroach and the housefly in no danger of extermination?The answers to these and many other questions are given by the Milnes in the form od colourful and often dramatic stories, usually involving the eternal warfare between predator and prey, or between man and other species. The Balance of Nature is a rewarding book, up to date, highly informative, and very entertaining.

329 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Eliška]

Not all of us might like educational books, especially ones about ecology. However, I was really looking forward to it. I got tired of people asking me "what am I reading"; I didn't know how to explain.
The book wasn't as awesome as I expected, but it was really good. It shows some well-known ecological disasters in a wide perspective, shows how everything is connected and every organism plays its role. Later, I was glad I read it because there was a talk about some of the events on lectures and I felt like a smartass. And I like to feel like a smartass.