Crocodile

Animal Series

by Dan Wylie

“Tick, tock, tick, tock.” Thanks to Peter Pan , this sound, if heard near water, means a hungry crocodile is on its way. J. M. Barrie isn’t fully to blame for spreading the word that crocodiles are our enemies, or at least the enemies of one-handed pirates—innumerable songs, stories, and legends have characterized these reptiles as a symbol of pitiless predation and insatiable appetite. Tracking twenty-three crocodilian species from India and Egypt to Africa, Australia, and beyond, Crocodile advocates that we do a complete one-eighty in our views of these magnificent creatures.

 

Dan Wylie traces the crocodile in myth, art, and literature, demonstrating that though we commonly associate the reptiles with ferocity and deceit, they have also often been respected and revered in human history. Discussing how crocodiles were all but wiped out in the middle of the twentieth century by hunters and skin traders and are now making a comeback, he reveals that, as apex predators, they are today an increasingly important indicator of the health of an ecosystem and may outlive humans like they did dinosaurs. Presenting a concise, cogent case for why we should respect these fearsome animals, this beautifully illustrated volume is a tribute to one of the world’s ultimate survivors.

Genres: Nonfiction, Wildlife, Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2013

About the author

Dan Wylie is a lecturer in the English Department at Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

Reviews

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This natural history series by Reaktion is eclectic, perhaps eccentric, but it is a delight. To quote a trade review, it is "the first of its kind to explore the historical significance and impact on humans of a wide range of animals, each book in the series takes a different animal and examines its role in history around the world." Fact filled, with sharp analysis of the mythic and spiritual import of the creature that the book is about. Crocodilians . . . there's a lot to know about these creatures that've been on this planet for 200 million years, and this little volume is jam packed with good stuff. (A way better book, in my estimation, than Eyelids of the Morning if the reader wants to learn something about them as opposed to reading an action adventure caper.

[M Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was different from the 3 others in the series that I have read, in that almost the entire book was dedicated to the significance of Crocodilians in world cultures. Only small introductions at the beginning of chapters were reserved for brief (1 paragraph) descriptions of the species. I came to frankly not care about the 5th crocodile-involving legend from so-and-so a tribe, when I picked this book up expecting it to be about natural history, not ethnology or anthropology.