What do you think?
Rate this book
Wildlife Spectacles: Mass Migrations, Mating Rituals, and Other Fascinating Animal Behaviors
Equal parts nature guide, adventure story, and coffee table book!
People are captivated by wild animals—by their strength and their size and by the things they do to stay alive. In Wildlife Spectacles zoologist Vladimir Dinets dives deep into this wonder, allowing curious readers to discover just how spectacular wild animals can be. In the rich, fully illustrated pages you’ll discover the migration of gray whales along the Pacific coast, the dancing alligators of the Everglades, the synchronized blinking of fireflies near Tennessee, the swarms of feeding bats over the Mississippi River, the blue-glowing scorpions of the Southwest desert, hundreds of wintering tundra swans in New Jersey, and much more.
People are captivated by wild animals—by their strength and their size and by the things they do to stay alive. In Wildlife Spectacles zoologist Vladimir Dinets dives deep into this wonder, allowing curious readers to discover just how spectacular wild animals can be. In the rich, fully illustrated pages you’ll discover the migration of gray whales along the Pacific coast, the dancing alligators of the Everglades, the synchronized blinking of fireflies near Tennessee, the swarms of feeding bats over the Mississippi River, the blue-glowing scorpions of the Southwest desert, hundreds of wintering tundra swans in New Jersey, and much more.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 19, 2016
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 12, 2018
This is written by wildlife zoologist, Vladimer Dinets. I liked flipping throughout this book on my computer, as it was a read I downloaded from NetGalley. I'd love to see the coffee table version. I bet the photos are stunning. I too am one who loves all things animals and am happiest when in nature. The author throws in a few personal notes which I enjoyed.
I recommend this book for those who love nature, animals and wildlife in particular. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital to copy to read in exchange for a review. There are, truly, some fascinating animal behaviors. I find that animals are fascinating anyway
Update 10/20/16
I just saw this (and looked at while sipping tea) at BAM and it's beautiful. Upping my review to 4 stars. Then, bc its shelved by a book I've been hearing a lot about and plan on buying, Tracey Stewart's Do Unto Animals, I'm going on and giving it 5. Yay for more awareness about how beautiful our world is with Animals. Stunning photos I this book. Well done. Didn't translate as well on my computer download. Would make a terrific coffee table book. Go grab your copy! I want one too.
I recommend this book for those who love nature, animals and wildlife in particular. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital to copy to read in exchange for a review. There are, truly, some fascinating animal behaviors. I find that animals are fascinating anyway
Update 10/20/16
I just saw this (and looked at while sipping tea) at BAM and it's beautiful. Upping my review to 4 stars. Then, bc its shelved by a book I've been hearing a lot about and plan on buying, Tracey Stewart's Do Unto Animals, I'm going on and giving it 5. Yay for more awareness about how beautiful our world is with Animals. Stunning photos I this book. Well done. Didn't translate as well on my computer download. Would make a terrific coffee table book. Go grab your copy! I want one too.
December 14, 2024
I'm genuinely shocked that this book has been so well-reviewed given the number of problems I had with it. I can't help but think most readers just didn't read this cover to cover and just skimmed for fun facts and looked at the pictures?
Some examples of questionable bits in this book:
- The overt blaming of Native people for driving species to extinction or near-extinction. Yes, "settlers" get a couple of mentions (notably when they're Spanish), but there's an overt focus on how Native Americans were responsible for a lot of species deaths prior to European settlement. If this is true, then I don't really see the relevance now considering how far in the past that was and how modern-day habitat loss is driven by completely different motivations and forces, but my gut tells me that a LOT more species started being hunted to extinction AFTER European contact and not before.
- Living First Nations people aren't exempt. You'll read comments about "the senseless slaughter" of baby seals that is "sponsored" by the Canadian government to please communities that are dependent on seal hunting. The author clearly doesn't support Native sovereignty and the preservation of culture and to each their own, but again, what's the relevance in a book about wildlife spectacles?
- This attitude bleeds over into the way the author writes about people overall. For a book on wildlife spectacles, why exactly do we need to hear about the author's stereotyping the way Asian and Hispanic tourists react to whale watching tours? Or why do we need sentences like:
There is no further comment about nightingales following this (the very next sentence jumps to a different bird), so what exactly was the point of this barb towards Japanese people? Is the implication that the Japanese don't realize that nightingales are bush-robins but Europeans do? It just felt like a lot of little comments sprinkled throughout the book that just weren't necessary.
- Speaking of attitude, the number of times the dust jacket and book mention the author being the first to discover aspects of alligators behavior is excessive. He boasts about it at least 5 times if we're including the author bio. At one point, instead of just describing the alligator dance, he just pastes an excerpt from one of his other books as a self-plug.
And I haven't even scratched the surface. Aside from the author's general tone/voice, there were countless other aspects of this book that bothered me:
- For one, the content doesn't match the title or presentation of the book. Nothing on the cover or title indicates that this book focuses exclusively on North American animals and habitats. And no, there's nothing inherently wrong with a book about North American wildlife, but it wasn't what I was looking for and I think it should have been mentioned somewhere in that long subtitle.
- For a book that markets itself as part-coffee table book, the pictures are not all that impressive. Which is fair because the author is a zoologist and not a photographer, but it's just another disappointing aspect of the book if you're expecting the photos to make up for the writing. Nearly all the photos in the book were taken by the author with the exception of the ones taken by his wife (presumably also not a wildlife photographer). There are definitely some gems, and the photos are certainly better than what 90% of the population could take, but if you've been spoiled by wildlife coffee table books by actual photographers or by the best in the business (like the BBC documentary books), you'll likely find the photos in this collection to be a letdown.
- Very little of the book consists of actual "spectacles". I think there were about 10 impressive descriptions in this 300+ page book. Most of the writing is instead devoted to a long background about an animal (including, as mentioned above, the group of people most responsible for its dwindling numbers) along with the author's personal interactions with them (if any). Dozens of species have their habitat and general behavior described for paragraphs. Unless the author considers "spectacles" to include any fact at all about an animal (e.g. the mystery of the source of lacewing's buzzing sounds, or the fact that some types of seals give birth far from polar bears), the title of the book is very misleading. It's not that these facts aren't interesting, it's just that they aren't spectacles.
- And to combine these last two points, close to none of the spectacles are accompanied by photos. The photos throughout the book are photos the author took throughout his travels and work, not photos of the spectacles being written about. And this would be fine if the way this book was marketed didn't make it seem as though the book was going to be a collection of writings and photos of actual spectacles. I can't be the only one who expected to see beautiful pictures of birds' courtship dances instead of just reading that they happen?
- Finally, I disliked the way the book tried to promote watching all these behaviors in-person. Imagine if BBC's Planet Earth gave you tips after every featured animal on how to visit that place and see the animals! (Again, this wouldn't be a complaint if the book advertised itself as a guide on how to encounter wild animals). There's one point where the author actually says that some types of wild seal pups will let people touch them - it felt really irresponsible to include that. This happens multiple times, such as when he writes about certain playful animals being open to playing with humans. There's also at least one photo of the author holding a bird's unhatched eggs in his palms. I don't know the context and this might have been perfectly safe and responsible, but I felt that there should have been some kind of warning for readers to NOT get the idea to do these things themselves.
This book tries too hard to be a memoir, an educational resource on North American wildlife, a coffee table book, and a travel guide, and spreads itself far too thin. What you get instead is a book that describes a whole bunch of animal species, wildlife history and behavior, photos that generally don't illustrate the described spectacles, and pages that are supposed to help to know where to go to see the spectacles yourself but are too vague ("this animal can easily be seen in the tundra!") to actually be useful. It doesn't help that some of the animal behaviors are described as being so rare that scientists barely know about them.
2 stars because there is a lot of information in this book and I appreciate the amount of time and effort the author must have put into it.
TL;DR: This book seems to consider all aspects of animal behavior as deserving of the moniker of "spectacle," whether it's the fact that male elks develop deeper voices as they mature, or that feeding cats in your backyard will cause an increase in insects. The photos, which aren't on par with photos by wildlife photographers, don't illustrate the major spectacles that are described and just seem to be photos from the author's collection. Finally, the author's attitude/voice is off-putting, whether it's him boasting about the rare experiences he's had or him making jabs at certain groups of people for no reason.
*2024 Around the Year Reading Challenge*
Prompt #40: A book involving a wild animal or endangered species, in the content, title, or on the cover
Some examples of questionable bits in this book:
- The overt blaming of Native people for driving species to extinction or near-extinction. Yes, "settlers" get a couple of mentions (notably when they're Spanish), but there's an overt focus on how Native Americans were responsible for a lot of species deaths prior to European settlement. If this is true, then I don't really see the relevance now considering how far in the past that was and how modern-day habitat loss is driven by completely different motivations and forces, but my gut tells me that a LOT more species started being hunted to extinction AFTER European contact and not before.
- Living First Nations people aren't exempt. You'll read comments about "the senseless slaughter" of baby seals that is "sponsored" by the Canadian government to please communities that are dependent on seal hunting. The author clearly doesn't support Native sovereignty and the preservation of culture and to each their own, but again, what's the relevance in a book about wildlife spectacles?
- This attitude bleeds over into the way the author writes about people overall. For a book on wildlife spectacles, why exactly do we need to hear about the author's stereotyping the way Asian and Hispanic tourists react to whale watching tours? Or why do we need sentences like:
Europeans traditionally consider nightingales the world's best singers. The Japanese tend to agree, without realizing that their beloved bird is actually a bush-robin.
There is no further comment about nightingales following this (the very next sentence jumps to a different bird), so what exactly was the point of this barb towards Japanese people? Is the implication that the Japanese don't realize that nightingales are bush-robins but Europeans do? It just felt like a lot of little comments sprinkled throughout the book that just weren't necessary.
- Speaking of attitude, the number of times the dust jacket and book mention the author being the first to discover aspects of alligators behavior is excessive. He boasts about it at least 5 times if we're including the author bio. At one point, instead of just describing the alligator dance, he just pastes an excerpt from one of his other books as a self-plug.
And I haven't even scratched the surface. Aside from the author's general tone/voice, there were countless other aspects of this book that bothered me:
- For one, the content doesn't match the title or presentation of the book. Nothing on the cover or title indicates that this book focuses exclusively on North American animals and habitats. And no, there's nothing inherently wrong with a book about North American wildlife, but it wasn't what I was looking for and I think it should have been mentioned somewhere in that long subtitle.
- For a book that markets itself as part-coffee table book, the pictures are not all that impressive. Which is fair because the author is a zoologist and not a photographer, but it's just another disappointing aspect of the book if you're expecting the photos to make up for the writing. Nearly all the photos in the book were taken by the author with the exception of the ones taken by his wife (presumably also not a wildlife photographer). There are definitely some gems, and the photos are certainly better than what 90% of the population could take, but if you've been spoiled by wildlife coffee table books by actual photographers or by the best in the business (like the BBC documentary books), you'll likely find the photos in this collection to be a letdown.
- Very little of the book consists of actual "spectacles". I think there were about 10 impressive descriptions in this 300+ page book. Most of the writing is instead devoted to a long background about an animal (including, as mentioned above, the group of people most responsible for its dwindling numbers) along with the author's personal interactions with them (if any). Dozens of species have their habitat and general behavior described for paragraphs. Unless the author considers "spectacles" to include any fact at all about an animal (e.g. the mystery of the source of lacewing's buzzing sounds, or the fact that some types of seals give birth far from polar bears), the title of the book is very misleading. It's not that these facts aren't interesting, it's just that they aren't spectacles.
- And to combine these last two points, close to none of the spectacles are accompanied by photos. The photos throughout the book are photos the author took throughout his travels and work, not photos of the spectacles being written about. And this would be fine if the way this book was marketed didn't make it seem as though the book was going to be a collection of writings and photos of actual spectacles. I can't be the only one who expected to see beautiful pictures of birds' courtship dances instead of just reading that they happen?
- Finally, I disliked the way the book tried to promote watching all these behaviors in-person. Imagine if BBC's Planet Earth gave you tips after every featured animal on how to visit that place and see the animals! (Again, this wouldn't be a complaint if the book advertised itself as a guide on how to encounter wild animals). There's one point where the author actually says that some types of wild seal pups will let people touch them - it felt really irresponsible to include that. This happens multiple times, such as when he writes about certain playful animals being open to playing with humans. There's also at least one photo of the author holding a bird's unhatched eggs in his palms. I don't know the context and this might have been perfectly safe and responsible, but I felt that there should have been some kind of warning for readers to NOT get the idea to do these things themselves.
This book tries too hard to be a memoir, an educational resource on North American wildlife, a coffee table book, and a travel guide, and spreads itself far too thin. What you get instead is a book that describes a whole bunch of animal species, wildlife history and behavior, photos that generally don't illustrate the described spectacles, and pages that are supposed to help to know where to go to see the spectacles yourself but are too vague ("this animal can easily be seen in the tundra!") to actually be useful. It doesn't help that some of the animal behaviors are described as being so rare that scientists barely know about them.
2 stars because there is a lot of information in this book and I appreciate the amount of time and effort the author must have put into it.
TL;DR: This book seems to consider all aspects of animal behavior as deserving of the moniker of "spectacle," whether it's the fact that male elks develop deeper voices as they mature, or that feeding cats in your backyard will cause an increase in insects. The photos, which aren't on par with photos by wildlife photographers, don't illustrate the major spectacles that are described and just seem to be photos from the author's collection. Finally, the author's attitude/voice is off-putting, whether it's him boasting about the rare experiences he's had or him making jabs at certain groups of people for no reason.
*2024 Around the Year Reading Challenge*
Prompt #40: A book involving a wild animal or endangered species, in the content, title, or on the cover
July 24, 2021
Dinets provides a tour of natural areas of North America where the conditions result in high productivity and therefore dense and diverse animal life. In each area he shows what conditions are responsible for the productivity. Brief accounts of the major animals and also less well known species make for engaging reading, many of his observations not being found elsewhere. The book is well illustrated with excellent photographs, mostly taken by the author. Viewing tips are provided at the end of each chapter.
Dinets explains some of the climatic mechanisms that determine wildlife patterns such as:
- the ocean currents which warm the Pacific coast but cool the Atlantic coast, allowing a much greater diversity of life to occur in the west
- the great plains which are made up of the long grass prairie to the east while to the west short grass prairie results from the drier conditions; the long grass prairie supports the greater diversity
- salt water versus fresh water: while many marine animals are never found in fresh water, insects are never found in salt water; animals that move between the two, such as the salmon, undergo major physiological adaptations to deal with the change in salinity
Many of his observations are not generally known:
- there are three types of orcas: oceanic that hunt far from shore, resident that feed on medium-sized fish near shore, and the transients that travel great distances and invoke fear in the seals and whales
- violet snails use a foam float and predate on Portuguese Man O' War
- Mormon cricket outbreaks still occur, and while they don't fly they are reminiscent of the now extinct Rocky Mountain locust
- kangaroo rats are unique to southwest North America and are easier to observe than other rodents
- western hummingbird species are apparently changing their migration from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern coast, in order to avoid the drought-stricken SW and Mexican deforestation
- army cutworm moths (miller moths) migrate in such large numbers that they are used as a source of food for mammals, at times including grizzly bears
- the Pacific lamprey spawns in fresh water and is still fished by a few native tribes
- the little known giant fish, sturgeon, paddlefish and alligator gar, can still be found for viewing
A chapter on predator / prey relationships, includes observations that can be made in a garden. Another explores animal play, showing that even animals not generally thought of as intelligent are smart enough to engage in play. "The word intelligence is poorly defined, and in practice usually means the ability to think in the same way as the person measuring it."
Dinets explains some of the climatic mechanisms that determine wildlife patterns such as:
- the ocean currents which warm the Pacific coast but cool the Atlantic coast, allowing a much greater diversity of life to occur in the west
- the great plains which are made up of the long grass prairie to the east while to the west short grass prairie results from the drier conditions; the long grass prairie supports the greater diversity
- salt water versus fresh water: while many marine animals are never found in fresh water, insects are never found in salt water; animals that move between the two, such as the salmon, undergo major physiological adaptations to deal with the change in salinity
Many of his observations are not generally known:
- there are three types of orcas: oceanic that hunt far from shore, resident that feed on medium-sized fish near shore, and the transients that travel great distances and invoke fear in the seals and whales
- violet snails use a foam float and predate on Portuguese Man O' War
- Mormon cricket outbreaks still occur, and while they don't fly they are reminiscent of the now extinct Rocky Mountain locust
- kangaroo rats are unique to southwest North America and are easier to observe than other rodents
- western hummingbird species are apparently changing their migration from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern coast, in order to avoid the drought-stricken SW and Mexican deforestation
- army cutworm moths (miller moths) migrate in such large numbers that they are used as a source of food for mammals, at times including grizzly bears
- the Pacific lamprey spawns in fresh water and is still fished by a few native tribes
- the little known giant fish, sturgeon, paddlefish and alligator gar, can still be found for viewing
A chapter on predator / prey relationships, includes observations that can be made in a garden. Another explores animal play, showing that even animals not generally thought of as intelligent are smart enough to engage in play. "The word intelligence is poorly defined, and in practice usually means the ability to think in the same way as the person measuring it."
July 9, 2017
This was a wonderful overview of contemporary North American ecology, one that helped remind me of all the wonder and mystery of the animal world all around us. Without being at all heavy handed, the book is also a clear reminder to continue to make space for these animals to live their lives without being unduly burdened by humans. Timber Press (a little local publisher here in Portland) produces some lovely books that are just joys to read. Thanks for this little escape into the wider world outside.
January 26, 2018
Observing
When you go outside pay attention to your surroundings. I am blessed to live e surrounded by woods and wildlife. I have learned more about snakes than I care to but the birds, owls, hawks, rabbits, Fox and coyote are always here
When you go outside pay attention to your surroundings. I am blessed to live e surrounded by woods and wildlife. I have learned more about snakes than I care to but the birds, owls, hawks, rabbits, Fox and coyote are always here
January 1, 2017
I enjoyed every moment with this fantastic book! It is chock full of interesting tidbits of knowledge combined with stunning photography.
April 15, 2019
Very informative, and I absolutely love all of the pictures! Safe to say I've added a few more places to my travel list in hopes of seeing some of these spectacles.
May 11, 2021
The photos are magical but the rest was a bit junior for me. I found the author would hint at amazing experiences but not tell me and that’s kind of what I wanted with my fun facts.
September 5, 2016
26 book challenge- a book that will make you smarter
This book is full of animal info and pictures. There are several categories of 'spectacles', including migration, predator/prey, mating and more.
At the end of each chapter is a section on where to see the 'spectacles' discussed in that chapter. It also lists who to call to get more info on specific location or timing if necessary. At the end of the book there is a sizable for further reading section. It would be nice if it included links to see videos of some of the mentioned 'spectacles'.
This was a fascinating book. There was soooo much covered that there is probably something mentioned in the book that anyone can see without too long of a drive. I have seen (15 minutes from my house) the fall tornado of chimney swifts entering a smokestack in the evening- so it was really great to read about it. I also loved that the author threw in some personal notes here and there- like about the Chinese mantis that hangs out at his hummingbird feeder.
If I have any complaint it is how can the author mention the 'impossibly cute Pygmy rabbit' and not show me a picture? I had to immediately stop and look it up. It was indeed impossibly cute! There were a few other animals/insects that I had to put down my reading to look up. I guess to be fair I stop to look up something for almost every book I read :-)
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
This book is full of animal info and pictures. There are several categories of 'spectacles', including migration, predator/prey, mating and more.
At the end of each chapter is a section on where to see the 'spectacles' discussed in that chapter. It also lists who to call to get more info on specific location or timing if necessary. At the end of the book there is a sizable for further reading section. It would be nice if it included links to see videos of some of the mentioned 'spectacles'.
This was a fascinating book. There was soooo much covered that there is probably something mentioned in the book that anyone can see without too long of a drive. I have seen (15 minutes from my house) the fall tornado of chimney swifts entering a smokestack in the evening- so it was really great to read about it. I also loved that the author threw in some personal notes here and there- like about the Chinese mantis that hangs out at his hummingbird feeder.
If I have any complaint it is how can the author mention the 'impossibly cute Pygmy rabbit' and not show me a picture? I had to immediately stop and look it up. It was indeed impossibly cute! There were a few other animals/insects that I had to put down my reading to look up. I guess to be fair I stop to look up something for almost every book I read :-)
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.
November 12, 2016
This is a lovely book, with beautiful photographs written in a very easy to read style. I found the information given in this book extremely interesting. I think this book would also be suitable for school use, it has a very likeable written style which would appeal to adults and young people alike.
The photographs are amazing
The photographs are amazing
November 21, 2016
Full disclosure: I only looked at the stunning photos & their captions and didn't read the text.
Want to Read
January 13, 2017I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews