The Extinction Club: A Tale of Deer, Lost Books, and a Rather Fine Canary Yellow Sweater – A Poignant Story of Rare Species Preservation

by Robert Twigger

For one thousand years, the Milu -- an exotic species of deer with the neck of a camel, horns of a stag, feet of a cow, and tail of a donkey -- existed only in the Chinese emperor’s private park in Beijing. But in the nineteenth century, a Basque missionary risked his life to obtain a specimen, then embalmed it and sent it to Paris. The preserved remains caused quite a stir, and soon every major nation in Europe possessed a Milu. But most died quickly, and due to war -- most notably the Boxer Rebellion -- they became extinct in their native habitat as well. Yet the eleventh duke of Bedford was devoted to preserving the Milu. Under his care at Woburn Abbey, a herd flourished, and nearly a century later, in 1986, part of the British herd was returned to China. In his fascinating tale, Robert Twigger poignantly recounts the story of this strange and rare animal while providing a riveting meditation on evolution, truth-telling, extinction, myth-making, and survival.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Twigger is a British author who has been described as, 'a 19th Century adventurer trapped in the body of a 21st Century writer'. He attended Oxford University and later spent a year training at Martial Arts with the Tokyo Riot Police. He has won the Newdigate prize for poetry, the Somerset Maugham award for literature and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.

In 1997, whilst on an expedition in Northern Borneo, he discovered a line of menhirs crossing into Kalimantan. In 1998 He was part of the team that caught the world's longest snake- documented in the Channel 4/National Geographic film and book Big Snake; later he was the leader of the expedition that was the first to cross Western Canada in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Most recently, in 2009-2010, he led an expedition that was the first to cross the 700 km Great Sand Sea of the Egyptian Sahara solely on foot.

He has also written for newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Telegraph, Maxim and Esquire, and has published several poetry collections, including one in 2003, with Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing.

Robert has published Real Men Eat Puffer Fish (2008), a humorous but comprehensive guide to frequently overlooked but not exclusively masculine pastimes, while his latest novel Dr. Ragab's Universal Language, was published to acclaim in July 2009. Robert now lives in Cairo, a move chronicled in his book Lost Oasis. He has lead several desert expeditions with 'The Explorer School'.

Robert has given lectures on the topic of 'Lifeshifting', an approach which emphasises the need to centre one's life around meaning-driven motivation. Drawing on experiences working with indigenous peoples from around the world, he has spoken on 'work tribes' and polymathy. He has also spoken on leadership. Some of these talks have been to companies such as Procter and Gamble, Maersk Shipping, SAB Miller and Oracle computing.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the Milu is stranger than fiction. At one time it existed only in the Chinese emperor's private park in Beijing. Robert Twigger weaves a travelogue that binds history, the Milu and politics into a story that is (truly) stranger than fiction. At the core of this tale is the link between exotic animals and the powerful who can afford to take care of them.

[Andy Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those impulse purchases in the bargain section at Borders I bought probably 5 or so years ago. I had it around my classroom for a student to read, but since no teenager, especially struggling with reading read it, I figured I shouldn't put a good book to waste.

So I began reading and found the narrative to be terribly confusing, perhaps because of the writing, but probably because I wasn't really focused on what I was reading. The book does blend the line between fiction and non-fiction so instead of trying to figure out which genre it fell into, I just read.

At first I thought the milu or Pere David's Deer was pure fiction. The animal seemed to have a mythical history to it and I had never heard of such an animal myself so there I was thinking that this was a fictitious story of an extinct animal. When it really got my attention was when I googled milu and found that they were real and they still exist today because of the efforts of a Priest Name Pere David's work.

Mr. Twigger raises some interesting thoughts about extinction. For example, he discusses how animals or things that are odd, weird, or foreign are often seen as things we destroy, i.e. the dodo and giant moa. Both these birds were strange to look at and were not things that we would naturally want to protect. We sort of treat humans that fall under strange, odd, and weird and do the same thing. Not the point of extinction, but we certainly do not always welcome and tolerate oddities.

The significant thing about this book is that most people that read this book will discover something complete new: whether it is about this rare and strange milu, or the thoughtful rhetoric about extinction.

[Jstacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I had to read through to really appreciate. At points I was questioning the point and direction, but in the end, I liked the links he made between humans and these deer. It was a bit of a history lesson too as I knew nothing about the Boxer Rebellion and what was happening in China. There's a moral lesson in the book too. The fact that is is not a book one needs to be heavily invested in tipped this to four stars....

[Antoine McGrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

The legendary deer known as the Milu was thought to be extinct until Basque missionary Pere David stumbled upon them in the Chinese emperor's private park. Not a must read but a good review of an interesting species history.

[Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 2010 bookcrossing journal:

Hmmm. I've had this one a while, and to be honest, now that I have eventually gotten around to reading it, it has been a bit of a disappointment and not exactly what I expected.

I understood this was going to be the story of Milu, a type of Chinese deer that has been extinct from the wild for 1000 years or so. Odd looking creatures, they were kept in the park of the Forbidden City in China. Some were smuggled out to Europe, and kept in parks, were most of them died. But an English nutter got a thriving herd going at Woburn abby, where they still are today. And apparently some have been sent back to China, where they had ceased to exist completely for some time.

Now, part of the book was about this story. But a lot of it wasn't. There's quite a bit that's really just this guy's memoirs. About the time he was trying to research this book and write it, and what he got up to, and what he was thinking, and what he did other than write his book - such as running all over Cairo looking for second hand bookshops. So it's quite self-involved in that respect. And whilst the writing is good and well-written, this isn't what I bought this book for, and had I known, I probably would never have bothered with it. It almost feels like, having taken the money and the commission to write this book, he struggled so much with his research into the deer (perhaps his own fault, perhaps lack of material and help from the experts - who is to say) that he had to pad it out with his memoirs in order to get it up to book length.

Yeah, there are some interesting thoughts on the notion of extinction, and that we should consider ourselves as animals too, as well as the extinction of ways of life, skills etc. There was a curious bit when he's rambling on about evolution and natural selection and how it's nature's way of getting rid of the freaks.... I thought part of evolution was that some of the freaks and abnormalities survived, because they were better developed for a certain job, therefore making the creature evolve/be different/change/become better... but this idea seemed to be completely missed.

It felt like there was so much in this book that was just glossed over - there could have been so much more in it. Such as this thing about the extinction club itself, which you barely heard anything about at all. An international group of rich evil men who enjoy wiping out the last of endangered species.

Hmmm.

[JennyB · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I have observed elsewhere, sometimes, there is a good reason books end up in the bargain bin.
The author took an interesting topic, which would have produced a fascinating article, dressed it up in a lot of superfluous personal musings, and turned it into an annoying book length effort. Ah yes, that is why it was so deeply discounted....

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a superfast read--and I'll confess--I skimmed through parts of this. I give Robert Twigger's book only 2 stars as it was a major disappointment. I wanted more Pere David deer, and less, much less Twigger. It is an intriguing story--the Chinese deer was hunted to extinction in China and was saved by Westerners, who kept the animal in zoos in Europe. Finally, the animal was reintroduced to China...I wanted more about the deer. Instead, we get Twigger giving his opinions, using the deer as a reason to go on about his own ideas. I got tired of things that he wrote about and skimmed. He tells how he was writing the book in Cairo and spent a lot of time looking for a book store there. I skimmed through that, wondering when he'd get back to the deer.
I am sure "The Extinction Club" of the title was a complete fabrication--and what was the point of that?
Having decided to give this book only 2 stars, I have to admit that Twigger is a good writer and I'd be happy to read another book of his, such as "Big Snake," in which he's looking for the biggest snake in the world.

[Emily Steele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was going to be an ecological history of a unique animal that's survived extinction outside its native range, which would have been interesting. Nope, it was a rambling random self reflection of an author who admittedly did not want to write this book, which somehow got past an editor to be published. I kept reading because I literally had no idea what direction the author was going to take on the next page and the chapters were short.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pere David's Deer, otherwise known as the Milu, which went extinct in its native China and was restored by a captive herd in Britain, is the putative topic. It only occupies a few pages.

There's a lot of rambling, comments by the author about himself and side tracks. Some of the side tracks are well explored and worth a trip. Some are padding, as presented anyway.

This is a slim volume and I was disappointed and surprised that despite the descriptions of the comically assembled deer, there is no photo or drawing any larger than the thumbnail sketch on the cover.

There is a section about a club of gun nuts - mostly American - who - the author claims - go around the world deliberately trying to drive endangered species extinct. If any of this is true the author should supply all details to appropriate authorities and to groups like WWF. Endangered species are almost always preserved from hunting. If none of it is true it has no business in this book.

Not a great read, but an okay browse. Some humour, but not that funny. Some intelligent comment and research, but not enough for any claim to depth.

[Betsy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good thing I can say about this book is that it introduced me to the story of the Milu Deer. Actually, calling The Excinction Club a book is a stretch. It reads more like a collection Twigger's notes for a first draft of a manuscript. Since he spends most of the book talking about how he can't get it together to actually write the book, I'm thinking maybe he just submitted the notes to his publisher who, for some unknown reason, put them into print.

[Hannah Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting to really enjoy this but it turned out it was a bit of a dud - trying to be a bit clever clogs about big picture stuff like extinction and literature. But he ended up just coming across as an annoying tit.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book, a little odd.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not life changing but it certainly makes you think about all that has been lost

[Stephen Botha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different kind of story.