The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History - Elizabeth Kolbert - Book Review

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I grew up in a Sub Urban area with lot of vegetation around. As I grew up, the place was just being swallowed up by more and more houses. One of the hassles of the vegetation was that we used to get lot of uninvited guests to our home - weird insects, bats, worms and scary Snakes. One of the key lessons I was taught as a kid was what to do to protect myself from Snakes. I vividly remember a few six foot long venomous Vipers that we spotted in home. Today, the area has completely become an Urban jungle. Snakes have disappeared with more houses. We are happy with the fact that we need not worry about those snakes. But what has happened to those snakes? How has the loss of habitat affected them? What about other harmless insects and bats? A few endemic species could have disappeared. All because of us - Human Beings. This book, 'The Sixth Extinction' is exactly about this. How Human Beings are causing the sixth major extinction event of the world and how it is happening right in front of our eyes.

I was looking for a book in the last minute before my flight. I randomly came across this book on Amazon and decided to give it a shot. One thing I worried was that the book would turn out to be one of those preachy materials on the ill effects of Global Warming. This book by Elizabeth Kolbert is exactly that, but the author conveys it with a well strung research, tales and subtlety. Being a Journalist, the author has done justice to the job by spending a lot of time with fossil collectors, museum directors, biologists and conservationists to bring home the point of how we (Human Beings) are destroying the planet.

While unsurprisingly, the major cause of the Sixth Extinction is Global Warming, the author also points out to other strong factors that weigh in - Fragmentation of Habitats due to developing Urban Clusters and Forced movement of Species across continents, both knowingly and accidentally.

The author starts the book with how various species of Frogs have started disappearing in the recent years across Latin America. Frogs have been one of the resilient species on the face of earth. They have survived for the past 250 million years. Now, they have suddenly started disappearing. After a lot of research, it has been identified that Chytrid Fungus causes this. Chytrid Fungus is not a native found in Latin America. Humans have introduced it somehow and they have started playing havoc. These species that causes havoc are known as Invasive Species. Evolution would have equipped the frogs to save itself from known dangers, but then it never came across this Fungus in the past millions of years. Across the years as humans started travelling, we have introduced so many of these species.

What I really loved about the book was the abundance of information provided -

1. How Fossils were identified and unearthed in the 19th century and the efforts of Georges Cuvier and Charles Darwin identifying the fossils and establishing the first theories on Extinction of Species.
2. The relationship between increasing latitude and increasing number of species. While in the poles, there is nearly no diversity, there is abundance of diversity near the equator given the favorable climate.
3. How Global Warming is making the Ocean more and more acidic - Water absorbs excess Carbon Di Oxide to form Carbonic Acid. This in turn affects the calcification process required to form Coral Reefs which are the base of Ocean Life.
4. How it is not only animals that move, but also trees with change in temperatures. Some trees expand itself at a rapid rate through pollination and in the process negates the space for less invasive species.
5. How the chances of a species survival reduces with reducing habitat and fragmentation. Certain species are endemic to Islands and they often disappear soon. The same happen with increasing Urbanization.

It has been established that we are not the only Human Species that has lived in this planet - one of the key human species that has lived alongside us is Neanderthals. It has been established that on an average nearly 4% of our DNA contains Neanderthal DNA. It has also been established that Human Beings or Homo Sapiens in specific were the main cause of Neanderthals extinction. After a long struggle, Neanderthal's DNA has been established. They are almost same as that of us. But over the years, some change has happened that has made us so dangerous. Some tiny little Gene has made us so superior to the rest of the species - that we have even killed our sister species. So, the author wonders what is this 'Mad Gene' that causes that change.

The author finally concludes with a positive note by capturing some of the super human efforts taken by conservationists to protect the few endangered species and says our hope is that. While, we have singly killed all those species, we also go in great length to protect the remaining species. Countries like Australia and New Zealand have strict Biosecurity laws to protect their native species. If the Mad Gene signifies despair, the same Mad Gene signifies Hope as well.

On the flip side, I found that the author had used too many Biological names for the Species which became too tough to follow at a point. I would rate this as one of the best books I have read about our planet and the species that live on it. Having read Yuval Noah Harrari's 'Sapiens' augmented this book very well, as Sapiens had established how we became the conquering deadly species that we are.

If you have a little iota of guilt that we cause to the environment, this book is a must read!

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Having Momos with uninvited Cats!

Hi Guys,

A few months back, we (me and a few friends of mine) went on a trip to Coorg and on the way we stopped by at Bylakuppe to visit the Tibetian Monastery. We decided to have lunch at a small Tibetian restaurant. It was a pretty small place and we found out that we were the only guys at the restaurant.

We ordered a few Momos and as we started eating, two small cats came by. They were kittens maturing into the cat phase. Our table was right next to the window and one cat just peeped in. First she was a bit careful about stepping in. Once she learned that we were not going to do anything, she started to walk across our legs underneath the table. The other cat was still a bit shy and was just peeping through. Meanwhile, she started lying in between my legs and my friend Ankur was saying that she is fond of me. I was a bit scared as to if she would bite or scratch my legs. So, I constantly had a look on the cat.

Personally, I love cats for a few reasons. They are so quiet creatures. They move without creating any noise and sit on walls peacefully. Their movement is so graceful and they appear naïve, but are great observers of things around them. Somehow, I find some of those characteristics in myself and hence have some fondness on observing cats. They are so nimble that nothing happens to them even if they fall from a great height.

And so, while we were eating, an old Tibetan lady and her grandson came to eat. So, my dear cat left me and went there in search of something interesting. I was a bit relaxed as she was no more at our table. The old lady just took one of the Momos and fed it to the cat. So, I assumed that the cat might be domesticated and must have lost the hunting skills (domesticated cats rely on their owner for food and the hunting capability is lost). After finishing it, she came back to us. This time we gave a small piece of Momo and finally the other cat also came in.

They kept on roaming around the place for some time. They went out and sat on the window frame from outside. Finally, I gathered some courage and took my hand to touch the cat (something I haven’t done before). And this time she got scared and jumped down before even my hand went near her head. I never left her to touch me and she reciprocated the same to me in the end.

It has been a few months since it happened, but the cute cat does come into my mind quite often…

Happy Reading!!!

Mischievous Monkeys!

Hi Guys,

After the Babbling Babblers, it was the Mischievous monkeys that visited my home today. I was shaving today morning and the brand new razor resulted in a few bruises. I paused shaving and looked out through the window for a while. I was able to see a long snake like thing hanging from the sunshade of the neighbor's house. It was unusual and I moved a little to see what it was. There were two monkeys sitting in the roof. They were showing their teeth now and then and it was just sharp. What will happen if it bites?

I called my mom and she was scared and closed the doors. She joined me to watch the monkeys and simultaneously another big monkey was climbing a coconut tree. It was climbing in such a pace that I was frightened and one of the sitting monkeys jumped to a coconut tree. My God! It jumped nearly 10 feet with such an ease. Crows had built their nest in the trees and at the sight of these creatures they started to panic. They were cawing for a long time.

The three monkeys

Creating Terror!

After seeing a set of photographs, I understood that they were talking with each other

One monkey jumps (hidden by leaves) and another watches

After some time, all the three monkeys came back to the roof with a coconut in their hand. They broke the coconut and feasted for some time, before leaving the place. I don't know where they went. But it is still terrifying to think of these creatures.

Happy Reading!!!

Fear!

Hi Guys,

Fear is an instinct that occurs when we feel there is danger nearby. All of us have fear for something or other. What varies is the degree of fear and the way we face it. Let me say about something that I fear the most.

It is none other than the Snakes. I have been living in the same home from my childhood days and the locality has developed a lot. In the earlier days, there used to be fewer houses and more thorn bushes. So, there used to lot of snakes around the place. I was fed up with the thought that all snakes are dangerous and snake bites lead to death.

Once when was 7 or 8 years old, I went to the terrace to take the clothes from the cloth lane. When I was climbing down the stairs, I heard the noise of some movement in dry neem leaves. I sensed that something was moving in the leaves. My small hands were full of clothes and they were nearly covering my face too. So, I was able to see nothing from that height. As I crossed half the way, I saw what was there and instantly screamed ‘Amma’.

It was a 6 foot long snake and it was lying on the dry leaves. My hands were trembling and I dropped some clothes. I never cared for the clothes and I never turned my eyes toward the snake. I just rushed inside my home. The snake too sensed the vibration and rushed to next home through the fence. I was looking through the window and I still remember the part of snake I saw. It was black-violet in colour. I knew what it means by ‘full of life’ then. The snake was magnificent and full of life. From then on Mom won’t send me to take clothes.

This incident happened quite early. I think it was during a summer vacation or some other holiday as I remember that I and my brother were playing. It was late afternoon and then someone came to pluck grasses from my home. He saw that there was a snake and informed us. We were just frightened and mom went and called some construction workers nearby. They came and tried chasing away the snake and the snake entered the bathroom pipe. So, they decided to attack the snake from the bathroom.

They asked me and my brother to move away from bedroom as it was a very long snake. They pulled the snake out of the pipe and closed the bedroom door and after some fight, they hit the snake. I still remember two people carrying the snake from bedroom. It was dark green in colour and it was also a big one. Blood was dropping all along the way and that day I knew... Snake blood is also red in color!

As I grew up, the number of houses in the locality started increasing, which meant that thorn bushes were decreasing and snakes had no place to hide. So the number of snakes I saw in the past 7-8 years was very less. For the past 2-3 years, we encountered no snakes, but due to the heavy monsoons this time, some snakes have come again.

Particularly in the last few days, some small snakes were frequently coming. Yesterday, there was a 2 foot long snake in the garden. The worst part was that it was crawling on the top of compound wall. All these days, I have never seen a snake climbing a wall. How did that snake do that? I was so frightened and searched Google for ‘wall climbing snakes’ and never got an exact answer. This has created new fears in me.

Hope that wall climbing snake doesn’t come again.

Happy Reading!!!

Toad Photographs!

Hi Guys,

Toads are one of the creatures that visit my home regularly. I haven't seen a group of toads, but I've seen atleast one every night since my childhood days. For the past few days I've been thinking of taking Toad Photographs, but they are very shy creatures and will disappear quickly if I go near them.

Today evening I saw a toad standing in one corner. I was not interested as it would run away. I went outside an hour later and it was still there. I thought of taking photo and took my camera and went outside. I was careful not to create sound. I was some 5 feet away from the toad and took 2 photos with 4X zoom (maximum possible optical zoom in my camera). It started to jump when I moved a little. I was on the verge of jumping down and I took another three. I was taking the next one and it jumped away.

The first place where the toad stayed for very long time

Ready to jump!

After that I came to the other side. To my suprise there was another toad on the other side. It was a comparitively smaller one. It was in between two plants and I was able to capture it quite well. This toad cooperated well with me.

The other one!

Another black and white!

A close up view. Wonderful, isn't it?

It took 20 minutes for me to take the photographs. Particularly after losing the first toad, I was very careful with the second one. I was nearly kneeling down for 10 minutes. My legs were paining at the end, but my mind was very happy. Just thought about the nature photographers. How difficult it would be for them to capture the wildlife? Hats off to them.

Happy Viewing!!!

Effect of Summer in my Garden!

Hi Guys,

I took some photographs in my Garden. It was pathetic to see many of the plants. Most of the plants had completely dried due to the scorching Sun. Here I present some of the photos, that I took.

Dust Laden Leaves!

Ant Burrow in the base of a Coconut Tree!

Half Eaten Coconut. Must have been left by a Crow or Squirrel.

Some Insect Burrow! It must have done it to escape the heat!

Dried Aloe Vera! It is the 1st time I have seen this plant dry up

Trees that couldn't stand the heat!

A small plant that has survived the heat!

Cracks due to lack of water!

Dusty Leaves of Sapotta tree, expecting a little blessing from the Rain Gods!

A close up view of the Ant burrows!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Happy Viewing!!!

Animal week

Hi,

Long time since I’ve written.

This week I came across many animals and I’ll be writing about all of them.

Wheat eating Squirrels

 To begin with last Tuesday, my mother had bought some 2 kg of wheat. Since there was lot of dust, she had to dirt free it. She had soaked it in water and kept them in a cloth. Then she had kept it in terrace for the wheat to dry. After some 15 or 20 minutes, she had gone to the terrace to dry the washed garments.

There was a shock. Some 7 or 8 squirrels were sitting there and eating the wheat. They had no problems with heat, since the day was chill and also the cloth was damp. Stunned she has set the squirrels off and she also sat there for some more time. But some squirrels still came. So she took the wheat and came down. Almost the squirrels must have eaten 250 grams out of the total 2 kg. A good feast for the squirrels and a good lesson for mom (and us too).

Squirrel in our Garden

They always eat the fruits that r present in our garden like custard apple and sapotta. Anyway I love the squirrels. They r pretty, minute creatures. Normally mom would give food to them each morning. They would be wandering all round the garden. They would eat the skins of the fruits, vegetables that we peel off. They would hardly ever come into the house. So normally they cause no big troubles. On the whole, they r smart, peace loving creatures.

Problem with Seals

On Tuesday afternoon, I was watching a program about seals in Nat Geo Wild. Actually I was changing channels simultaneously since all the programs in Tamil channels were unexciting. It was a wonderful program. Seals r animals that mainly live in sea, but they come to beach to mate with each other and to give birth. Newly born seals live long time in coastline (about 9 months). Once they enter the sea, they r alienated from their mother. They wander around the entire world. They mainly feed on small fish. They r hunted by sharks. They travel as much as 1500 miles.

The show specially concentrated a male seal. It went up from Queensland coast in Australia to Cape town in South Africa. It was 6 years then, being in its adolescence, it came back to Queensland to mate. But already the male seals had divided the territories and chased this away.

Sometime in between the program my mother came there. Seeing the seals she said “what creatures r these? Pakkave aruvarupa iruku… odambellam valu valu nu irku”. Then she went.

On Thursday, I was showing her my brother’s photos in Orkut. He uploaded his recent tour photos. He has gone to Punta del este, a seaside town in Uruguay. One of the photos showed the seals resting on a board in the coast.  Seeing that she was taken aback. She told that it was disgusting and told me to change it. But net crashed and the system remained in the same screen for a few seconds.

This was the picture that my brother took in Punta del este, Uruguay

But personally I enjoyed looking the seals.

A cute little Dog: Where did it come from and where did it go?

This was on Wednesday. Morning, after my father started to office, my mother slept. I was preparing for my exams that afternoon (apa than padikave arambichen. That was quite an easy subject). I was hearing some moaning sounds outside my house. In order to check it, I went outside. A small puppy was there trying to come into my house through the gate holes.

The atmosphere was cold. The puppy was trembling. Its appearance made us feel that it was 10 days old. It has somehow lost its mother. We tried to chase it out shouting. But it didn’t hear. Moreover its one foot was injured too. Then we touched it with a tiny stick. It went and slept nearby. Then I went to college by 11.30 am. When I came back at 6 pm it was still sleeping. Night too it was sleeping. Then by 10.30 pm there was the same moaning sound.

The next morning I found that it had slept at the neighbor’s house. Morning it was in the street again. Luckily its mother seems to have found it. Another dog (it might be the mother) was searching for something in the other end of the street the previous day. It was also not seen. So there is a lot of likelihood for union of the mother and the puppy.

Leaf Biting Worms: A problem yet Again

In our garden, there is a plant known as Nandhiyavettai. It bears beautiful white flowers daily. The plant (or a mini tree) would appear attractive. But often some small worms would come and eat all the leaves in it. Today I and mom found that they have come again. There was lot of worm’s excretions below the plant. So I and mom set out to look for those worms in that plant. Finally we found out 4 huge worms. We plucked the leaves and threw them out. I took some pictures. They will look so beautiful. But they r also very hazardous to the plant.

The picture of a leaf eating worm

U can see 3 of the 4 worms that we caught today

Totally, it was a fantastic week for me.