Black Market - Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia: Ben Davies

Produced by Adam Oswell Photography by Patrick Brown Introduction by Jane Goodall

From rhino horn, shark fin, bear claw, and monkey brain to countless other poached species used for medicine, trophies, and aphrodisiacs, a sinister black market is ravaging the world’s wildlife heritage. Featuring more than 100 astonishing photographs, BLACK MARKET chronicles this grisly trade and the impassioned battle against it. Using hard-earned information from conservation organizations and enforcement agencies, the book uncovers searing truths about the multibillion-dollar underground industry that drives wildlife depletion. BLACK MARKET demands awareness and action to stop the wholesale massacre of Asia’s once abundant wildlife before it is too late.

Available through www.amazon.com and www.earthawareeditions.com

Priceless - The Vanishing Beauty of a Fragile Planet: Grieve, Bradley Trevor

Everyone has heard about animals that are now extinct. But author Bradley Trevor Greive wants everyone to learn about animals that can be saved'and then to do something about it.In inspiring narrative and striking photographs of everything from humpback whales to pigmy possums to African spoonbills, Greive and wildlife photographer Mitsuaki Iwago spell out Earth's diverse animal inventory. They highlight species that once were plentiful but now are scarce'some that are now sadly extinct'and point out specific dangers that other animals face.The authors also present a call to action: 'To preserve our home and the priceless creatures that dwell within it you need only see the world as it is and have a vision of how it could be.' Priceless is a must-have book for everyone interested in the environment, biodiversity, and in all life on Earth

Available through www.amazon.com

Battling for Survival: Valmik Thapar

Illustrated with rare pictures, this book explores some remarkable efforts to save the forest. In doing so it looks at the governance of wildlife and forests and some of the greatest defenders of wildlife in India. Alexander Gibson, S.P. Sahi, A.T.L. Dodsworth, F.W. Champion, Jim Corbett, S.H.
Prater, Salim Ali, R.W. Burton, George Schaller, E.P. Gee, Kailash Sankhala, Billy Arjan Singh, M. Krishnan who battled for the future of India s wildlife. Thapar also examines the evolution of wildlife governance in India over two centuries including the Supreme Court s initiatives, recent court
decisions, and loopholes in existing legislation. He also explores the amazing efforts of organizations like the Bombay Natural History Society as an institution dedicated to conservation in the last century. Will attract a wide range of readers including wildlife enthusiasts, environmentalists,
planners, policy makers, forest officials, NGOs and activists fighting for wildlife protection

Available through www.amazon.com

Land of the Tiger: A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent: Valmik Thapar

In this companion volume to the BBC/PBS television series, Indian biologist Valmik Thapar, a specialist on tigers, takes a leisurely look at the extraordinary animals that inhabit the subcontinent, among them serpent eagles and kiangs, water monitors and one-horned rhinoceroses, cobras and bustards. Although India and the adjoining countries are crowded with humans, and although wildlife-protection laws are a recent development there, animal life continues to thrive; the diversity of flora and fauna, Thapar writes, are the richest in the world. He attributes this uncommon variety of species to religious beliefs that accord the living world an uncommon respect and reverence. Anyone planning a visit to India will benefit from this lively book, as will those who are merely curious.

Available through www.amazon.com

End of the Game: Peter Beard

Focusing on the widespread destruction of the African elephant, Beard tells of the enterprisers, explorers, missionaries, and big-game hunters whose quests for progress and adventure were to change the face of Africa for ever.

These include Theodore Roosevelt; Ernest Hemingway; Denys Finch-Hatton, the romantic hero of Out of Africa; legendary game warden J.A.Hunter; and railway engineer J.H.Patterson, who became famous as the pursuer of the "Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo." The End of the Game is a classic work, one that explores the intricate and complex relationship between man and animals and how both struggle to adapt to their changing environments. It is not always a happy story. But it is an important one. The End of the Game is not a book you will soon forget.
It is too late to undo what has been done.

The laws of inevitability which have ruled Africa for millions of years must now be accepted by Africa's conquerors. To understand this is to begin to realize that we have conquered nothing at all. Man and his ways have intruded with little regard for Africa's customs and privacy. She has been pursued and despoiled. The End of the Game tells part of this story because it deals with the essence of African life, the animal. And with that very license of humanity by which we have presumed to conquer, we are challenged to reflect upon our defeat.

Available through www.amazon.com

Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species: Alan Green

Zoos are places where animals are protected, kept safe from the ravages of the outside world and sheltered from extinction, right? Not necessarily, writes investigative reporter Alan Green, who takes his readers behind the bars in Animal Underworld to tell an unsettling tale of deception and cruelty.

Available through www.amazon.com

Sahyadris - India's Western Ghats - A Vanishing Heritage: Sandesh Kadur

This book takes you on a visual journey through the Malabar Coast of southern India, along the Arabian Sea, where lies a range of mountains known as the Western Ghats, or Sahyadris. Far more ancient than the larger and better-known Himalayas to the north, the Sahyadris harbour the most intact rainforests in peninsular India. Countless species of plants and animals live here, many of which are found nowhere else on earth, and countless of which are still being discovered. Matching this incredible biological richness is the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Western Ghats.

Available through Felis Creations - www.feliscrestions.com