Chasing kangaroos
Subtitle: a continent, a scientist, and a search for the world's most extraordinary creature
By: Tim Flannery
Edition: 1st American ed.
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 2007
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9780802118523
Subjects: Evolution; Description and travel; Extinct animals; Extinction (Biology); Macropodidae; Human ecology; Kangaroos; Natural history
Work titles: Country
Description: Conservationist Flannery draws on three decades of travel, research, and field work to craft a love letter to his native land and one of its most unique and beloved inhabitants: the kangaroo. Crisscrossing the continent, Flannery shows us how the destiny of this extraordinary creature is inseparable from the environment that created it. Along the way he uses encounters with ancient aboriginal cultures and eccentric fossil hunters, farmers and scientists, kangaroo advocates and kangaroo hunters, to explore how Australia's deserts and rainforests have shaped human responses to the continent--and how kangaroos have evolved to handle the resulting challenges. A synthesis of memoir, travel, natural history, and evolutionary science.--From publisher description.
Notes: Originally published: Country : a continent, a scientist & a kangaroo. Melbourne : Text Pub., 2004.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-255) and index.
Table of contents: title: Map --; title: Introduction : Vanished country -- -- 1. A; title: failed circumnavigation -- -- 2.; title: Captain Cook's kangaroo -- -- 3.; title: Quokkas, Euros and stinkers -- -- 4. The; title: last of the frontier -- -- 5.; title: Of  nailtails and nailed tyres -- -- 6.; title: Kangaroo essence -- -- 7.; title: Dead-end in the Inland Sea -- -- 8. The; title: mystery of hopping -- -- 9. The; title: brightest place on Earth -- -- 10. The; title: oldest kangaroo -- -- 11.; title: Skeletons in the dead centre -- -- 12.; title: Where the great roos came from -- -- 13. The; title: age of kangaroos -- -- 14.; title: Advancing with feet or stomach? -- -- 15.; title: Grass for the kangaroos -- -- 16.; title: Not formed for such work -- -- 17.; title: Land of giants -- -- 18.; title: Is the answer 46? -- -- 19.; title: World conquest -- -- 20. A; title: dingo-driven revolution -- -- 21. The; title: age of mammals in Australia -- -- 22. The; title: Groote Eylandt -- -- 23. The; title: true experts -- -- 24.; title: Symbols of the New Land -- -- 25.; title: Oolacunta! -- -- 26.; title: Re-making country --; title: Postscript --; title: Family tree --; title: Acknowledgments --; title: General bibliography --; title: Index.