October NatureKIT: Endangered Species

October NatureKIT: Endangered Species



"Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae) (14 centimetres) (endangered species) (feral cats, human encroachment and land clearance, mining)" by Geoff Whalan is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

From wikipedia: “An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, invasive species, and climate change. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List lists the global conservation status of many species, and various other agencies assess the status of species within particular areas. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species which, for example, forbid hunting, restrict land development, or create protected areas. Some endangered species are the target of extensive conservation efforts such as captive breeding and habitat restoration.

Human activity is a significant cause in causing some species to become endangered.”

Suggestions:
My suggestions come from what I’ve already read, which does have a bigger focus on animals, rather than plants, but plants could fit, too, so if that’s where your interests lie, please feel free to read about endangered plants.

Nonfiction:
The Sixth Extinction / Elizabeth Kolbert
Rare: Portraits of America's Endangered Species / Joel Sartore
Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn / Richard Ellis
The Last Rhinos / Lawrence Anthony
Jaguar: Struggle and Triumph in the Jungles of Belize / Alan Rabinowitz
The Last Panda / George Schaller
The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw / Bruce Barcott
Fire In The Turtle House / Osha Gray Davidson
Tigers In The Snow / Peter Matthiessen

Fiction:
Endangered / Elliot Schrefer
Scat / Carl Hiaasen

And, please do update the wiki with what you read this month:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_NatureKIT#October:_Endangered_Speci...



"Endangered species" by Sumarie Slabber is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Thank you for posting the thread! I'm planning on reading The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen - apparently the snow leopard is currently classified as 'vulnerable' (global population

I would like to read Endangered Eating by Sarah Lohman, which is about American foods that are disappearing.

>3 Tess_W: - That sounds interesting and I'm going to put it on my recommended list. I'm hoping to find something from my TBR pile for this.

I've been reading a ton of nonfiction this year and am still behind on nonfiction I'd planned, so I think I'm going to read fiction for this one. I recently got a copy of an old children's series I loved as a kid, The Animal Rescue Farm Series by Sharon M. Hart, and one of the books is about orphaned Florida Panthers, so I think I'll read that this time around.

>2 Jackie_K: I recently read The Snow Leopard and really enjoyed it, though it was more travel writing than about the leopards, in comparison to what I'd expected/hoped. I hope you also enjoy it!

If I can get my hands on it, I hope to read Last Chance to See by ‪Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. If not, I’ll probably opt for fiction: either Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy or Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Or maybe Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell.

>6 Charon07:, I hope you manage to find Last Chance to See--that's a long-time favorite of mine, and absolutely wonderful!

I am planning to re-read a children's book Will We Miss Them? which is a book about different endangered animals.

>5 whitewavedarling: I think you may have enjoyed it more than me, although I do agree with your assessment overall!

I have finished The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, which as @whitewavedarling pointed out upthread is much less about the actual animal than the title would lead you to believe. It was a fine piece of travel writing, and I thought his descriptive writing was beautiful, but I must admit to being uninterested in his thoughts on Buddhist faith and heavily skimmed those parts of the book.

Just a heads-up that I have created the 2026 Category Challenge group: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24919/2026-Category-Challenge. Stop by to get a head start on planning next year's challenge!

(Cross-posted to a bunch of threads; sorry if you see this a thousand times!)

November KIT can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374697#n8976402

I just finished the excellent Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght

I read Wild Dark Shore where all creatures and plant life were endangerd by climate change.

When Elephants Weep

Alright, so this book wasn't only about elephants or only about endangered animals. Through successive chapters, the authors argue for the likelihood that animals other than people feel emotions too. Each chapter covers different emotions, from fear to joy to awe, including anecdotes from some of the foremost animal behaviour researchers such as Jane Goodall, philosophical and logical arguments, and more than a few accounts of some pretty horrendous stuff — both exemplifying cruelty of humans towards animals, and of animals towards each other. This book was very well-researched, with pages and pages of notes at the end of the book.

I finished Last Chance to See by ‪Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, which I’m also using for the “travel” square for the BingoDog, since the two travel all over the world to spot endangered animals. This was so funny but so grim, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but the epilogue “Sifting through the Embers” tipped the balance toward tragedy.

>15 Charon07: I agree, I loved that book. (There's also a sequel, where Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry return and see what's happened) The first chapter where he met that Australian professor who was the snake expert had me crying with laughter. But it soon got very sobering, as you found.

I didn't finish it till yesterday, but I read Tenacious Beasts, which is about endangered animals who are in the process of making recoveries.

I had not realized how ecologically based The Extinction of Irena Rey is, with the description of its forest where the fictional author (Irena Rey) lives. It is on the border between Poland and Belarus, and there are extensive descriptions of the various life forms (everything from fungus to buffalo) that are endangered or extinct in the wild.