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Eight bears : mythic past and imperiled future / Gloria Dickie.

by Dickie, Gloria.

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W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.

Bears -- Conservation.

Human-animal relationships.

Animals -- Effect of human beings on.

9781324005087 (hc)

xiv, 250 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-250).

The cloud dwellers (Spectacled bear, Ecuador and Peru) -- Dancing with death (Sloth bear, India) -- Soft power (Panda bear, China) -- Liquid gold (Moon bear and sun bear, Vietnam) -- Out of the wild (American black bear, United States) -- Return of the grizzly (Brown bear, United States) -- The ice walkers (Polar bear, Canada).

"A global exploration of the eight remaining species of bears -- and the dangers they face. Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenth-century fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction. Some, such as the panda bear and the polar bear, are icons of the natural world; others, such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear, are far less known. In Eight Bears, journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globe-trotting journey to explore each bear’s story, whisking readers from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West. She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation efforts -- the head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms, a biologist known as Papa Panda, who has led China’s panda-breeding efforts for almost four decades, a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near towns -- to reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations. Weaving together ecology, history, mythology, and a captivating account of her travels and observations, Dickie offers a closer look at our volatile relationship with these magnificent mammals. Engrossing and deeply reported, Eight Bears delivers a clear warning for what we risk losing if we don’t learn to live alongside the animals that have shaped our cultures, geographies, and stories."--Publisher.

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