The jaguar's shadow : searching for a mythic cat / Richard Mahler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mahler, Richard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jaguar.

Panthera.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When the nature writer Richard Mahler discovers that wild jaguars are prowling a remote corner of his home state of New Mexico, he embarks on a determined quest to see in the flesh a big, beautiful cat that is the stuff of legend-yet verifiably real. Mahler's passion sets in motion a years-long adventure through trackless deserts, steamy jungles, and malarial swamps, as well as a confounding immersion in centuries-old debates over how we should properly regard these powerful predators: as varmints or as icons, trophies or gods? He is drawn from border badlands south to Panama's rain forest along a route where the fate of nearly all wildlife now rests in human hands. Mahler's odyssey introduces him to unrepentant poachers, pragmatic ranchers, midnight drug-runners, ardent conservationists, trance-induced shamans, hopeful biologists, stodgy bureaucrats, academic philosophers, macho hunters, and gentle Maya Indians. Along the way, he is forced to reconsider the true meaning of his search-and the enduring symbolism of the jaguar.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

One. "God Almighty, That's a Jaguar!"

Two. "It Pays Us Again and Again"

Three. "Among All Big Cats, We Know Least About Them"

Four. "We All Felt Really Blessed"

Five. "Well Drawn and Unmistakable"

Six. "The Model for How to Live"

Seven. "Jaguars Possess the Power of God"

Eight. "Blood of the Valiant"

Nine. "He Believes He Is a Jaguar"

Ten. "There It Is; I'm Going to Shoot It"

Eleven. "Cows Are More Important Than Cats"

Twelve. "We Just Stopped Seeing Them"

Thirteen. "To Ensure Our Namesake Is Protected"

Fourteen. "Siga el Pisto"

Fifteen. "Living in the Same Place It Always Has"

Sixteen. "Pretty Well Hunted Out"

Seventeen. "These Animals Could Become Wonderful Teachers"

Eighteen. "It's Good if It's Dead"

Nineteen. "A Flagship Species for Conservation"

Twenty. "The Mother Liquor from Which We Have Come"

Twenty-one. "To See One at All Is a Lifetime Experience"

Sources

Saving and Studying Jaguars

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-35298-9

9786612352980

0-300-15593-X

OCLC:

586098211