The Last Place You'd Look for a Wallaby
Author | : Glen Chilton |
Publisher | : Univ. of Queensland Press |
Total Pages | : 260 |
Release | : 2013-04 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780702251443 |
ISBN-13 | : 0702251445 |
Rating | : 4/5 (43 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Glen Chilton returns with another scientific quest, this time to seek out species ill-advisedly introduced into foreign environments. Chilton visits Ireland to witness how rhododendrons, an ornamental plant that escaped a private garden, now threaten to choke out the last of the great oak forests of the United Kingdom. He escapes blood-thirsty midges and a murderous Hungarian architect while visiting a colony of forgotten Scottish wallabies; finds out how termites, brought in on packing crates after WWII, contributed to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; dives with turtles in North Queensland; and dodges both crocodiles and big guns in the eucalyptus forests of Ethiopia. Along the way, Chilton never turns down the opportunity to share a few pints with eccentric locals, often finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.