Chasing Nature

Ecologist, museum director and zoo curator Dr. Robert E. Wrigley takes readers on an ecological journey via 230 wildlife adventures and observations covering a period of seven decades. Join him as he relates exciting and sometimes humorous reallife stories from early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, growing up in St. Lambert, Quebec, university years at McGill and Illinois, through careers at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre, and Assiniboine Park Zoo, and finally research activities in retirement. Drawing on his experiences gained during thousands of field excursions throughout North and Central America and Europe, and even in his backyard garden, his close encounters with plants, fungi and animals (ranging from tigers and bears to eagles, snakes and beetles) provide glimpses of these organisms' lives, and reveal his deep passion and respect for the natural world which nourished his lifelong pursuit of the natural sciences. Serious messages are offered regarding environmental degradation and the current extinction event that is wiping out numerous species every day as a result of escalating human overpopulation and excessive demands on the world's ecosystems. He stresses that the preservation of remaining biodiversity, and indeed the future of our own species, are completely dependent on regaining a balance with Nature.