Animals at the Edge

EDGE stands for Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered – a research project initiated by the Zoological Society of London to highlight and discover more about animals in this category.

They include the Yangtze River Dolphin, the Bumblebee Bat, Slender Loris and the Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, and the book introduces us to the animals and the refreshingly young research scientists engaged in discovering more about them. The easy-paced text is admirably simple and explains throughout, without a hint of sermonising, how the creatures’ rarity is due to human activity, the many photographs illustrating it perfectly in well-designed layout. This is altogether an excellently enjoyable and informative contribution to our knowledge of creatures on the fringe of extinction – the sort of book that often seems to be, itself, on the EDGE.