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Title: Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World by Ann Mozley Moyal ISBN: 1-56098-977-7 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled th
Comment: A superabundance of detail on the biology of the platypus, which made its debut European appearance as a hide preserved in a keg of spirits-and landed smack in the middle of the scientific debate over the classification of species, confounding naturalists throughout the 19th century. In the era that was "destined to become the great century of classification and the decoding of the complex, and diversifying, book of Nature," the platypus proved a tantalizing puzzle. Moyal, scientific historian and founder of the Independent Scholars' Association of Australia, has found an object worthy of obsession in the history of the "elusive duck-bill mole." With admirable focus, she has devoted herself to teasing out the theories and general bewilderment that the platypus engendered in the European and Australian naturalist communities, and through scientists' efforts and opinions, Moyal provides a fount of information about the habits and behavior of the shy creature. Although reported in detail that is at times bewildering for those not wholly captivated by the back and forth of the great platypus debates, it's nonetheless charming to witness the author's enchantment with all the minutiae of the battles, dead-end theories, and large personalities of the major players. The great, familiar names-Darwin, Linnaeus, Lamarck-appear, as do their lesser-known contemporaries: Buffon, "hyperactive" Frenchman and "that greatest enemy of arrangement"; St. Hilaire, who inquired, "If these are mammary glands, where is the butter?"; Richard Owen, who had "brains enough to fill two hats"; and Burrell, designer of the first "platypusary." Moyal brings the whole to vivid life, detailing the fruitless field expeditions and the under-appreciated contributions of the aborigines, and unearthing numerous bits of historic verse devoted to the platypus and its confounding structure: "O! Thou prehistoric link / kin to beaver, rooster, skink / Duck, mole, adder, monkey, fox / Paleozoic paradox!"
Rating: 4
Summary: Quocunque aspicias hic paradoxus erit
Comment: Oviparous, viviparous, or ovoviviparous? That tongue-twisting question is at the center of this book, which relates science's attempt over the centuries to figure out where exactly to place the platypus, one of God's most wondrous (and confusing) creations, on the org chart of life. Central to the taxonomic mystery was the question of whether the platypus lays eggs (is 'oviparous,'), gives birth to live young ('vivi-'), or, like some lizards, hatches eggs within its own body ('ovovivi-').
High school biology is not an episode I'm anxious to relive, but Ann Moyal does a good job in this little book of keeping matters from getting too complex. What she wasn't able to do, unfortunately, was keep the middle of the book from dragging somewhat. After several chapters relating scientists' struggles and competing theories on the ovi/vivi question -- and related matters like nipples, sex organs, and the like -- I was more than ready to skip to the end in hopes Holmes or Poirot or someone would step forward and reveal the solution to the puzzle.
Things got really interesting again in the final three chapters, where Moyal introduces us to a self-taught biologist known as 'The Platypus Man' (not to be confused with Richard Jeni, who starred in a TV show by that name), to Winston, a platypus who traveled to England to help fight World War Two, and -- most importantly -- to the latest developments in platypus studies. I picked up this book in order to find out more about the platypus, not because taxonomy or the history of natural science are big interests of mine, and so I found these final chapters the most entertaining and rewarding in the book.
In 1839, the Tasmanian Society of Natural History adopted the platypus as its emblem, and added the motto 'Quocunque aspicias hic paradoxus erit' -- From wherever you look at it, this will be a paradox. Ann Moyal's book shows how men have sorted out the paradox, and lets us benefit from centuries of effort to know this reclusive, fascinating, and mysterious little creature a little better.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good concise history
Comment: Ms. Moyal's book provides a good background into the paradox which the platypus has presented history and biology with.
She sets a wonderful stage for the drama of the platypus, and gives many examples to explain how national rivalry and individual competition both helped and hindered the search for the truth of this curious creature. As she presents well, the search for science in the 19th century was dominated by scientists of great egos, and by international conflict, including the napoleonic wars. Ms. Moyal examines many individuals in the search, showing some characters in great depth and others only briefly.
This is certainly a baffling creature, and an interesting book. However, though the subject and the mystery both provoke curiousity, one would most likely find the book boring if he or she did not have some special interest in the topic. It is, on the whole, a well written, informative read.
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Title: Platypus by Joan Short, Jack Green, Bettina Bird, Andrew Wichlinski ISBN: 157255195X Publisher: Mondo Pub Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $5.00 |
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Title: If My Mom Were a Platypus: Animal Babies and Their Mothers by Dia L. Michels, Andrew Barthelmes ISBN: 1930775024 Publisher: Platypus Media Pub. Date: June, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Koalas and Other Australian Animals (Zoobooks Series) by John Bonnett Wexo, Walter Stuart, Karel Havlicek ISBN: 0937934135 Publisher: Zoobooks/Wildlife Education Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $2.99 |
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Title: Claws, Coats, And Camouflage by Michael J. Doolittle, Susan E. Goodman ISBN: 0761318658 Publisher: Millbrook Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.90 |
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Title: Kangaroos (Zoobooks Series) by Beth Wagner Brust, Darrel Millsap ISBN: 0937934631 Publisher: Zoobooks/Wildlife Education Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $2.99 |
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