
Stories of Predation
Sixty Years of Watching Wildlife
Dick Dekker(Author)
Hancock House Publishers Ltd ,Canada
Published on 15. July 2021
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-88839-438-5 (ISBN)
Description
Sixty years ago, Dick Dekker immigrated from one of the smallest countries in Europe to the second-largest country in the world- Canada.
Dreaming of Canada's wilderness, he risked his life to find wolves and spent half a century watching eagles and falcons for which his native Holland had become too small to support.
The ancient maxim that nature is red in tooth and claw, attributed to Shakespeare, is still true today. But rather than just concentrating on the predators, Dekker's focus is also on the prey species, how deer, ducks, and sandpipers manage to cope with their peril. Hiking and camping in Jasper National Park, he was first to describe that the return of wolves had led to the restoration of the ecological balance between vegetation, grazing elk, and wolves, with beneficial side effects for the intertwined lives of beavers and other wildlife.
His insights became the inspiration for what has since become known as a trophic cascade in Yellowstone. Dekker's detailed studies of the hunting tactics of Peregrine Falcons on ocean coasts and inland lakes are unprecedented.
He has recorded more prey captures by wild falcons than anyone else in the published literature. His discoveries and unique observations are narrated in simple yet evocative prose the reader can identify with.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Blaine
Canada
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
676 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-88839-438-5 (9780888394385)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
In 2009, Dekker received a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He currently resides outside of Edmonton and continues his passions in wildlife observation.