
Millie Marotta is a Welsh illustrator best known for her numerous colouring books of highly detailed drawings and patterns from nature (“Animal Kingdom”, “Wonders of the Sea”, “Beautiful Birds and Treetop Treasures” etc.). To share her love for nature and wildlife even more, she has also created a book to introduce some of the most endangered species from around the world.
The book is divided into chapters by habitats: oceans, forests, deserts, freshwater, grasslands, mountains, tundra, wetlands. Each double page depicts one species, a large colourful illustration lies on the left and a short but informative text on the right.
It is revealed that many of the described species are wonders of evolution, adaptation to surrounding environment or disguise. Evolution of some species has remained a mystery even for the scientists up to this day. For example, it is still unclear how did only an inch long pupfish end up habitating Devils Hole, a 150 m deep water filled cavern that lies isolated in the middle of a desert area (Mojave Desert, Arizona, USA). Another mystery about pupfish is, how does this beautiful dark blue creature survive in quite warm, very salty and oxygen-poor waters, lethal to most other fish? Devils Hole is the only place in the world where pupfish can be found. But in the Lake Saimaa (Finland) there live Saimaa ringed seals who have been able to adapt themselves to living in fresh water after the lake became isolated from salty ocean. These seals are endangered due to rising temperatures: they are facing difficulties to find enough snow for carving sheltering dens in protection of their calves against predators. Here, conservationists and volunteers have come to help creating manmade snowdrifts for seals.
It is exciting to know that some species have been discovered quite recently. Only in 1992 in Vietnam biologists were introduced to saola, a large horned mammal, the only one of its genus. Nobody knows how many of them have survived, since they have not been seen in the wild and they will not survive long in captivity. Also, there has been found a smaller relative of long extinct dodo bird, the manumea on the islands of Samoa. It has a very secretive lifestyle and its dark feathers provide perfect camouflage, so there is only one recorded sighting since 2013. Even scientists know almost nothing about this bird.
In many cases we can see, how humans have led the species to the edge of extinction by senseless hunting, destroying their habitats or bringing along other, often domesticated species, which became menace to the native ones (like cats, dogs, rats, sheep). On the other hand, there are also brighter stories, where humans have succeeded to save species from perishing or have managed to bring species back to life just at the last minute.
All of the animals, birds and fish introduced in this book are considered “endangered” by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and also belong to the Red List of Threatened Species, which means that they are at risk of extinction in the near future. Regardingly the author has added a brief list of activities at the end of her book that everyone can do to literally help save the world for endangered species and not only for them (p. 106).
M. Marotta’s book is full on fascinating stories and facts about the most beautiful creatures. This book indeed has a lot to be discovered in it. By reading this book, I would also suggest to google the described species and sites, it adds even more information to see these animals in photos and videos. Also, comparing photos and illustrations reveals the true craftsmanship of the author and allows readers to enjoy the book on one more level – as an art book.
Published: Penguin Books, 2021
Illustrated: Millie Marotta
Millie Marotta “A Wild Child’s Guide to Endangered Animals” in e-catalogue ESTER
Милли Маротта «Книга исчезающих животных для неравнодушных сердец» e-kataloogis ESTER
Jana Orion
Volunteer of Kadrioru Library