Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger

Carnivorous Nights is a hugely enjoyable read. The authors and their artist pal travel from the museum of natural history in NYC to view rare aboriginal artwork outside of Sydney, Australia, and then on to the wild and strange island of Tasmania---where they encounter screaming Tasmanian devils, baby fairy penguins, creepy cave creatures, and much more. All the while, they keep their eyes peeled for the iconic Tasmanian tiger---which was last seen in 1936. While theoretically extinct, this wolf-like marsupial has been sighted repeatedly, and is the object of awe and lore in Tasmania. Do they still exist, are they extinct, or something in between? Their search is fun, funny, mysterious, and sometimes poignant. It's a wild adventure for both mind and soul.

Humans have a fantastic ability to destroy. We are in essence the most dangerous animal alive and of living things only microorganisms are able to cause as much or more havoc. Island life forms are the most vulnerable to the human onslaught. Among our numerous disasters, the isolated biota of Australia and Tasmania has heavily felt the result of that attack. Many species are extinct and many more on the edge because of humans and their attendant placental associates like cats, foxes and rabbits. Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson, attended by their highly eccentric illustrator Alexis Rockman and his girl friend Dorothy Spears and occasionally others, including several Tasmanian inhabitants, became involved in their hunt for one of the victims of this human invasion, the supposed extinct Tasmanian tiger, and the result is a very eccentric and very interesting book "Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger." I have to admit that the Tassie tiger intrigues me as well, ever since I saw an old photo of one yawning their impossibly wide yawn. The somewhat dog-like body combined with tiger stripes and huge number of teeth (much like the opossum - its North American relative) makes it a charming animal, despite its reputation as a sheep-killer. Supposedly the last one died in a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1936, but continued reports of sightings made the tiger legendary. The authors (like some of the people they interview in Tasmania) become totally obsessed with looking for these elusive beasts (and who knows perhaps they will come back from the brink much like the recently rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker!) The resulting book is well worth the price of admission as it allows us into an almost unknown world of giant crayfish, potoroos, wombats and the very feisty and still extant Tasmanian devil. In the end we are still left with the possibility of the tiger's existence, either in Tasmania or possibly the southern coast of Australia itself. Perhaps it is gone... but then perhaps not. Unfortunately, finally the reader is left with the distinct perception that much of the wilderness of this part of the world and indeed other parts, including our own (wherever we live), is up for sale. The sign that that extols the value in board feed of a local native tree is a case in point. Many humans tend to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Unless we change this we may become as dead as the Tasmanian tiger may be! This book is a good read and at least the reader will get an interesting tour of a very unfamiliar part of the world and its (to us) weird wildlife.

Science geeks, thylacine fans, travel daydreamers and scat fetishists will love this book. Scrap that. Anyone who enjoys good writing will enjoy this book. The geeks, thyfans, travel nuts and scatologists will just be jealous. The assorted imagery of current Tasmania -- sounds, smells and sweat -- are as appealing as the discriptions of roadkill are not. The tales of the Tasmanian tiger are heartbreaking, not just because I've been like, so totally into this critter since I was like, 8 or something, but because there is no reason whatsoever for said critter to be extinct. The frustration of that, and the urgency and passion of their hunt to add to the lists of sasquatch-esque thylacine sightings are tangible throughout. And the artwork is as poignant as it is gross. Both poignancy and grossness leave goosebumps. Manditory quibble so I don't sound like a cheerleader: The various puns, often while involving minor fish-out-of-hemisphere tales of New Yorkers in the bush -- not as good as they might have seemed in the rough drafts. But then again, I just wanted more images of Tasmanian devils eating their way, tuchus-first, through various pademelon corpses. I'm single-minded that way. The final result is, again, a very worthy-of-your-time book. But you'll read it fast, and want more. Might I suggest a follow-up hunt for the Steller's sea cow?

This is a wonderful, original book, and you will want to spend time with Mittelbach and Crewdson long after this book ends. Not only an ode to the mysterious tiger, this thoughtful, hilarious and beautifully researched book takes us to distant corners of Tansmania and the odd creatures, both human and animal, that reside there. Whether the reader is watching Tansmanian devils ransack someone's garbage, entering a bizarre, tiger-themed bar, or listening to Alexis Rockman, the resident artist on the excursion, rhapsodize about wombat scat, he/she will be mesmerized by this vivid world. Buy this book for anyone interested in animals, adventure, strange travel companions, questions of extinction, life and death. In other words, anyone. Carnivorous Nights makes the reader laugh, think, and consider his/her place in the world.

Not just another travel or nature book, this is an unexpectedly poignant record of marsupial obsession and a clear-eyed love letter to a natural world that is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The touchstone here is the "Seussian-striped" Thylacine, possibly the most fascinating dog-faced marsupial that ever roamed the earth. From Mole Hill to Pyengana to the River Styx, the intrepid authors and their artist sidekick do a wondrous job of evoking the beer-swilling hogs, dancing Tasmanian Devils, Pademelons, Long-nosed Potoroos and all the other surrealistic flora and fauna they encounter Down Under. And those are just the animals-there are also feral cat assassins, evasive Sapphic tiger hunters, and many more idiosyncratic human specimens along for the ride. Therein lies a clever, engrossing story that mixes excellent and keenly observed nature writing with blood-sucking leech-evading fun in the wilds of the Antipodes. Biology, zoology, cryptozoology, Jack Jumpers, it's all here in the pursuit of the world's largest carnivorous marsupial that probably became extinct not long after the last one in captivity died at the Hobart zoo in 1936. Along with their friend Alexis Rockman, the rascally, foul-mouthed, pot-smoking artist whose beautiful soil, wallaby fur, charcoal and spermaceti drawings serve as illustrations, Crewdson and Mittlebach keep things exciting while also managing to convey the gravity of mass extinction and the destruction of the planet. This is a cautionary tale, but the sadness is alleviated by the quest to unearth beauty and wonder and a genuinely celebratory tone. The fate of the Thylacinus cynocephalus might be its ostensible subject but Carnivorous Nights offers much, much more. It is a testament to an obsession the authors claim they will never shake, and one any sentient being won't be able to either after reading this fine, heartfelt book.