The Extinction Club: A Mostly True Story about Two Men, a Deer and a Writer
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From Robert Twigger, the internationally acclaimed author of Angry White Pyjamas and Big Snake, comes The Extinction Club, the brilliant, peculiar, and complex tale of the Milu. For one thousand years, the Milu, an exotic species of deer with the neck of a camel, the horns of a stag, the feet of a cow, and the tail of a donkey, existed only in the Chinese emperor's private park in Beijing. But in the second half of the nineteenth century a Basque missionary, Pére David, became the first Westerner ever to see a Milu. Transfixed by the strange beast, he risked his life to obtain a specimen, then embalmed it and sent it to Paris in a diplomatic bag. The preserved remains caused quite a stir across Europe, and zoologists clamored to get hold of a live animal. Within a very short time, every major nation in Europe possessed a Milu. But most failed to thrive and died quickly in their new surroundings, and due to war — most notably the Boxer Rebellion — they became extinct in their native habitat as well. Yet the exotic deer were able to survive in one place — Bedfordshire, England — due to the nurturing of a devoted caretaker, the 11th Duke of Bedford, who kept a herd at Woburn Abbey. This labor and persistence paid off nearly a century later in 1986, when a part of the British herd was returned to China. And to this day the very rich hunt the Milu — for a steep price — in wild game reserves throughout the world, but most notably in Texas. In his fascinating tale of nature, civilization, and history, Robert Twigger poignantly recounts the story of this strange and rare animal while providing a riveting meditation on anumber of human obsessions — evolution, truth-telling, extinction, myth-making, and survival. Publishers Weekly Part intellectual travelogue, part historical study, part biological monograph, part writer's memoir, magazine writer Twigger's charmingly eccentric book about the rare Milu deer is difficult to classify. The Milu, which could have been designed by committee, has a camel's neck, a donkey's tail, cow-like hooves and stag's horns. For a millennium, this unusual species was the private stock of Chinese emperors. Then in the 19th century, a Basque missionary priest, PEre David, became fascinated by the creature and spread word of it in Europe. Unfortunately, the Milu did not thrive in the game preserves of the European aristocrats who imported it and also went extinct in its native China during the chaos of the Boxer Rebellion. The one stroke of luck for the poor creature was the 11th Duke of Bedford, who carefully nurtured the deer in Bedfordshire, England. Nowadays, thanks to his conservation efforts, the deer is so abundant that well-heeled hunters can travel to wild game reserves, especially in Texas, and hunt the Milu for a fee. In the course of this story, Twigger takes the reader on a freewheeling journey through his own life and winningly reflects on marriage, Darwin, Egypt, mythopoetica, evolution and extinction. This is a lighthearted and truly unusual romp through natural history. (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
