How easy is it to present a concise history of life as we know it in one slim volume? Richard Thompson does an admirable job introducing us to the mechanics of life. In fact, he goes on to surprise me with the simplicity of this book by starting with a discussion about grass.
Have you ever stopped to wonder how important grass is to our existence? Think about it. Nearly all our staple diets are grasses: wheat, maize, rice, barley and rye. What would you eat? Potatoes?
What about the sheep, chickens and cattle you enjoy eating so much? They eat grass. Without grass, no more fillet, no more burgers. You'd also not get to see antelope out on the Serengeti either. Our lives, and the lives of our fellow species on this planet, are inextricably bound with the fate of grass.
From this rather startling introduction, Thompson goes on to discuss The Big Picture of How it All Hangs Together in such a way that your world view cannot help but change.
Often, when we travel, we seek out our planet's still unspoilt wild places. All too often we don't really have an appreciation for how these sensitive ecosystems co-exist; what goes into the make-up of the life-forms that live in them.
If these wild places are destroyed, apart from having fewer holiday destinations (if we're going to take a rather banal world-view), humans, as a species, are also causing serious damage to the planet Earth.
Over the years we've developed a vaunted opinion of our own importance without realising we are but a small part in a massive interactive web of life. Nature's Design once again made me realise this very important fact, apart from being a damn fine read to take along on a recent trip to a wilderness area.
So, what went into the background of this book? Richard was willing to answer a few questions.
ND:
Was there any specific place that got you thinking along the lines of writing your book?
RT:
Botswana, specifically Savuti, which is part of Chobe National Park. The place is completely desolate and as hot as hell during October. The Savuti Channel dried up completely in the 1980s as a result of techtonic upheavals and has not flowed since.
Hopefully further earth movements will reopen the channel to create what would be a completely perfect setting. The only water that can be found is in artificial water holes. It's about 45ºC then.
I just sat there one day and wondered, how do these animals cope with this heat? Nature's Design was really conceptualised about how animals cope with adversity, and it went from there.
ND:
What has been your best holiday, and why?
RT:
The best experience I had was when I lived in the Okavango for six months. I persuaded a safari company to allow me to spend six months in their concession area. That was in northern Botswana, by the Kwando River. The area is called Selinda. What I had to do was observe and take photographs and that crystallised the first four chapters of the book.
I really wanted to construct what an eco system is. There's a basic currency. On the plains, it is grass and in the seas it is plankton. Every form of life depends on this basic unit.
When you see the interaction between animals in these areas, you realise that one form of life is completely dependent on another. If you break this chain, then the whole ecosystem falls apart.
ND:
What has been your worst holiday, and why?
RT:
My worst has probably been London. There are millions of people, who all look miserable and it gets dark at 4pm. I went off to France, which was much better.
ND:
Name five hotspots for folks wanting to see nature at its most fascinating.
RT:
Okavango Delta: It offers such diversity of wildlife and is one of the only remaining pristine areas without too much human interference.
Ngorongoro Crater: This is a collapsed volcanic caldera and most animals are trapped there for life. Only the elephants and the rhino sometimes come out. It gives you a chance to see an ecosystem that is self controlling, where the balance is perfect.
There are just enough predators and just enough herbivores. It is a magic place. In the summer, when the lake's got water, there are loads of flamingos.
Florida Everglades: It is a more or less pristine wilderness where if you find the right places, you can see pure nature in action without human interference.
Yellowstone National Park: Again, this is a pristine wilderness that holds some special things for me. There are volcanic pools there where the first bacteria were found that could survive in temperatures of 90ºC.
What this led to was a whole revolution of molecular biology - and it may actually cast light on the origins of life on earth.
Antarctica: This place is so isolated and it shows you a habitat where the creatures that live there are so completely dependent on the rest of the ecosystem. If the bottom of the food chain goes, it affects everything.
The krill numbers have dropped by a third over the past 10 years because of global warming. If the krill goes, then all the whales will go; the fish, the penguins and all the rest. The krill is the key to this ecosystem.
ND:
Obviously SA's natural heritage plays a large role in our tourism industry. Do you have any advice for people who want to become more active in promoting an understanding of the environment and its conservation?
RT:
In my opinion, people would have to belong to an organisation that puts pressure on a government to preserve national parks. The government already experiences pressure from farmers who want land for agriculture. But, once the parks are gone, they'll never come back.
Also, more than that, they should put pressure to put up proper fencing for national parks. Domestic animals create pressure on parks when crossing fences. There are also epidemics that occur as a result of contact between wild and domestic animals.
For instance, there was the great rinderpest epidemic in Tanzania during the early 20th century. Canine distemper occurred in Serengeti and wiped out many lions. Bovine tuberculosis, which originated with domestic cattle, killed lions in southern Kruger National Park.
You have to separate farming from wildlife; everybody has to be prepared to become more active than simply subscribing.
- Nature's Design was published by Random House Struik and should be available at most good bookstores.