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An Indomitable Beast The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar By Alan Rabinowitz Washington, DC (August 4, 2015) – From an early age, big cat expert Alan Rabinowitz has been enchanted by the majestic jaguar. Known mostly for its audacity, strength, and wariness, the species has proved to be a survivor. In An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar, now available in paperback, Rabinowitz shares this animal’s fascinating history, its distinctiveness from other big cats and the complex factors that have enabled it to endure cultural changes, continental divides, and centuries of human development. Rabinowitz begins the book by describing a powerful boyhood encounter with a jaguar that sparked his lifelong connection to the species and ultimately led him to explore not only the remarkable science of this big cat but also the interactions between humans and jaguars over centuries. Delving into the deep paleohistory of the jaguar, Rabinowitz recounts powerful stories of the respect and value ancient civilizations like the Maya and Aztec placed on the jaguar for its mystical qualities. That reverence was the origin of what he calls the Jaguar Cultural Corridor, a pathway of cultural beliefs that effectively safeguarded the cat and ensured its survival. But as new cultures settled into this area, spiritual devotion to the jaguar abated, widespread agricultural development eradicated its primary habitat, and more-efficient hunting practices were developed, the jaguar began to face potential extinction. Nearly two decades after establishing the first jaguar preserve in the Cockscomb Basin of Belize, Rabinowitz returned to fight for the jaguar. In the early stages of planning what that fight would entail, he had a “light-bulb” moment when he grasped the implications of significant new research about the jaguar’s DNA and how epigenetics could affect the species’ future survival. Rabinowitz realized that his conservation efforts needed to expand dramatically in order to achieve his goal. In An Indomitable Beast, he details how extensive mapping, jaguar observations, and interviews with local peoples suggested that his effort must include not only protecting land but connecting spaces between populations to ensure genetic diversity. The result was a large-scale conservation strategy unlike any before—the Jaguar Corridor ISLAND PRESS | PRESS RELEASE | 1
Initiative extending from Mexico to Argentina. From tracking jaguars through the jungle to navigating disagreements with landholders and meeting with heads of state, Rabinowitz offers engaging stories of his quest to save this magnificent species. He offers a peek inside the world of the jaguar and details the biological, cultural, and political factors shaping its past and future. Although it is known for its power and ferocity, Rabinowitz deems the jaguar a “reluctant warrior” and details how this instinct to flee rather than fight is its strongest weapon when engaging with humans. An Indomitable Beast is a gripping tale filled with meticulous research, cutting-edge science, and a journey into the world of the jaguar that illuminates how nature and humans can coexist. The book reveals the secrets of “jaguarness” and shows how cutting-edge science coupled with a new conservation paradigm not only ensures the jaguar’s survival but holds the key to humanity’s as well. Alan Rabinowitz, one of the world’s leading experts on big cats, is CEO of Panthera, a nonprofit organization devoted to saving wild cat species. For almost thirty years Rabinowitz was based at the Wildlife Conservation Society serving in the last few years as executive director of the Science and Exploration Division and Big Cat Programs. The author of six previous books, Rabinowitz has been profiled in numerous publications and featured in television specials and movies. An Indomitable Beast By Alan Rabinowitz An Island Press Paperback 264 pages | 6X9 | Price: $ 25.00 ISBN: 978-159726-997-1 www.islandpress.org/indomitable-beast Founded in 1984, Island Press works to stimulate, shape, and communicate the information that is essential for solving environmental problems. Today, with more than 800 titles in print and some 40 new releases each year, it is the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues. But Island Press does more than publish books. It advances environmental science by nurturing the exchange of ideas across disciplines and sectors, and by helping to create a multidisciplinary literature on environmental problems and solutions. The knowledge created is spread far beyond the range of a limited marketplace through sophisticated communications initiatives that reach journalists, academics, policymakers, practitioners and the general public. Through these efforts, Island Press is driving change by moving ideas from the printed page to public discourse and practice. Island Press’s emphasis is, and will continue to be, on transforming objective information into understanding and action. For more information and further updates be sure to visit www.islandpress.org. ###
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PRAISE
AN INDOMITABLE BEAST by Alan Rabinowitz
“A riveting tale of environmental success...An Indomitable Beast begins with an exhaustively researched natural history of the jaguar from palaeo to present. And in telling the cat’s story, Rabinowitz takes the reader on a personal quest, from ancient Mayan ruins to London Zoo, as he seeks to uncover the unique —New Scientist ‘jaguarness’ of the animal he seeks to protect.” “This book does so many things well. It is full of adventure and cool biology and human history, but it also succeeds as a scientific memoir and journey of intellectual growth…I read everything Rabinowitz writes—he is a gifted storyteller and accomplished researcher. I recommend all his books. This is his best. It’s hard to read this book and not reach the conclusion that the jaguar is flat-out one of the coolest animals to walk this planet. And there’s no one better to tell its story than Alan Rabinowitz.” —The Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science blog “In An Indomitable Beast, Mr. Rabinowitz, the author of several books on his conservation work and travels, revisits the first big cats of his career. Questions of “jaguarness”—how jaguars think and the unique anatomical and behavioral features that affect their prospects for long-term survival—still intrigue him after three decades, and this book is a welcome retrospective of what he and others have learned about jaguars so far, and what's being done for them now." —Wall Street Journal “The jaguar could have no better spokesperson than Rabinowitz, who clearly not only understands his subject scientifically, historically, and emotionally, but who also can make the plea passionately for the —The Explorer’s Journal survival of this endangered species.” “Combines his account of field research on jaguars in the wilds of Belize and Brazil and advocacy for conservation strategies with anthropology, zoology, and paleontology to tell the tale of an endangered —Publishers Weekly species that has persisted despite very long odds.” “Rabinowitz is the world’s leading authority on the jaguar... He now presents a fascinating book that explores the human-jaguar link...The modern-day interaction of these two corridors will absorb all lovers —Booklist of the wild.”
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BIOGRAPHY Alan Rabinowitz Alan Rabinowitz, one of the world’s leading experts on big cats, is CEO of Panthera, a nonprofit organization devoted to saving wild cat species. For almost thirty years he was based at the Wildlife Conservation Society serving in the last few years as executive director of the Science and Exploration Division and Big Cat Programs. Educated at the University of Tennessee, with degrees in zoology and wildlife ecology, Dr. Rabinowitz has traveled the world on behalf of wildlife conservation and has studied jaguars, clouded leopards, Asiatic leopards, tigers, Sumatran rhinos, bears, leopard cats, raccoons, and civets. His work in Belize resulted in the world’s first jaguar sanctuary; his work in Taiwan resulted in the establishment of that country’s largest protected area, its last piece of intact lowland forest; his work in Thailand generated the first field research on Indochinese tigers, Asiatic leopards, and leopard cats, in what was to become the region’s first World Heritage Site; and his work in Myanmar has led to the creation of five new protected areas there: the country’s first marine national park, the country’s first and largest Himalayan national park, the country’s largest wildlife sanctuary, and the world’s largest tiger reserve. Dr. Rabinowitz has authored six books, including Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the First Jaguar Preserve (1986/2000), Chasing the Dragon’s Tail: The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats (1991/2002), and Beyond the Last Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s Forbidden Wilderness and written nearly eighty scientific and popular articles in the New York Times, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, Outside Magazine, Scientific American, Men’s Fitness, GEO, Natural History, and Audubon. He has been featured in television specials by the National Geographic Society and the BBC, and recently consulted on an IMAX film project about tigers in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh and India.
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Q UE ST IO N A ND AN SWER
An Indomitable Beast By Alan Rabinowitz Q
This is your second book on jaguars. Why write about this species again? Why is it important to you?
A
This is a very different book from my first book Jaguar. While my first book was a very personal account of my trials and tribulations conducting some of the first field research on the species and subsequently setting up the world’s first jaguar preserve, this book goes well beyond all of that. An Indomitable Beast is about the evolution, survival and the importance of the species as whole, both to the cultures which lived with the jaguar as well as the health and well-being of our planet.
Q
In the book, you address what makes the jaguar species different from other cats. Why is that important?
A
Any living species that has survived virtually unchanged for millions of years and continues to survive the human onslaught of the remaining lands in which it lives, is an animal we wish to look more closely at and learn from. What separates the jaguar from other big cats is not so much structural as it is behavioral. It is the intractableness of this cat that sets it apart.
Q
In An Indomitable Beast, you chronicle a long history of the jaguar and the various cultures with which it is connected. Why is this connection important and what role does history play in conserving the species today?
A
As the story will indicate, historical events play a huge role in the status of the jaguar as it exists today. Part of those historical events involves cultures that developed around the existence of the jaguar, serving to strengthen people’s lives while helping protect the species.
Q
In your work creating the Jaguar Corridor Initiative, you learned of some significant scientific discoveries from conferences convened for conservation of the jaguar species. What are they and how did they change your conservation approach?
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A
Through our efforts to gather together the best available data and knowledge about jaguars, we learned from new genetic research that the jaguar still existed as a single species, with no subspecies, throughout its entire range from Mexico to Argentina. This was a huge finding, making it the only large wide-ranging carnivore in the world with no clear subspecies distinctions. The led us to the discovery of jaguar corridors or routes of travel throughout the human landscape between jaguar populations that we had no idea about, nor thought possible. This changed the face of jaguar conservation and created a model for large carnivore conservation that is now being used with tigers, lions, bears and other species.
Q
In your work with jaguars, what are some of the biggest challenges you have faced and why?
A
Some of the biggest challenges have involved people. The jaguar is easy. It wants to survive and has the tools to survive. Humans simply have to let it. The challenge is to create a balance between people and jaguars so that both can coexist and tolerate one another. It is also a challenge to get governments to recognize the social and political importance of having healthy jaguar populations within their national borders.
Q
What is your biggest hope for jaguars and big cats as a whole? What are the best tools to conserve them?
A
People and big cats can coexist. We know that now and we know that it is in the best interests of both to learn to do so. We have also learned enough about both human and jaguar behavior so that we are able to mitigate most, though not all, conflict that may arise between big cats and people. It is not in our best interests to have a world that lacks the presence of these big predators.
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