Crocodile

Description

'Tick, tock, tick, tock . . .'. J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan isn't fully to blame for spreading the word that crocodiles are our enemies - innumerable songs, stories and legends have char - acterized these reptiles as a symbol of pitiless predation and insatiable appetite. Tracking 23 crocodilian species from India and Egypt to Africa, Australia and beyond, Crocodile advocates that we revise our views of these extraordinary creatures. All but wiped out in the middle of the twentieth century, crocodilians are now making a comeback, though some species still verge on extinction. Crocodile provides a cogent case for why we should respect these fearsome animals.

Dan Wylie is Professor of English at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.