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Under The Microscope

LAST CHANCE TO SEE..., by Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine; Pan 1991; 206 pages; $19.95

It's a nice premise -- combine a famous comic writer with a roving zoologist, interesting scenery and a lot of very rare animals, and you should get a collection of ripping yarns that does something positive for the cause of the endangered.

Indeed, there's no doubt that Adams and Cawardine -- in the best tradition of Gerald Durrell -- have succeeded in writing humorously about strange animals in exotic locations.

There are some wonderful vignettes, such as why it is vitally important to take a cricket bat when going to see komodo dragons. Closer to home, there's a gripping description of a freelance New Zealand kakapo tracker in his native bush, not to mention the laboratory behaviour of an Australian poisonous-snake expert who loathes snakes.

The problem is that the animals themselves tend to get a bit lost in it all. Adams only really gets into his stride when the animals are either hideously unpleasant or incredibly stupid, which doesn't really allow you to identify with them. I wouldn't want to advocate the view that we have to like all the animals worth preserving (save the giant weta!), but I do feel that Adams strays to the opposite extreme.

But such is life. Last Chance to See... is worth reading just for the humans involved, even if you aren't left terribly keen on those other things that don't talk much.

Tony Smith, NZSM Wellington