Book Review – Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation

CREATURE NEEDS
Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation
Edited by: Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, and Susan Tacent
Published: January 21, 2025
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Non-Fiction

Writers from all over have come together to share personal stories, scientific research, poetry, and observations about animals near extinction and the habitats that they live in that are being destroyed. The essays include animals here in the Midwest, like a woodpecker, and animals around the globe, like a whale or jaguar. You’ll read about changing climates and natural disasters that affect the livelihood of the creatures that call it home. All living creatures require six basic needs: air, food, water, shelter, room to move, and each other. These needs are broken down into sections, with artists, writers, and scientists taking a basic need and writing about it based on a particular creature. Because these essays stand alone, you can read them in any order and slowly over a few weeks or months, or all at once.

Because fireflies (or lightning bugs as I call them) use their flashing lights to court each other, male courtship signals have been reduced or blocked due to artificial lights at night. I had never heard of this being an issue, but I will for sure be turning off as many lights as possible during our lighting bug season here in Iowa. Watching them flash around in our backyard in the summer is one of my favorite things, and I had no idea their flashing lights were part of the important courting and mating process.

My favorite essay in the whole collection was written by Kimberly Blaeser, a Poet Laureate who lives in the Northwoods of Minnesota near the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. In her essay, she shares a diary of nine days during the Greenwood Fire in Northern Minnesota during August 2021. My cousin’s husband is a National Forest Firefighter based in Northern Minnesota, and her essay felt familiar and personal to me as I read it. As the fire continued to grow by the thousands of acres, I too thought of the loons, bears, and even campers and canoers who were being forced from their habitat. Her writing is beautiful, picturesque, and haunting.

Many other essays held my attention, from the one about a couple with a daughter living in Alaska working to save the polar bears to the one about a woman whose home was being inundated by frogs due to the drought. I realized, after reading, that it is easy to turn a blind eye to all the changes happening in our world. I’ve shared many children’s books that discuss the topics related to environmental hazards and endangered species, but I haven’t read many books written for adults. These writers smacked me in the head with numerous situations that are a cause for great concern. It’s hard to see how I can make a difference, but if I don’t, who will? Each small thing I do can have a ripple effect on the environment that I live in and share with the creatures here.

Lucy Spelman reminds readers in her introductory essay, “We are all stewards of nature and her creatures.” We can all do things to create less of a footprint. Reducing the amount of energy we use in our homes, planting flowers to encourage bees and butterflies to visit, and stopping the purchase of and no longer using one-time-use plastic are a few easy ideas. Even excess noise and nighttime lighting can affect various animals and how they live, sleep, and engage with their environment, including migratory birds’ patterns.

For those who are concerned about our environment or concerned about the demise of various endangered species, read this book or support a non-profit like Creature Conserve to help ensure we are all here and can comfortably share space on this planet.

Click HERE to purchase a copy of CREATURE NEEDS

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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.