The Ghost with Trembling Wings by Scott Weidensaul, North Point Press, £17.99/$24, ISBN 0374246645 Reviewed by Adrian Barnett
GILBERT’S poteroo, the Fiji petrel, Pakistan’s giant flying squirrel and the Canary Island Lazarus lizard all have just one thing in common: declared extinct, each then rose up – like Lazarus – with the discovery of an overlooked population. The Ghost with Trembling Wings records these near-miraculous events and the obsessive individuals who, against all odds and evidence, try to find species that others have written off.
Weidensaul blends tales of his own searches with the biology of supposedly extinct animals, achieving aesthetic evocation…
