Soul of the Tiger

In Soul of the Tiger, conservationists Jeffrey McNeely and Paul Sochaczewski draw on more than two decades of experience in Southeast Asia to examine the relationship between its people and animals. What, they wonder, has this relationship meant in the past? How is it changing, and what relevance might it have for the future? Combining sound scholarship with an engaging style, their fascinating and often humorous accounts reveal the vital connection between rural people and wildlife: between the Bornean farmer and the yellow wagtail, without whose arrival rice goes unplanted; between the wife in Papua New Guinea and her pigs, whose breeding rate determines when she gets a break from housework and when her husband goes to war; between the guards in Java's Ujung Kulon National Park and the rhinoceros, whose urine they collect as a cure for earaches. The authors identify four major ecocultural revolutions that have significantly altered the relationship between people and nature. They suggest that a fifth revolution, characterized by respect and understanding of the traditional knowledge and insight reflected in myth and memory, will enable modern society to develop nature conservation programs with a chance of lasting success.