Hope extinguished

We associate extinction with the distant past – with dinosaurs, mammoths or perhaps the dodo. In his book, Lost Wonders, Tom Lathan flips this association on its head by presenting us with ten stories of unnervingly recent disappearances.

The book establishes a story of extinction that feels personal and tangible to the reader: for instance, the last Christmas Island pipistrelle vanished on the author’s twenty-third birthday, in the late 2000s. Each superbly researched chapter interweaves ecology with a human dimension – history, politics and psychology – to show the circumstances under which a species disappeared, from whaling boats (which saw the end of the Pinta Island tortoise) and slave trade (the St Helena olive), to diseased mosquitos (po’ouli) and voracious molluscs (Polynesian tree snails).

Primarily, this is a book about hope – and hope extinguished. We follow the stories of conservationists, driven by hope to search for, study, protect and nurture the last individuals of a species. Reading about their efforts, we find ourselves rooting for them and the individuals in their care. As we visit places such as the ICU for baby plants, a snail room with soft floors to prevent droppage tragedies, or a Galápagos research station under siege, we keep our fingers tightly crossed, against reason and our better judgment, wanting to believe that each challenge is just a hurdle on the way to an improbable happy ending. But it is not.

“Where does the blame lie?” Lathan asks. His book, full of “could’ves” and “should’ves”, is holding our species accountable. Lost Wonders compels us to ask: why have governments been so slow? Why have companies been so greedy? Why was nothing done in time? Lathan highlights the dire funding situation of conservation work, the little political attention it is getting, and the insignificance it has compared to more “worthy” (read money-generating) endeavours. We’re used to hearing about conservation success stories, but this book depicts the harsh reality. For every saved species, many more go extinct, usually in complete media silence.

Lathan does, however, offer glimpses of optimism, showing that species under similar threats to his protagonists could perhaps be saved, with enough political support and resources. Lost Wonders leaves the reader with a muddle of feelings – sadness, hope and anger – and a sense of urgency. In light of the biodiversity crisis, these are the very emotions we should be feeling.

Continue reading on The Times Literary Supplement page.