The white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is in big trouble. They live in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa with two subspecies: the “near threatened” southern white rhinoceros and the northern white rhinoceros, which is “critically endangered” and has become extinct in the wild. The two remaining individuals live in captivity in Kenya. Poaching for its horn for the Asian market, as with the black rhino, has seen the rapid descent of the species into a dark void.
After collaborating on two books showcasing extinct and endangered birds, legendary cartoonist Ralph Steadman and filmmaker Ceri Levy have paired up again to create this eccentric, wildly imaginative collection of illustrations of other critically endangered animals.
Steadman’s drawings are nonconformist, splotched with color and a delightful overlay of finger painting–like splashes and precise ink drawings. Levy's descriptions detail each creature’s environment and the threats to its survival. The depictions of insects—the little mother moth, the Greek red damsel, the monarch butterfly—are particularly lavish, and an eerie bleakness is infused in the portraits of the snow leopard and giant panda. Humorous correspondences between the two authors accompany the drawings, adding some lightheartedness to the heavy subject matter.
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Critical Critters by Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy Bloomsbury Natural History, 2017
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