A Sheltered Life The Unexpected History of the Giant Tortoise

"This lightly written, informative history of the giant tortoise reveals at once the animal's importance to science and humans' huge impact on nature. It sets forth the origins of arguments about sustainability and the abuse of nature that are so closely identified with our own times. Sailors' accounts selected from five centuries of tortoise literature offer historical perspective, while Chambers completes the picture with his vast knowledge of related biology."--BOOK JACKET.