V a n i s ~ i n g A ni m al s Vanishing Animals Art Text Andy Warhol Kurt Benirschke Spri nger -verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg London Paris Tokyo Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Benirschke, Kurt Vanishing animals, Bibliography: p, I Rare animals, Warhol, Andy II Title, OL82,B46 1986 333,95'416 86-21983 Many photographs included in this book were taken by Ron Garrison, Staff Photographer, San Diego Zoo Text 11) 1986 by Kurt Benirschke, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986 Cover art. color art. and art on pages 3 and 7 11) 1986 by Andy Warhol. Photo of Andy Warhol on page vii 11) Richard L Schulman, All rights reserved, No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the copyright holder. Typesetting by David E. Seham Associates Inc. Metuchen, New lersey 9 8 765 4 3 2 I lSBN-13: 978-1-4684-6335-4 e-lSBN-13: 978-1-4684-6333-0 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-6333-0 Contents Introduction California Condor 10 La Plata River Dolphin 16 Mouse Armadillo 22 Mongolian Wild Horse 28 Giant Chaco Peccary 34 Okapi 40 Whooping Crane 46 Komodo Monitor 52 Sumatra's Rhinoceros 58 Douc Langur 64 Bats 70 Butterflies 76 Sommerring's Gazelle 82 Galapagos Tortoise 88 Puerto Rican Parrot 94 Further Reading 99 Extinction-the tragic and permanent loss of en tire species of animals-should be a concern for everyone This concern and a strong desire to take action toward preventing the loss of more animals has brought about an unusual collabora tion between art and science. The result is this beautiful volume in which artist and scientist have joined efforts to inform and inspire others to take action. Especially for this book, Andy Warhol has cre ated prints (silkscreen over collage) of some of the most endangered animals in the world. Here they are joined with a stimulating text by Dr Kurt Benirschke affording the reader an opportunity to discover the lives and habits of these animals and what the outlook is for their survival. Andy Warhol is one of today's most creative artists, widely known for his highly innovative Andy Warhol portraits and representations of popular culture. In 1983, Warhol expressed his love of animals and concern for the environment in a series of 10 prints of Endangered Species. For this volume, he has returned to this subject, creating 16 new prints. Kurt Benirschke, MD , is well known for his work in pathology and widely published in that field. Benirschke's interest in conservation is more than a "hobby," one to which he is extremely de voted. For many years he has helped to rescue endangered species through breeding in captivity and conservation in the wild. Benirschke is Pro fessor of Pathology and Reproductive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and is Trustee and former Director of Research of the San Diego Zoo. It is hoped that these fascinating and striking portrayals will stimulate readers to join their own energies and talents to this important fight Kurt Benirschke against the loss of more species. Douc Langur Introduction What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were Since the explorers of the last century gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For brought the knowledge of the great wonders of whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All the world and the beauty of unseen animals and things are connected. planets into our view, much has changed. So much, in fact, that Pulitzer Prize winner Edward So spoke Seattle, Chief of the Dwamish and Al O. Wilson exclaimed in 1980 that "The one pro lied Tribes of Puget Sound, in 1855, in reply to cess ongoing in the 1980's that will take millions "the Great Chief in Washington (who) sent word of years to correct is the loss of genetic and spe that he wishes to buy our land. How can you buy cies diversity by the destruction of natural habi or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea tats. This is the folly our descendants are least is strange to us," he said. likely to forgive us." These were prophetic words a century ago Extinction has been an ongoing process for Nature was still very much at equilibrium. To be millenia. However, it was a natural process in the sure, the Dodo from Mauritius, a flightless bird, past. As animals and plants adapted to changing had been exterminated by man 200 years earlier, environments, their ancestors vanished, but suc the great auk of the Atlantic seashores had just ceeding forms evolved and life went on, and it lost its last representative, and the billions of has gone on for thousands of plants and animals North American passenger pigeons were being for millions of years. Not so any longer. The pro reduced by hundreds of thousands annually cess of extinction has increased dramatically, in (Martha, its last member, died in 1914). But. by parallel with the expansion of the human popula and large the threat to animals was not yet com tion, and if the evolution of animals is proceed prehended, except. perhaps, by such Indians as ing-it cannot be watched-it can no longer Chief Seattle, who had seen nearly all the buffalo catch up with extinction. Now there is danger shot by early settlers. And by men like John Muir, that this is the end of the line for many beasts, who was responsible for the establishment of Yo and with this realization comes our reaction, the semite Park and other sanctuaries. These men wish to do something about it. We examine the foresaw the great threat of the future-an ex problem, we spread the word, and then we try to panding human population having ever greater change the course of events to come. needs and desires. Better equipped as we are, we This book intends to bring some of the less have become the threat to this planet's wildlife, well known endangered animals to the reader's plants, and water, and the air we breathe. attention. These animals deserve just as much at tention as the giant panda or the mountain goril la about which so much has already been said. Such animals as the panda and the gorilla may I. Bumblebee bat-discovered only in 1974 and be regarded as "flagship species" that draw at the smallest mammal. tention to the underlying problem: the wanton 2. Kouprey-only few if any of this Indochinese destruction of habitat, of food plants, and of suit cattle-like animal live. able refuge. But also they serve as examples of 3. Mediterranean monk seal-fewer than 500 how international concerns wrestle with the prob survive and it is already extinct in most of its lem and how last-ditch efforts endeavor to stem former habitat. the tide. Naturally, the animals presented here 4. Woolly spider monkey-America's largest are very personal choices, having been selected monkey, deprived of its habitat by expanding from a virtually endless supply of animals whose Brazilian cities. last hour is rapidly approaching. 5. Pygmy hog-only few survive in the Himala The International Union of Conservation of yan foothills. Nature (IUCN) with headquarters in Switzerland 6. Northern white rhinoceros-perhaps 10 still pUblishes its Red Data Book of mammals, am live in Zaire. phibia, plants, invertebrates, and other taxa. 7. Sumatran rhinoceros-this book tells of its Through its large network of specialists, the IUCN last survivors. collects in these books information on all life 8. Madagascar tortoise-none exist in the wild; forms and alerts the public to the degree of en the remaining few are in private hands. dangerment. They assess the causes of the threat 9. Orinoco crocodile-hide collection has to their survival and make recommendations to brought it to near-extinction. ensure safeguards. At a meeting of these scien 10. Kagu-a flightless bird from New Caledonia. tists in 1985 they listed the 12 most endangered II. Hawaiian tree snails-more than half of the animals-as well as plants. Strict criteria were 41 species have become extinct already. followed in their selection, such as urgency, 12. Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly-the prominence, and biological value of the many world's largest butterfly from Papua. species under consideration. But they also faced an "embarras de richesses," that is, there were too many species to pick from. But they chose the following animals as the most endangered: 2 Sommerril1g's Gazelle