Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook8 hours
American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains
Written by Dan Flores
Narrated by Michael Kramer
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
America's Great Plains once possessed one of the grandest wildlife spectacles of the world, equaled only by such places as the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, or the veld of South Africa. Pronghorn antelope, gray wolves, bison, coyotes, wild horses, and grizzly bears: less than two hundred years ago these creatures existed in such abundance that John James Audubon was moved to write, “it is impossible to describe or even conceive the vast multitudes of these animals.”
In a work that is at once a lyrical evocation of that lost splendor and a detailed natural history of these charismatic species of the historic Great Plains, veteran naturalist and outdoorsman Dan Flores draws a vivid portrait of each of these animals in their glory-and tells the harrowing story of what happened to them at the hands of market hunters and ranchers, and ultimately, a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In a work that is at once a lyrical evocation of that lost splendor and a detailed natural history of these charismatic species of the historic Great Plains, veteran naturalist and outdoorsman Dan Flores draws a vivid portrait of each of these animals in their glory-and tells the harrowing story of what happened to them at the hands of market hunters and ranchers, and ultimately, a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Related to American Serengeti
Related audiobooks
Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat's Walk Across America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rangers, Trappers, and Trailblazers: Early Adventures in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIvory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wolf Nation: The Life, Death, and Return of Wild American Wolves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Monkey Wrench Gang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Joseph Meek: The Life and Legacy of the Oregon Territory’s Most Influential Politician during the 19th Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrossing Open Ground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Way: A Story of the First People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Decade of the Wolf, Revised and Updated: Returning The Wild To Yellowstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Wild Country: An Epic Journey through the Past, Present, and Future of America's Public Lands Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Father of American Conservation: George Bird Grinnell Adventurer, Activist, and Author Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jim Bridger, “The Grand Old Man of the Rockies” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Wolves and Men Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journal of a Trapper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boone: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Nature For You
Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life on Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Escaping from Eden: Does Genesis teach that the human race was created by God or engineered by ETs? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elephant Whisperer: My Life With the Herd in the African Wild Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Coffee: A Sustainable Guide to Nootropics, Adaptogens, and Mushrooms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Living Thing: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World's Most Beloved Animal Doctor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Genius of Birds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When You Find My Body: The Disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion: Surprising Observations of a Hidden World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Things Bright and Beautiful: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World's Most Beloved Animal Doctor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Venom Doc: The Edgiest, Darkest, Strangest Natural History Memoir Ever Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related podcast episodes
Dan Flores | Coyote America 0% found this document usefulEp. 153 : The Nature of Oaks with Doug Tallamy 0% found this document usefulWhere the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River 100% found this document usefulBryology (MOSS) with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer 100% found this document usefulEp. 1: Steven Rinella 100% found this document usefulKings of the Yukon: A 2,000-mile Alaskan River Paddle with Best-Selling Author Adam Weymouth 0% found this document usefulS6: Slaughter of The American Serengeti 0% found this document usefulLove the Wild: Moose / Alces alces 0% found this document usefulKermit, Theodore and Edwin 0% found this document usefulWalking the Amazon with Explorer Ed Stafford 100% found this document usefulCalifornia Condors with Tiana Williams-Claussen 0% found this document useful
Related articles
Dear Edward Abbey: Things Aren’t Looking Great for the Wild Literary HubArticle
Dear Edward Abbey: Things Aren’t Looking Great for the Wild
Oct 10, 2018
5 min readThe Giant Sea Mammal That Went Extinct in Less Than Three Decades The AtlanticArticle
The Giant Sea Mammal That Went Extinct in Less Than Three Decades
Apr 19, 2017
6 min readThe SHORTSAD STORY of Steller’s SEA COW Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and childrenArticle
The SHORTSAD STORY of Steller’s SEA COW
Sep 1, 2022
5 min readSpeared Stork Solved The Mystery Of Migratory Birds Science IllustratedArticle
Speared Stork Solved The Mystery Of Migratory Birds
Feb 15, 2023
6 min readPan-American Migrants Adirondack ExplorerArticle
Pan-American Migrants
Aug 30, 2019
3 min readMountain Men Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and ChildrenArticle
Mountain Men
Nov 1, 2022
2 min readGone But Not Forgotten Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and ChildrenArticle
Gone But Not Forgotten
Jan 1, 2020
2 min readThe Last Naturalist The American ScholarArticle
The Last Naturalist
Mar 1, 2022
21 min read9 Extinct Animals You Should Know About History RevealedArticle
9 Extinct Animals You Should Know About
Sep 28, 2023
5 min readThe Case for Bringing Back the Passenger Pigeon: One geneticist’s quest to de-extinct what was once one of the world’s most abundant birds. NautilusArticle
The Case for Bringing Back the Passenger Pigeon: One geneticist’s quest to de-extinct what was once one of the world’s most abundant birds.
Nov 17, 2016
North Dakota is not known for its pigeons. Or forests, for that matter. The state bird is the western meadowlark, a mellifluous yellow songbird often seen singing on fence posts. Such posts substitute for trees in much of North Dakota. The state is p
11 min readBack To Where It All Began WanderlustArticle
Back To Where It All Began
Jul 28, 2022
19 min readWhy Wild Turkeys Hate the Wild The AtlanticArticle
Why Wild Turkeys Hate the Wild
Nov 25, 2015
5 min readPassenger Pigeons in Wisconsin Wisconsin Magazine of HistoryArticle
Passenger Pigeons in Wisconsin
Sep 7, 2021
7 min readAnimals History RevealedArticle
Animals
Dec 21, 2023
5 min readChasing The Swamp Ghost Garden & GunArticle
Chasing The Swamp Ghost
May 22, 2023
15 min readThe Search for America’s Atlantis The AtlanticArticle
The Search for America’s Atlantis
Sep 7, 2021
18 min readOh, For A Proper Cup Of Tea! Country LifeArticle
Oh, For A Proper Cup Of Tea!
Aug 24, 2022
5 min readDramatic Changes Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and ChildrenArticle
Dramatic Changes
Sep 1, 2022
4 min read10 Trailblazing Environmental Books for Earth Day Literary HubArticle
10 Trailblazing Environmental Books for Earth Day
Apr 20, 2018
4 min readMermaids And Sea Myths All About HistoryArticle
Mermaids And Sea Myths
Nov 3, 2022
9 min readThe Explainer The Science Of Monsters BBC Science Focus MagazineArticle
The Explainer The Science Of Monsters
Oct 12, 2023
6 min readBlack Cowboy Archaeologist Wild WestArticle
Black Cowboy Archaeologist
Dec 21, 2021
4 min readReturn The National Parks To The Tribes The AtlanticArticle
Return The National Parks To The Tribes
Apr 12, 2021
28 min readBird Books For The Lockdown BirdWatchingArticle
Bird Books For The Lockdown
Jun 6, 2020
Vesper Flights, by Helen Macdonald, Grove Atlantic, 2020, hardcover, 272 pages, $27. Helen Macdonald, author of the widely acclaimed H is for Hawk, says the subject that underlies everything she writes is a “love for the glittering world of non-human
3 min readIn The Footsteps Of Dinosaurs Australian CountryArticle
In The Footsteps Of Dinosaurs
Nov 9, 2022
6 min readThree Hundred Not Out Country LifeArticle
Three Hundred Not Out
Jul 15, 2020
5 min readIt’s Tough Being a Right Whale These Days The AtlanticArticle
It’s Tough Being a Right Whale These Days
Jul 30, 2018
16 min readThe View from Warbler’s Roost Texas Highways MagazineArticle
The View from Warbler’s Roost
Mar 26, 2020
8 min readWhat the Deer Are Telling Us: A lesson in home improvement. NautilusArticle
What the Deer Are Telling Us: A lesson in home improvement.
Apr 3, 2014
In 1909, a United States Forest Service officer named Aldo Leopold shot a mother wolf from a perch of rimrock in the Apache National Forest in Arizona. It was a revelatory moment in the life of the young naturalist. “In those days we never heard of p
2 min readPossum Cosmos MagazineArticle
Possum
Sep 13, 2023
16 min read
Related categories
Reviews for American Serengeti
Rating: 4.351351351351352 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
37 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Author doesn’t just relate American natural history to the reader but imposes his bias into it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dan Flores does an amazing job laying this out ! Really liked the chapter per animal. The only thing that could have made it better was Dan as the narrator.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A natural history of the Great Plains at the dawn of the 'American West'. Each chapter covers a different species and how they were impacted by the expansion of the United States. The same old sad story, well told.