A provocative look at how the disappearance of the world's great predators has upset the delicate balance of the environment, and what their disappearance portends for the future, by an acclaimed science journalist.

"Massive droughts, stronger hurricanes, larger and more numerous forest fires, loss of habitat for many animal species and the extinction of others, and rapidly melting polar ice are increasingly contributing to the change in climate and the forced migrations of displaced peoples. It is important to stress that such events are worsening far faster than expected"--

"In 2006, the last of China's Yangtze river dolphins--baiji--succumbed to extinction, and la vaquita marina, a diminutive porpoise endemic to the Upper Gulf of California, quietly and without fanfare inherited the title of world's most endangered marine mammal. Unlike many other critically endangered species, the vaquita is not hunted. Nor is its habitat disappearing or degraded. The species is even protected by law. Why then have its numbers plummeted...