According to the author of this beautifully illustrated, hugely engaging book, if we were ever to choose a fellow mammal to serve as symbol for our time, then the polar bear would probably make any shortlist. Standing ten feet tall on their hind legs and weighing as much as a ton, the males are the world’s largest terrestrial predators and the only ones to seek human flesh actively. This extraordinary whale- and walrus-wrestling monster is proof positive that wildness persists on our planet, despite the onslaughts of the Anthropocene.
For all its nightmare-haunting power, however, the aspect of the polar bear that really makes it an icon of the age is its vulnerability. For it is uniquely susceptible to the effects of melted sea ice and its image is now relentlessly deployed to get across the threat of climate change.
It is this metaphoric and humanised version of the species which is the book’s key subject, and what Michael Engelhard emphasises is that the modern imagery draws upon 8,000 years of evolving preoccupations.
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