Word: oryx
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Crake is the low-key mad scientist in Margaret Atwood's rueful tale of mad science, Oryx and Crake (Doubleday; 374 pages), a book about an awful future. He's the kind of guy who says things like "Let's suppose for the sake of argument that civilization as we know it gets destroyed." He didn't intend that remark as a commentary on the book he's in, but it certainly could apply, especially if you factor in his next line: "Want some popcorn...
Crake is the low-key mad scientist in Margaret Atwood's rueful tale of mad science, Oryx and Crake (Bloomsbury; 374 pages), a book about an awful future. He's the kind of guy who says things like, "Let's suppose for the sake of argument that civilization as we know it gets destroyed." He didn't intend that remark as a commentary on the book he's in, but it certainly could apply, especially if you factor in his next line: "Want some popcorn?" This is not quite a popcorn novel, but it's not all you would hope...
...WELCOME BACK Oman is home to a wealth of rare desert animals, including the Arabian oryx, a white antelope with long spiral horns and distinctive black markings. Special kidneys allow the oryx to survive long periods of time without water. By 1972, however, oryx in the wild were hunted almost to extinction, but a new herd, bred in captivity, is slowly being reintroduced to two desert areas. The Central Area Wildlife Reserve has been closed to the public for the past 25 years, but is now opened to limited official tours; browse www.discoveryinitiatives.com/oman.asp....
Most troubling, it's not just prolific-as-rabbits deer and other common prey that are being killed in such canned hunts, as they're sometimes called; it's rarer creatures too. All manner of exotics--including the Arabian oryx, the Nubian ibex, yaks, impalas and even the odd rhino, zebra or tiger--are being conscripted into the canned-hunt game and offered to sportsmen for "trophy fees...
...Zheng He did as well. It was from Malindi, now a sleepy resort town a two-hour drive up the coast from Mombasa, that he received his most precious tributes: a qilin (or unicorn), a celestial stag and a celestial horse - now identified more prosaically as a giraffe, an oryx and a zebra. Since moving sight unseen to Mombasa in 1992, Li and his family have also taken Africa's natural riches - especially its abundance of rare animals and medicinal herbs - and spun them into treasure. The Lis proudly give me a tour of their traditional Chinese medicine clinic, which...