The Pygmy Hippo Story: West Africa’s Enigma of the Rainforest

Overall, this book is the most up-to-date scientific and most comprehensive book about pygmy hippos. The combination with the personal experiences and challenges of scientific and conservation work is quite unique. Therefore, not only people who are interested in hippos should read it but also those who are generally interested in the Upper Guinean forests, their social troubles, armed conflicts and in vivid descriptions and adventures of scientists. Hopefully the book will help to raise interest in these forests and the enigmatic and cute but endangered Pygmy Hippos living in them! * Thiemo Braasch, Suiform Soundings Newsletter of the IUCN * This book fills an important gap in the monographic treatment of African large mammals... a delightful mixture of natural and cultural history, reviewing facts, folklore, and fiction surrounding this little-known species, organized into 5 parts and 33 chapters. * Jan Decher, The Journal of Mammalogy * The Pygmy Hippo Story is not your classic monolithic and scientifically detached monograph of single species research [...] It is a highly informative and passionate call for attention and action that something very unique may be irreversibly disappearing in West Africa. The authors leave us with an afterword [...] wherein they conclude that [t]he forecast for the pygmy hippo is clearly pessimistic, but not entirely hopeless if things change very soon. There is, however, keen competition in the information and misinformation wars that are now being waged between true scientists and special interests, such as the carbon industry climate science deniers. * Jan Decher, Journal of Mammalogy * [...] When it comes to species for which little is known, particularly one as vulnerable as the pygmy hippopotamus, any account is valuable and this is no exception. What is striking is that the vast majority of the content focuses on the history and the sociopolitical aspects of the region where this species calls home, and documents the authors efforts to study and protect the pygmy hippopotamus from extinction. * Jennifer L. Verdolin, The Quarterly Review of Biology * This book, written by Phillip T. Robinson, Gabriella L. Flacke and Knut M. Hentschel is the first monograph of West Africa's enigma of the rainforest. It presents the most comprehensive description of this species...Hopefully the book will help to raise interest in these forests and the enigmatic...pygmy hippos living in them! * Thiemo Braasch, Suiform Soundings *