Book Review - Animal Diaspora: Decoding Ice Age Mysteries to Reveal the Future of Migration - Island Press Imprint, Princeton University Press

     As we plunge headlong into the Sixth Extinction, we are faced with the reality that animals are shifting their migration patterns at a speed not seen before, and some will not survive - even in the short term - the radical changes they are encountering. The planet is already heating up, with each year being hotter than the last, wildfire seasons last longer and are more devastating, expanding desertification reduces habitat for wildlife and arable land is diminished. The terrifying force of hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes wreaks greater havoc each year, floods and droughts are becoming commonplace. El Niño years are more dire than ever before, the permafrost is melting and releasing methane into the atmosphere, the oceans are heating up, and one hundred year climate events are occurring on a three to five year rotation. 

     The Earth has experienced hot periods before (in addition to Ice Ages) and it is instructive to examine the history of these climatic intervals to see how animals that survived coped with their changing world. Their actions were multi-faceted, with some organisms having more positive outcomes than others. By analysis of historical patterns we may be able to intervene to ensure the survival of animals that would certainly go extinct without human assistance.

     In many respects we have become as gods, changing the Earth on a whim, and we must assume the responsibility of helping the flora and fauna to withstand and survive the savage assault we have mounted on them. Ultimately their future is our future and we lose sight of that critical fact at our peril.

     Edward Struzik has written an important book, with a message to be heeded by every society on Earth. This issue transcends ideology, religion and national interest; like it or not, we are all in this together.

     Whether we have the collective will to act is another matter entirely.

Animal Diaspora: Decoding Ice Age Mysteries to Reveal the Future of Migration - Island Press Imprint, Princeton University Press

Edward Struzik

Hardcover - US$32.00 - ISBN 9781642833232

312 pages - 40 black-and-white illustrations - 2 maps

6.125 x 9.25 inches (15.31 x 23.125 cm)

Publication date: 03 November, 2026