North America's fastest mammal, the pronghorn can accelerate explosively from a standing start to a top speed of 60 miles per hour--but it can also cruise at 45 miles per hour for many miles. What accounts for the speed of this extraordinary animal, a denizen of the American outback, and what can be observed of this creature's way of life? And what is it like to be a field biologist dedicating twenty years to studying this species? In Built for Speed, John A. Byers answers these questions as he draws an intimate portrait of the most charismatic resident of the American Great Plains.

The National Bison Range in western Montana, established in 1908 to snatch bison from the brink of extinction, also inadvertently rescued the largest known remnant of Palouse Prairie. It is within this grassland habitat--home to meadowlarks, rattlesnakes, bighorn sheep, coyotes, elk, snipe, and a panoply of wildflowers--that Byers observes the pronghorn's life from birth to death (a life often as brief as four days, sometimes as long as fifteen years) and from season to season. Readers will also experience the vicarious pleasures of a biologist who is eager to race a pronghorn in his truck, scrutinize bison dung through binoculars, and peer through the gathering dusk of a rainy evening to count the display dives of snipe.

A vivid and memorable tale of a first-rate scientist's twenty-year encounter with a magnificent animal, the story of the pronghorn is also a reminder of the crucial role we can play in preserving the fleeting life of the native American grassland.

(20031101)

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 3 reviews)

Deer and antelope don't only play

On a thirty square mile reserve in western Montana, John A. Byers studied pronghorn antelope in their natural habitat over many years. He accumulated a lot of knowledge and in addition to publishing a scientific work, he also wrote this beautiful, almost lyrical `ode' to the life of antelope. In addition to antelope birth, fawn life, pecking order, survival rates, enemies, abilities, reproductive rituals, and diet, Byers writes very ably about the natural beauty of the area and many of the myriad other creatures that inhabit it along with the pronghorns, creatures such as bison, elk, bighorn sheep, coyotes, meadowlarks, snipe, and grasshoppers. His own experiences over the years, doing the study, also form an enjoyable part of text. Many black and white photos and a sense of humor grace the pages of this slim book. Readers with general interests can easily absorb the scientific explanations of plant/animal ratios or biomass. A theme that has not been emphasized, but is very interesting nonetheless, is that many inherited characteristics of pronghorn antelope stem from a not-so-distant (in evolutionary terms) era when speedy, large predators roamed the North American grasslands. After a mass extinction some 10,000 years ago, antelopes no longer needed the 60 mph speed, urge to be in groups, embryo disposability and aggressive `displacement behavior' they still exhibit. Modern coyotes cannot catch an antelope any more than Wyl E. Coyote can ever catch Road Runner. Antelope harems, hawk kettles, bison ruts, beautiful sunsets---BUILT FOR SPEED is one of those books of which you will be sorry to reach the end.

August 08, 2006

Excellent read and excellent science

Byers has written an unusual book here, appropriate for a very wide audience and yet full of science. More importantly, his book shows how scientists think, in wonderful, almost lyrical, prose. The layperson can catch a glimpse of how science works, and the beauty that scientists can see in the natural world. The book gives a unique portrayal of how and why science actually gets done which is quite different from the way scientists and their work are often portrayed elsewhere. A wonderful addition to any bookshelf, library, or classroom. His more technical book, still very readable, is jammed with all sorts of research about pronghorn. It is titled American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations and the Ghosts of Predators Past.
September 27, 2005

Built with brilliance

Byers is a first class scientist and he writes really well. It is rare to see a naturalist book written with so much verve. A good read that begs the reader to think at least as much of the human condition as the pronghorn condition. Send this one to all your naturalist buddies.
September 01, 2003

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