Wild Nights: The Nature of New York City - Softcover

‘An engaging account of the return of wild nature to urban areas. Matthews is a crackerjack reporter and an elegant writer. She reveals a different kind of nature – clever, opportunistic, frightening, often hauntingly beautiful – adapting to the human species and exploiting us, reminding us that our place in the long-term natural history of the earth is by no means assured.’ Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone

'"A brilliant mix of reportage and ecological analysis...' New York teems with the winners in the Darwinian lottery. Some of these are obvious: humans, cockroaches, squirrels, and pigeons (whose droppings are sufficiently acidic to snap the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge). Others are more surprising. The reader is introduced to well-fed bored coyotes who have taken to investigating parking garages and strip-malls. Even the rats in this book are sassy New Yorkers who leap into subway cars just before the doors close, huddle under seats and get off when they arrive downtown."
JONATHAN BATE, 'Sunday Telegraph'

"New York may appear to have banished nature, but with Matthews serving as tour guide, 'the city is revealed as a complex eco-system teeming with wildlife.' Parrots roost in the Bronx; falcons and turkeys dwell in Manhattan; black bear and coyote forage on the city's outskirts; and raccoons teach their kits to look both ways before crossing the street. As more wilderness is eradicated, an ever-increasing number of animal species are becoming urbanites and suburbanites, adapting to life in close proximity to humankind."
'Booklist'

"An engaging account of the return of wild nature to urban areas. Matthews reveals a different kind of nature, 'clever, opportunistic, frightening, often hauntingly beautiful,' adapting to the human species and exploiting us."
RICHARD PRESTON, author of 'The Hot Zone'