The stories of people who have worked directly with disappearing plant and animal species in Europe, Africa, North America and Oceania. Individuals discuss how they view their work, the problems they encounter and their thoughts on the broader significance of extinction. The result is that the causes of extinction seem to be unique for each species - sometimes subtle and complex, at other times obvious and simple. The dramatic lessons in this book shed new light on the problems of endangered species and offer hope that we may yet change the fate of those species that totter on the edge of extinction.