Stephen Moss, Part Two: Moss explores the Raven, a bird of deep mythology and intelligence, appearing in Norse legends as Odin's messengers and in modern culture like Game of Thrones. Though often seen as harbingers of doom in works by Shakespeare and Poe

Stephen Moss, Part Two: Moss explores the Raven, a bird of deep mythology and intelligence, appearing in Norselegends as Odin's messengers and in modern culture like Game of Thrones. Though often seen as harbingers of doom in works by Shakespeare and Poe, Ravens are highly adaptable and have successfully recolonized urban areas. The narrative shifts to the Cormorant, whose guano fueled a 19th-century fertilizer boom that enriched businessmen while exploiting Chinese indentured laborers. This led to synthetic fertilizers, which Moss argues have caused a decline in farmland birds like the Gray Partridge and Skylark. A tragic highlight is Mao Zedong's campaign against the Tree Sparrow, which triggered a massive insect population boom and a famine killing up to 50 million people. Moss also recounts the "Emu War," where the Emu successfully evaded the Australian army's machine guns. The Snowy Egret's near-extinction due to the fashion industry's demand for plumes is credited with sparking the founding of the Audubon Society by women activists. Finally, the Emperor Penguin is presented as a modern "miner's canary," signaling the urgent threat of the climate crisis to global biodiversity. (2)