| Summary: | READ “R” REVIEWS VIDEO REVIEW: “Nature’s Great Race” DVD QL754.N383 2017 If you are interested in the fascinating world of nature, you are sure to enjoy a PBS production of Nature’s Great Race. This 180 minute DVD is divided into three segments showcasing the trials and tribulations of an elephant migration (segment 1), a caribou migration (segment 2), and a zebra migration (segment 3). In each segment, you will see how millions of animals travel hundreds of miles and overcome fearsome obstacles to reach their destinations. In the first segment, researchers place tracking collars on fifty elephants. Using GPS technology, the researchers can know the exact location of each elephant and the distance they have traveled. Two groups are closely followed. One is a group of orphans whose leaders have been killed by poachers. Another closely tracked elephant is a male elephant named Matt who is searching for a mate. During the elephant migration, dozens of elephant families travel from all over Northern Kenya and arrive in masse in the Samburu National Reserve. Elephants risk sunstroke as well as lion attacks along the way. However, their large trunks, which are believed to be five times more sensitive than a bloodhound, helps keep them safe from prey. In the second segment, viewers are taken to the Arctic Circle where 100,000 caribou migrate 350 miles from their pastures to search for cotton grass, which helps produce nutritious milk for their calves. Caribou can amazingly withstand temperatures as low as -76 degrees and can run at a top speed of 50 miles per hour. Some of their biggest predators are wolves and bears but many suffer from exhaustion. In order to save energy, caribou walk in single file. For the ones that arrive at their destination (the Ivvavik National Park), almost every adult gives birth to a calf. In the third segment, viewers head back to Africa to Botswana to see the longest migration – the zebra migration, which is approximately 155 miles. This migration begins at the start of the rainy season and zebras head south to a National Park called Nxai Pan. With meticulous teamwork, zebras can cover large distances quickly running up to 43 miles per hour. Their biggest predators are African hunting dogs and lions. This action-packed, extraordinary video is available in the general collection and can be borrowed for one week, with the option to renew once. BOOK REVIEW: “Wicked Omaha” F674.O557 R64 2017 “Wicked Omaha” is a small book packed full of larger-than-life stories of the dark and wild history of Nebraska’s largest town. It starts out in the town’s relative infancy in the 1870s, during the time it first outgrew Council Bluffs across the Missouri River, and started to get a real reputation as a haven of thievery and vice. Borrowing heavily from old newspaper articles of the time, the book gives brief, individual stories of the happenings of the day, from corrupt officials, loose women, roaming drunks, crooked card games, and fleeced travelers. It begins with explaining the broken system that allowed such lawlessness to flourish in the first place and some of its main players, before talking about the most infamous places in town. Like for instance the notorious St. Elmo’s, which was the place to go for a drink and a show, but was likely to cost you your wallet in the bargain – and in some cases even your life. Or the area of town containing the vast majority of the gambling dens and houses of ill repute known locally as Hell’s Half Acre, all of which the more upstanding citizens of the town waged a losing war to close for decades. It then goes on to explain how later, during the 1880s-90s, the city had made some headway in cleaning up its act by having had some luck in trying to enforce the closure of saloons on Sundays, but had unfortunately added drugs to the list of vices on offer in the form of opium dens. On top of this, the locals also had to contend with a new kingpin of vice by the name of M.F. Martin, who was known as the ‘Man-Landlady.’ Martin owned much of the property in the more disreputable part of town and rented it out for outrageous sums to those with few other options. It was not until the early 1900s that things started turning around, with Martin’s properties raided and emptied and the old St. Elmo’s closed and razed. While this unfortunately meant that certain elements of the old crooked crowd dispersed throughout the city instead of keeping to one main hotbed of vice, the book concludes that it did seem that some of the old lawlessness was dying out and gives examples of the final changes the area went through during this transition clear through to the ‘40s, when the old rough and tumble days of the early city were little more than a memory. “Wicked Omaha” is an interesting peek into Omaha’s seedy historical underbelly, and can be found in the Bellevue University Library’s General Collection and can be checked out for 21 days. Page 4
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