The other Angelenos: What a naturalist’s survey of Los Angeles wildlife reveals

Book Review Unnatural Habitat: The Native and Exotic Wildlife of Los Angeles By Craig Stanford Heyday: 264 pages, $24 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. In “Unnatural Habitat: The Native and Exotic Wildlife of Los Angeles,” Stanford offers Angelenos — and anyone interested in the function and dysfunction of urban ecosystems — a guide to the natural life that teems beneath our freeways, wanders into our backyards and fights for survival in the deserts and mountains that surround our city. But Stanford’s mission here isn’t simply to describe the creatures at hand — though he does do plenty of that, never hesitating to anthropomorphize even the most inhuman of them; to him, snakes are “secretive,” tarantulas “ominously deliberate.” The book excels — feels necessary, even — when it unravels the intricate interplay between human and animal habits; societal institutions and nature; common sense and our desire to decorate and navigate Los Angeles however we please. Stanford’s fundamental message is clear and simple : To preserve a Los Angeles in which humans and nature benefit from one another, we must increase our understanding of our city’s fragile wildlife mosaic.