Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Dr Seuss and the real Lorax

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 1196–1198 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

The modern US environmental movement was born in 1970. The year began with the National Environmental Policy Act on 1 January and closed with the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency on 2 December. Other milestones occurred in April, including the first observance of Earth Day — then the largest grassroots demonstration in history, drawing an estimated 20 million people globally1 — and the release of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, a folksong by Joni Mitchell that quickly became the eco-anthem for the environmental movement. It was in this highly charged atmosphere that Theodor ‘Dr Seuss’ Geisel resolved to write an environmental book for children.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1: Inception of The Lorax.

a,d, Yvonne A. de Jong and Thomas M. Butynski; b,c, Dr. Seuss Enterprises; e, Anup Shah, courtesy of Nature Picture Library

Fig. 2: Pre-publication drawing of the Lorax.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises

Fig. 3: Perceptual face space.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises

References

  1. Cahn, R. & Cahn, P. Environment 32, 16–43 (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Morgan, J. & Morgan, N. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography (Random House, New York, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  3. De Laroque, L. Paradise Found: The Story of the Mount Kenya Safari Club (Camerapix, Nairobi, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Geisel, T. S. The Lorax, by Dr Seuss (Random House, New York, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Moje, E. B. & Shyu, W.-R. in Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel (ed. Fensch, T.) 191–198 (McFarland, Jefferson, 1997).

  6. Teorey, M. Child. Lit. Educ. 45, 324–339 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. op de Beeck, N. Child. Lit. Assoc. Quart. 30, 265–287 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Marshall, I. S. Interdiscip. Stud. Lit. Environ. 2, 85–92 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ross, S. Interdiscip. Stud. Lit. Environ. 2, 99–104 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Henderson, B., Kennedy, M. & Chamberlin, C. in Wild Things: Children’s Culture and Ecocriticism (eds Dobrin, S. I. & Kidd, K. B.) 118–148 (Wayne State Univ. Press, Detroit, 2004).

  11. Wolfe, D. Environ. Commun. 2, 3–24 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Butler, F. Child. Lit. Educ. 20, 175–181 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zicht, J. EPA J. 17, 27–30 (1991).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Pease, D. E. Theodor SEUSS Geisel (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2010).

  15. Fensch, T. (ed.) Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel (McFarland, Jefferson, 1997).

  16. Isbell, L. A. Am. J. Primatol. 45, 381–398 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Hall, K. R. L., Boelkins, R. C. & Goswell, M. J. Folia Primatol. 3, 22–49 (1965).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hall, K. R. L. J. Zool. 148, 15–87 (1966).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Allen, W. L., Stevens, M. & Higham, J. P. Nat. Commun. 5, 4266 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Darling, E. Capital. Nat. Social. 12, 51–66 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Birkett, A. & Stevens-Wood, B. Afr. J. Ecol. 43, 123–130 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Wahungu, G. M. et al. Afr. J. Ecol. 49, 227–233 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Okello, B. D., O’Connor, T. G. & Young, T. P. For. Ecol. Manag. 142, 143–153 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. de Jong, Y. A., Butynski, T. M. & Nekaris, K. A.-I. J. East Afr. Nat. Hist. 97, 83–102 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Gippoliti, S. Primate Conserv. 31, 53–59 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  26. van der Maaten, L. & Hinton, G. J. Mach. Learn. Res. 9, 2579–2605 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This project was conceived at a dinner hosted by the Dartmouth Society of Fellows. D.E.P. is author of Theodor SEUSS Geisel and he is the Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, an endowed position that supported aspects of this work. For valuable comments and contributions, we thank W. Allen, T. Butynski, P. Carini, L. Claassen, Y. de Jong, N. Diller, J. Estes, S. Gaughan, J. Pitt, C. Sandbrook, J. E. Terp and D. E. White.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Anthropology and Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Nathaniel J. Dominy

  2. Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Sandra Winters & James P. Higham

  3. Department of English and Creative Writing, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Donald E. Pease

Authors
  1. Nathaniel J. Dominy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sandra Winters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Donald E. Pease
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. James P. Higham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nathaniel J. Dominy or James P. Higham.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dominy, N.J., Winters, S., Pease, D.E. et al. Dr Seuss and the real Lorax. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 1196–1198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0628-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0628-x

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing