First published 1973
George Schaller ventures into Tanzania's wild grasslands with tranquilizer guns and radio transmitters. For three years he shadows the continent's most dangerous predators. He tags sleeping lions and follows their radio beeps through the night. He watches cheetahs sprint across open ground and observes leopards move silently through tall grass. Wild dogs gather in businesslike packs while hyenas patrol their territories. Schaller records how each species hunts, raises young, and claims territory. He witnesses a tiny mouse fight off an entire dog pack and watches an Egyptian vulture crack ostrich eggs with stones. The work demands constant improvisation as he tracks animals on foot and by Land Rover. Gazelle herds tense when they sense approaching danger. Schaller feels the rhythm of predator and prey that has shaped these plains for millions of years. He even attempts to recreate how early hominids like Australopithecus might have scavenged and hunted in this same landscape two million years ago. His family builds a life far from civilization while he develops an almost supernatural sensitivity to the sounds and movements of zebras, giraffes, and circling vultures.
Genres: nature, animals, adventure, non-fiction, biography-memoir, africa
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: nature-documentary, scientific-research
Setting: Tanzania
Period: 2 Million Years Ago, 20th Century
287 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A Knopf