Big Cat Diary Lion FROM THE PUBLISHER
Our fascination with cats is ancient and universal: we admire their sleek beauty, the graceful way they move, and watch spellbound when suddenly they crouch, ready to pounce. At that moment we feel the age-old mixture of wonder and fear - wonder at the beauty, a primeval connection with the hunter, and fear at one day finding ourselves the focus of their predatory intentions. The lion is the animal visitors most want to see on safari, embodying the primordial spirit of savannah Africa. It is the king of beasts. The first in a series of three books on Africa's big cats, Big Cat Diary: Lion is a companion volume to the successful television series which goes beyond the day-to-day footage, and explores the bigger picture: history, biology, behaviour, conservation and how lions survive outside the 1,510 km[superscript 2]-(600 sq. mile-) Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya. The book offers a detailed examination of lion behaviour, the way lions are organised socially, how they develop from birth to young adult, how the males take over a pride, and how lone females survive without a pride.
There is an historical perspective of the big cat families featured in the series, including the famous Marsh Lion pride. The book also looks outside the Masai Mara Game Reserve, to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the Ngorongoro Crater, and Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. The question of how to conserve the world's big cat populations is an urgent one: there could be less than 30,000 lions left in Africa. How can we ensure they can maintain breeding populations, space to hunt and sufficient prey to survive? Now in its fourth series, Big Cat Diary has enabled us to find out more about the day-to-day lives of wild lions, from the drama of the hunt to the daily domestic routine and the enduring fight for survival. With its stunning pictures and fascinating, first-hand accounts from someone who has spent half his life watching Africa's big cats, Big Cat Diary: Lion provides an even greater insight to the lives of these magnificent animals.
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