The Call of the Carnivores: Travels of a Field Biologist

Description

Carnivores include some of the most impressive, dangerous and mysterious animals in the world. Hans Kruuk has spent his life studying them against magnificent backdrops, from the Serengeti savannahs and Kalahari deserts to the Scottish Highlands, from the Galápagos Islands to the Far East. In each location he has used meticulous observation of animal behaviour to understand the ecology and natural history of wild carnivore populations, and ultimately to promote their conservation. This book describes the methods, challenges and rewards of the science of behavioural ecology. However, it essentially concerns the personal, rather than the scientific, side of that work, and above all the field experiences involved. With photographs and line drawings, it brings to life African safaris, the hyena in his bath, flights with vultures, dives with otters, attacks by a badger in Scotland and by feral dogs in Galápagos, gull-eating hedgehogs in Britain and the role of animals in African witchcraft. The author communicates his lifelong fascination with wildlife through these unique experiences and the insights they afforded him. Professor Kruuk is a leading authority on animal behaviour and the author of classic studies of hyaenas, otters and badgers, as well as a biography of his Oxford mentor Niko Tinbergen. Cover Half Title Page By the same author Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements 1. In the field 2. Camouflage in an aquarium 3. Gulls and their enemies: foxes and hedgehogs 4. Serengeti: hyenas, lions and the dusty track to Seronera 5. Solomon, the hyena in my bath 6. Clans of the savannah 7. Hyenas hunt 8. Witches, and death in the dark 9. Masai, people and art on the Serengeti plains 10. Striped without a clan 11. The Kalahari desert: a story of sand-dunes, people, hyenas and badgers 12. Nomads of northern Kenya 13. Harar, town of the people’s hyena 14. Vultures gathering 15. Flying next to vultures 16. Chasing dogs on Darwin’s islands 17. Badgering in Britain 18. Olfactory delights and olives 19. Shetland otters 20. Otters in and around the garden 21. Otters, crocodiles and orcas 22. Three monks, calls of gibbons, and otters in Thailand 23. Down under: platypus, quolls and leeches 24. Just one last project References Index