The African lion (Panthera leo), long celebrated as the king of beasts, faces unprecedented challenges in the wild today. Loss of habitat through the expansion of human activity increasingly restricts the lion to game reserves and national parks, while diseases such as bovine tuberculosis pose a threat to the health of lion prides. Over a period of two years, Roger and Pat de la Harpe have documented wild lions of South Africa, and the result is a superbly photographed and engagingly written tribute to this often misunderstood predator. In Search of the African Lion enters the complex world of the lion, describing pride dynamics, hunting patterns, the reproductive cycle and interactions with human communities. The book focuses on four main areas: the Kalahari, the Madikwe/Mapungubwe area, the Greater Kruger National Park and Northern Zululand -each with its own problems, challenges and opportunities. In addition, the authors highlight the important work done by game rangers, wildlife managers and scientific researchers in understanding the lion and in protecting existing populations. The In Search of... series focuses on the plight of threatened and endangered species. Also available by the same authors: In Search of the African Wild Dog.

For an unknown reason, the Steller sea lion population in Alaska has declined by 80% over the past three decades. In 2001, the National Research Council began a study to assess the many hypotheses proposed to explain the sea lion decline including insufficient food due to fishing or the late 1970s climate/regime shift, a disease epidemic, pollution, illegal shooting, subsistence harvest, and predation by killer whales or sharks. The report's analysis indicates that the population decline cannot be explained only by a decreased availability of food; hence other factors, such as predation and illegal shooting, deserve further study. The report recommends a management strategy that could help determine the impact of fisheries on sea lion survival-establishing open and closed fishing areas around sea lion rookeries. This strategy would allow researchers to study sea lions in relatively controlled, contrasting environments. Experimental area closures will help fill some short-term data gaps, but long-term monitoring will be required to understand why sea lions are at a fraction of their former abundance.

A case brings PI Dan Sharp to the northern Ontario wilderness, where he has to face his own dark past. When a four-year-old autistic boy disappears on a camping trip, his mother is reluctant to involve the police. Instead, she calls in private investigator Dan Sharp after a ransom demand arrives. On investigating, Dan learns there are plenty of people who might be responsible for the kidnapping. Among them are an ex-husband who wrongly believed the boy was his son; the boy’s surrogate mother, now a drug addict; the boy’s grandmother, who has been denied access to her grandson; and a mysterious woman who unnerves everyone with her unexpected appearances. A trip to Lion’s Head in the Bruce Peninsula, where the boy disappeared, brings Dan unexpectedly into contact with his own brutal upbringing. But when a suspected kidnapper is found dead, Dan suddenly finds himself chasing the ghosts of the present as well as the past.