In this title, readers will learn about the fascinating social lives of lions. They will learn that lions live in groups, look out for each other, and care for each other's young. This title supports NGSS standards for Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity.

THE HABITAT Nairobi National Park lies to the south-southeast of the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, where the Athi Plains meet the Eastern escarpment of the Rift Valley. These plains form part of the semi-arid highland plateau lying between the coast and the Rift Valley. Both the city itself, and the Park bordering it, are a meeting place of two generally distinct types of landscape and climate. While to the east-southeast are semi-arid plains with grasslands and scattered trees, the western-north western parts are higher, hilly, cooler, more humid and support lush forests. The combination of latitude-a little over one degree south of the Equator -and altitude-average of 1600 m. (5000-5500 ft.) -combine to give Nairobi a most equable climate where the temperature varies during the year between about 11 degrees and 27 degrees centigrade (mean minimum and mean maximum for eight years). However, considerable changes are usually experienced within each day and a rise from 14 degrees C at 0600 hours to 22 degrees at 1100 hours is not unusual. Nairobi Park has a unique concentration of wild animals living in their natural habitat less than 10 km. from the centre of a modern city of half a million people. The only interference with the natural course of events in the Park is that normally required for the proper management of a game park, such as maintenance of roads and dams, and, in this particular case, partial fencing towards the city.

A rat will go out of its way to help a stranger in need. Lions have adopted the calves of their prey. Ants farm fungus in cooperatives. Why do we continue to believe that life in the animal kingdom is ruled by competition? In The Social Lives of Animals, biologist Ashley Ward takes us on a wild tour across the globe as he searches for a more accurate picture of how animals build societies. Ward drops in on a termite mating ritual (while his guides snack on the subjects), visits freelance baboon goatherds, and swims with a mixed family of whales and dolphins. Along the way, Ward shows that the social impulses we’ve long thought separated humans from other animals might actually be our strongest connection to them. Insightful, engaging, and often hilarious, The Social Lives of Animals demonstrates that you can learn more about animals by studying how they work together than by how they compete.

Set in the African bush: a tracker seeks one lion, thanks to lessons that can teach us all how to live--Provided by publisher.

This book develops the idea that difficult people (the lions) are opportunities, not obstacles to inner personal growth.

"Illustrated with two hundred color photographs of lions at every stage of their lives, this striking volume reveals the worlds of four neighboring prides that roam the diverse habitats - swamps, seasonal rivers, dry floodplains, acacia forests, and thick woodland - of Botswana's Okavango Delta. Drawing on continuing field research begun in 1995, Pieter Kat shows how Okavango lions challenge long-held assumptions about sociability, mating strategies, and hunting techniques. Pride males will readily mate with females from other prides, sometimes even abandoning their original group; females often leave their offspring vulnerable to predators; and as hunters, lions are more prone to mistakes and scavenging than is commonly believed."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In Dreaming of lions, the author shares stories from her life, from South West Africa (now Namibia) in the 1950s to the Kalahari Desert, where she conducted fieldwork among the Ju/wa Bushmen. Her skills as an observer and a writer put to the test on these and many occasions working with dogs, cats, cougars, deer, and with personal struggles, she has become the author of many books full of insightful observations.