Animals of Africa

Fülszöveg

" "W" "ynmatched anywhere else on Earth," I renowned paleontologist Louis B.
> Lealcey pronounced the wildlife that range across the African continent. Who of us can pick a favorite among the animals? Animals of Africa celebrates the richness and diversity of the African natural world in a stunning collection of more than 200 full-color images by four of the world's most talented wildlife photographers—Jim Brandenburg, Mitsuaki Iwago, Frans Lanting, and Michael Nichols. Against the backdrop of an exquisite landscape that ranges from desert scrub land to the savanna, to the mountains, rain forests, and finally to the forgotten Eden of Madagascar, their extraordinary images capture hunters, grazers, giants of the land, denizens of the water, birds in flight, sociable primates, and the strange and wonderful menagerie of Madagascar's isolated environment.
A lithe cheetah streaks across the savanna after prey at 70 miles an hour, the fastest speed for any land mammal. In counterpoint... Tovább

Fülszöveg

" "W" "ynmatched anywhere else on Earth," I renowned paleontologist Louis B.
> Lealcey pronounced the wildlife that range across the African continent. Who of us can pick a favorite among the animals? Animals of Africa celebrates the richness and diversity of the African natural world in a stunning collection of more than 200 full-color images by four of the world's most talented wildlife photographers—Jim Brandenburg, Mitsuaki Iwago, Frans Lanting, and Michael Nichols. Against the backdrop of an exquisite landscape that ranges from desert scrub land to the savanna, to the mountains, rain forests, and finally to the forgotten Eden of Madagascar, their extraordinary images capture hunters, grazers, giants of the land, denizens of the water, birds in flight, sociable primates, and the strange and wonderful menagerie of Madagascar's isolated environment.
A lithe cheetah streaks across the savanna after prey at 70 miles an hour, the fastest speed for any land mammal. In counterpoint to this stark depiction of elemental struggle between the hunters and the hunted, a portrait of lionesses caring for their sisters' offspring provides a glimpse of tranquil domestic life within the pride. A gallery of photographs introduces the myriad species of grazers found throughout the continent: tiny dik-diks, long-necked gerenuk, dainty Thomson's gazelles, impalas, and many others. You'll see a herd of wildebeest, who can sometimes number as many as 1.5 million strong, moving in endless migration across the Serengeti Plain; giraffes, towering almost 20 feet high, browsing the treetops; and okapi, who, like their close relatives, the giraffes, have tongues so long they can clean their own eyes. The majesty of elephants in stately parade is balanced by images of matriarchs gently nurturing and instructing their young, while the other land giant, the rhinoceros, is also shown in a moment of maternal concern, protecting her calf from marauding hyenas.
Africa is a bird-watcher's paradise, and Animals of /frica brings its wonder to the armchair traveler in dozens of striking pictures, from the splendor of a million
flamingos rising off a lake like a pink cloud, to the open-billed storks whose bills are specially designed to pry open snails and mollusks, to the weaver birds who plait complex globular homes. The chain of life for water dwellers revolves around the hippopotamus, whose dung provides essential food for fish, crustaceans, birds and other creatures. At the top of this food chain slithers the crocodile, the nightmarish beast who can grow to 18 feet in length and who literally rips apart its prey.
Jane Goodall, whose work with primates pioneered new ways to study animal behavior, reveals the intricacies of chimpanzee society. The gentle mountain gorillas, struggling for survival in the midst of human chaos in the cloud forests of Rwanda and Zaire, and the baboons, who thrive in many different habitats, are also covered in detail. On the island of Madagascar, the lemur, a monkey like primate, has evolved into dozens of species. With specialized fingertip claws to probe for grubs and insects, the little nocturnal aye-aye evokes a sense of mystery and even of fear. It is one of a panoply of creatures, uniquely adapted over the millennia to an isolated island world, now threatened by humans who, by relentlessly cutting forests, have destroyed native plants and doomed many of the creatures who depended on the plants for food.
The powerful images in Animals of Africa will deepen your appreciation of the natural world, of the fragility of life, and of the imperative to preserve animals and the wildernesses in which they live.
Tom Allen, formerly on the staff of the
National Geographic Society, lives in
Bethesda, Maryland.
Jacket Photograph:
Elephants on the move in the Linyanti Swamp of Botswana; photograph by Frans Lanting. Vissza