This top-selling series introduces the wild creatures of the world and examines the natural world. Good general introductions for ages 10+, these volumes contain the knowledge, personal experiences, and research of leading naturalists and scientists, accompanied by stunning photography. Unless otherwise noted (*), all volumes are sturdy paperback.
Dr. Luke Hunter is an Australian biologist and is the President of Panthera (www.panthera.org), a New York-based conservation nonprofit he helped to create in 2006, which is dedicated to the range-wide conservation of the world's wild cat species. Before joining Panthera, Hunter headed the Wildlife Conservation Society's Great Cats Program and taught wildlife ecology at several universities in Australia and South Africa.
Hunter has worked on the ecology and conservation of carnivores since 1992. His doctorate and post-doctoral research developed methods to re-establish populations of large cats in areas where they had been extirpated from Southern Africa. His current projects include developing conservation strategies for lions across their African range, assessing the effects of sport hunting on leopards and lions, working with teams in the Brazilian Pantanal to reduce the conflict between ranchers and jaguars, and the first intensive study of Persian leopards and the last surviving Asiatic cheetahs in Iran. Hunter supervises graduate students working on carnivores around the world including the first comprehensive studies on some little-known species such as African golden cats and Sunda clouded leopards.
Luke Hunter has contributed to over 100 scientific papers and popular articles, and has published six books that are available on Amazon, including Cats of Africa: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation, Cheetah, Watching Wildlife: Southern Africa, Cheetahs, and Watching Wildlife: Central America. His sixth and current book, A Field Guide to Carnivores of the World, was released in 2011. He lives in New York state with his wife Sophie and a menagerie of rescued domestic carnivores.
