“But nothing had prepared me for this experience of wildlife in vast numbers, the extraordinary migrations, the sheer diversity of animals and vegetation, and the spectacular landscapes. There had to be a reason why Serengeti was such an outstanding place, and I decided to find out.”
—From A Place Like No Other
While on his first research trip to the Serengeti in 1965, Anthony R.E. Sinclair decided to dedicate his life's work to understanding how the expanse of more than 19,000 square kilometers beginning in northern Tanzania functions. Now a professor emeritus of zoology at University of British Columbia, Sinclair joined a group of scientists that would ultimately discover
, savannas, and woodlands of one of the most-biodiverse ecosystems on the planet-principles that govern all the natural world. This volume presents discoveries made during more than half a century of study, from unearthing how the Serengeti, one of the few remaining examples of the last ice age (roughly 2.5 million to 11,700 years ago), has continued to exist relatively unchanged to describing methods used to grasp what prompts annual wildebeest migrations, all the while offering insights that can be applied to repairing habitats throughout the world.