Call of Carnivores

Hans Kruuk is a behavioural ecologist with a particular interest in carnivore behaviour, life history and conservation. He did his PhD under Niko Tinbergen at the University of Oxford in 1964, on behaviour of gulls and their predators. He then became Deputy Director of the Serengeti Research Institute in Tanzania, before moving back to the University of Oxford in 1971 as Research Fellow, then to the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Scotland as a Senior Principal Research Officer. He has authored over 120 scientific publications and seven books, including The spotted hyena, predation and social behavior (1972), The social badger (1989), Wild otters (1995), Otters, ecology, behaviour and conservation (2006), Hunter and hunted (2002) and a biography of Niko Tinbergen (Niko’s Nature, 2003). He has received scientific medals from the Zoological Society of London and the British Mammal Society, and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Aberdeen.

• 1. In the field 2. Camouflage in an aquarium 3. Gulls and their enemies: foxes and hedgehogs 4. Serengeti: hyenas, lions and the dusty track to Seronera 5. Solomon, the hyena in my bath 6. Clans of the savannah 7. Hyenas hunt 8. Witches, and death in the dark 9. Masai, people and art on the Serengeti plains 10. Striped without a clan 11. Kalahari desert: a story of sand dunes, people, hyenas and badgers 12. Nomads of northern Kenya 13. Harar, town of the people’s hyena 14. Vultures gathering 15. Flying next to vultures 16. Chasing dogs on Darwin’s islands 17. Badgering in Britain 18. Olfactory delights and olives 19. Shetland otters 20. Otters in and around the garden 21. Otters, crocodiles and orcas 22. Three monks, calls of gibbons, and otters in Thailand 23. Down under: Platypus, Quolls and leeches 24. Just one last project

In “The Call of Carnivores” Kruuk sheds a more intimate light on his research career than we are able to glean from his numerous scientific publications. Readers are taken along for the scientist’s geographical and professional journey as he entertains us with stories about the many aspects of fieldwork which never make it into published papers. ..... Kruuk provides an exciting and interesting narrative; a mixture of informative discoveries in the natural sciences and the recounting of the journey of his own personal experiences, reflections and contemplations. ..... This book demonstrates how significant contributions to science typically involve a combination of conscientiousness, a good measure of fortuitous meetings or conversations, an abundance of peer support and most importantly – the capacity to recognise and seize opportunities with both hands when they appear.