Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Cat

Montgomery introduces readers to Laurie Marker and her team at the Cheetah Conservation Fund's site in Namibia. Scientific information about the cheetahs and profiles of the people who study them are interspersed with in-the-moment, journal-style accounts of activities at the site. Striking photographs capture the dedication of the scientists and the awesome power of the cheetahs. Bib., ind.

Another stellar addition to the Scientists in the Field series. Sy Montgomery’s absorbing, accessible text, together with Nic Bishop’s striking photographs, have an exciting, you-are-there feel. Readers will be interested to learn about Dr. Laurie Marker’s work (“The way to save cheetahs,” she insists, “is all about goats and dogs.”) and likely will be inspired by her story. Among other things, it shows what determination and creative thinking can accomplish: since Marker founded the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) twenty years ago, “Namibia’s cheetah population, once in free-fall, has doubled.” Offers a thorough look at scientists in action (a border collie is an essential member of the team—with his sensitive nose, the dog has been trained to find cheetah scat, “not an easy job”), with tasks including setting up camera traps, lab work (“A lot of people don’t understand that all wildlife research also involves many of hours of work in the laboratory.”), and monitoring cheetahs that are again learning to live in the wild. Emphasizes the interconnected nature of their efforts: “Cheetah conservation harnesses many talents and technologies. Saving the cheetah is about more than just one species, one country, and one kind of science. It’s about antelopes and birds, leopards and giraffes, soil and trees, dogs and goats. It’s about chemistry and genetics, veterinary medicine and ecology. It’s about changing the farming system in Africa.” A dynamic presentation: the eye-catching photographs combine with thoughtful book design (the page numbers appear at the top so that the bottom recto pages can feature a flip-book element. Kids will enjoy seeing how fast they can make the cheetah “run”). Throughout, boxed-text pages and spreads provide more valuable information, such as “Fast Facts on the Fastest Cats” (“Cheetah’s sense of smell is so poor, they may not notice a piece of fresh meat on the ground unless they can see it.”) and a closing “Laurie’s Advice for Saving the World.”

Montgomery introduces readers to Laurie Marker and her team of conservationists, scientists, students, and animals at the Cheetah Conservation Fund's site in Namibia. The book opens with the remarkable description and sight (thanks to Bishop's outstanding photographs) of Marker, accompanied by Tiger Lily, a cheetah who has spent her life at the CCF as an "ambassador." Marker's dedication to saving the endangered cheetah population is readily apparent; she has spent decades in research and outreach, using creative techniques to further the aims of the CCF. Indeed, the science in this volume of the series is more applied than in others: Marker's team engages in everything from assistance to farmers in the form of goat-raising techniques and herding dogs (to prevent cheetah shootings), to presentations in local schools, to DNA testing in support of diversification in the cheetah genetic pool. Throughout, scientific information about the cheetahs and profiles of the people who study and live with them is interspersed with in-the-moment, journal-style accounts of Montgomery's day-to-day activities at the site, especially in pursuit of an elusive wild cheetah that frequents the area. Striking photographs of the cheetahs, the people and landscape of Namibia, and the conservationists fully capture the dedication of these scientists and the awesome power of the cheetahs. Appended with a brief bibliography and an index. danielle j. ford