The Last Lions

About this book

Lion experts and conservationists issue a hopeful call to save one of the animal kingdom's most remarkable creatures. Lions are majestic, fierce, and dying at an alarming rate. The estimated population of 500,000 wild lions that lived in Africa in the 1950s has plummeted to around 20,000 today. The Last Lions is a powerful rallying cry voiced by scientists and conservationists to save the lions before it's too late, with stunning wildlife photography.

Alongside 275 extraordinary images that capture the lions' distinctive beauty and strength, the book explores their biology and behavior, and the urgent work to protect them, including:
- Impacts of the lion trade, lion farming, cub petting, canned hunting, and the lion bone trade
- Past and present distribution and geography
- Rare white lions
- Frontline conservation efforts
- Dynamics and behaviours
- Palaeontological history
- The future of lions

With wildlife photography that allows readers to peer intimately into the lives of lions and their prides – including ferociously taking down their prey, napping in trees, and nuzzling each other – the stunning photography inspires advocacy. Chapters from lion experts, including a foreword from nature writer David Quammen, share personal experiences witnessing and working with them, reckon with the continual threats to lions and the efforts to counteract them, and explore the relationship between people, lions, and the land. The Last Lions is an unforgettable homage to one of the world's most magnificent animals, and an essential call to ensure their future.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Dr Don Pinnock is a historian, criminologist, environmental journalist and photographer. He has served as editor of the travel magazine Getaway and is the author or co-author of 18 books, including The Last Elephants. He has won two Mondi Awards and the City Press Non-Fiction Award, and was shortlisted for the European Union Literary Award.

Colin Bell landed his first job as a safari guide in Botswana in 1977, after completing an economics degree at Wits University in South Africa. He is a passionate wildlife conservationist and has co-authored two books on wildlife and the environment – Africa's Finest and The Last Elephants.