Mara Simba: The African Lion

In this synthesized biography, Caras gives us a stunning illustration of the interdependence of life forms and a fresh appreciation of the importance of preserving wildlife. Author of Monarch of Deadman Bay and other books on natural history, Caras here sets the scene in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya; he introduces a newborn cub, one of four in a litter. We then follow Simba through his life cycle, observing his physical and social development, his changing status in the original pride; his exile, his life as leader of his own pride and, finally, the arrival of old age and death. It is a dramatic, unsentimental portrait of predator and prey, an unending struggle for survival. November 29