IN A LAND OF
PLENTY AND PAUCITY,
THE NEXT MEAL
IS EVERYTHING.
here struggle to find
enough prey, and some
inevitably starve to
death. It’s the boom-
and-bust cycle of the
Serengeti region that
predators of the plains
live and die by.
wildebeest herds calv-
ing nearby—the new-
borns are especially
vulnerable. Later in the
year, when the herds
have followed the
rains north in search of
better grazing, lions
Tire tracks left by
tourist-filled safari
vehicles etch a dusty
expanse where lions
rest in Tanzania’s Hid-
den Valley. It’s March,
and these apex pred-
ators have fed well on