After the Kill

Life in the grassland is a constant, dramatic struggle for survival between predator, prey, and scavenger. This delightfully gory narrative follows the life cycle of one carcass as it feeds a whole ecosystem of meat-eaters. 

A hungry lioness attacks a grazing zebra on the plains of East Africa. She bites it in the throat. The zebra is dead. After the kill, the lioness and her pride rip the carcass open and eat. Vultures swoop in and fight over scraps of meat, and cunning jackals compete with bone-crushing hyenas for a piece of the feast.Darrin Lunde has worked as a mammalogist at the American Museum of Natural History and at the Smithsonian Institute. His work has brought him into contact with all kinds of animals, big and small, throughout the remote forests of South America, Africa, and Asia where he camped for months at a time to survey species diversity and to discover new species. He is the author of Hello, Bumblebee Bat, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honor Book, and other books about animals. He lives in Washington, DC.It is early in the morning, and a hungry lioness is on the prowl. She sees a herd of zebras grazing in the distance. Mmmm—zebra! Her mouth begins to water.

The lioness crouches in the grass and creeps forward.

One of the zebras seems weaker than the others, and she focuses on it. The zebra twitches its ears,
but it does not see her. The lioness creeps closer . . . closer . . . and then—

She springs from the grass, chases down the zebra, claws it in the back, pulls it to the ground, and bites it in the throat.

The zebra is dead. The lioness has killed it.

The Serengeti Plain of East Africa is home to some of the largest concentrations of animals on earth. Vast herds of wildebeests, zebras, and antelopes thrive on the plain, as do the predators and scavengers that feed on them.