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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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TSAVO

Oddball Researchers Use Data and Guns to Save African Elephants

By Daniel B. Botkin
with Joan Melcher

Tsavo by Daniel B. Botkin
A small group of American and British scientists go to East Africa to try to save elephants from poachers and to find how many remain.  They end up fighting with poachers, large and small groups, who try to kill them, meanwhile being chased and threatened by elephants and having to shoot some to survive.

Using my firsthand knowledge of African elephants, African national parks, and the open plains and forests of east and southern Africa, to enrich the story and add just the right amount of detail.  Having had a career as an environmental scientists and another career as a professional journalist and book writer, this novel integrates these two backgrounds.

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ExcerptReviews

Although the bull elephant was fully a hundred yards away, he appeared to Elizabeth, watching from the backseat, the biggest thing she had ever seen. The thicket of small shrubs on each side of the dirt track where he emerged made him look even bigger. Not only was he tall, his head was massive and lumpy. The tip of one tusk was broken off, and one ear was torn. The defects only made him look more ominous. When he came out into the clearing - a long grassy swath the length of a football field - he stopped and stared at the Land Rover. Elizabeth was sure he could overturn the vehicle with ease and kill all of them in an instant. She assumed that Davie would pull off the track and let the big bull pass. But he didn't. He stopped on the path and turned off the engine.

"Show you what a jumbo's like when he gets mad," Davie said.

"I don't think I want to know," Mary replied meekly.

"Me either," Elizabeth said. She glanced at her watch. Ten o'clock.

Paul and Howie, next to her, stared silently. They might say something too, to get us out of here, she thought.

"They're int'restin'. Fascinatin'," Davie said. "Watch this old guy carefully." The big bull turned his body perpendicular to the line between himself and the Land Rover and walked at right angles to that line, moving his head vigorously up and down.

"Oh, good," Mary said. "He's going away."

Davie laughed. "Oh, no he ain't. That's just the start, his first warning."

"Can't wait for his second warning," Elizabeth said dryly.

The elephant paced about thirty yards and then stopped. He turned, now off the track, and stared at the Land Rover.

"He's tellin' us he don't want us around and we should get outta the way," said Davie. "Loxodonta africana. Yeah. Loxodonta africana maximus. Big fucker!"

The elephant watched silently. Elizabeth and the others sat riveted to their seats, partly in fear, partly in fascination.

"Pretty well-known behavior, is it?" Paul asked. "Seen it before?" Davie nodded. "Big motherfucker. Y'see," he whispered over his shoulder to the three in the back,  "if  he  came  straight  at  us,  now that'd be a direct threat. This way, he's showin' us his threat, but it ain't directly aggressive."

Paul, Howie, and Elizabeth,  squeezed  in  the  backseat,  shifted against each other, trying to see out. The brim of Howie's baseball cap pushed against Elizabeth's forehead and slid down against her eye. "Howie, for God's sake," she whispered. Howie grinned.

"You can feel that elephant's mood," Paul said,

"Worthy of Steven Spielberg or Marcel Camus, TSAVO is an adventure full of suspense, romance, and action."
--Library Journal

"The human drama is action-filled and engaging, but it is the elephants that will likely bring readers to tears."
--Kirkus Reviews

“Overall this was a thrilling read. The author managed to capture the struggle of animal and man alike in this entertaining and informative read. This book is the perfect read for anyone who is interested in conservation efforts, the environment or the history of our world and it’s animal kingdom populations overall. This book is even more relevant than ever today, with the current political climate even affecting big game hunting laws and imports regarding the ivory and trophy trade."
--Hollywood Book Reviews

Listen to the Publishers Weekly radio interview about Tsavo 11.12.2018 podcast.

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

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Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Jabowa III Forest Model


Jabowa Forest Model
Jabowa Forest Model for Windows 7.
This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

Order Online

Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

See related papers

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