cover image Tiger Moon

Tiger Moon

Fiona Sunquist. University of Chicago Press, $29.95 (195pp) ISBN 978-0-226-78001-6

Royal Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal is one of the largest tiger reserves in Asia; it is also home to other endangered species, including the one-horned rhinoceros. In 1974, the Smithsonian Institution, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund and the Nepalese government, sent the authors to the park to study the tiger population, a two-year project that would use radio tracking for the first time. This account of their adventureshunting and immobilizing tigers, a close encounter with a rhino, the hardships of camp lifeis delightful. Stories about the elephants put the tigers in second place, however; we read of one occasion when an elephant capsized while crossing a river. (It survived.) Ten years later, the authors returned to Chitwan. They report that the tigers appear to be in good shape, but tourism has caused vast problems. This is a top-notch tale for readers interested in wildlife. Illustrations. (June)