In Part of the Pride, Kevin Richardson, recently dubbed The Lion Man on
60 Minutes, tells the story of how he grew from a young boy who loved
animals to become a man able to cross the divide between humans and
predators, looking some of the world's most dangerous animals directly
in the eye, playing with them and even kissing them on the nose-all
without ever being attacked or injured. As a self-taught animal
behaviorist, Richardson has broken every safety rule known to humans
when working with these wild animals. Flouting common misconceptions
that breaking an animal's spirit with sticks and chains is the best way
to subdue them, he uses love, understanding and trust to develop
personal bonds with them. His unique method of getting to know their
individual personalities, what makes each of them angry, happy, upset,
or irritated has caused them to accept him like one of their own into
their fold. Richardson allows the animals' own stories to share center
stage as he tells readers about Napoleon and Tau, the two he calls his
brothers; the amazing Meg, a lioness Richardson taught to swim; the
fierce Tsavo who savagely attacked him; and the heartbreaking little
hyena called Homer who didn't live to see his first birthday. In Part of
the Pride, Richardson, with novelist Tony Park, delves into the mind of
the big cats and their world to show readers a different way of
understanding the dangerous big cats of Africa.
