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Spirit of the Wild
SEPTEMBER 2005
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In Learn More the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information to expand your knowledge of our featured subjects. Special thanks to the Research Division.
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 Did You Know?
Trophy hunters lend a hand in protecting Zimbabwe's endangered wildlife whether they know it or not. Foreigners on safari, mostly from the United States, fork over between $12,000 and $15,000 an animal to legally shoot African elephants, lions, and other big game.
The Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources, CAMPFIRE for short, began in 1989 to encourage locals to live with animals rather than fight against them. Rural communities set quotas to control the number of animals that hunters kill. And money from the kills goes back to those communities—compensating residents who face property damage from wild animals; supplementing incomes; funding schools, clinics, and roads; and furthering conservation efforts.
Zimbabwe's growing population puts growing pressure on the wild lands. Run-ins between the people and African elephants aren't uncommon. Because an estimated 50 percent of these largest living land mammals exist outside national parks, Zimbabweans had an incentive to kill wildlife for consumption, profit, and personal safety. However, under CAMPFIRE, Zimbabweans have an incentive to protect wildlife.
There hasn't been a proper population count in several years, but the most recent estimates suggest that since CAMPFIRE began, Zimbabwe's elephant population has doubled, from 37,000 to more than 85,000. Sadly, elephant populations in central Africa aren't faring as well as those in southern Africa. And recent political conflicts in Zimbabwe could undermine CAMPFIRE's efforts.
—Elizabeth Quill
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Bibliography
Estes, Richard Despard. The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates. University of California Press, 1991.
Nowak, Ronald M. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th ed., vols. I-II. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
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NGS Resources
Carroll, Chris. "Bad Rap: Hyenas." National Geographic (June 2005), 50-65.
Kaufmann, Carol. "Mama Cat." National Geographic (January 2005), 34-51.
Fay, J. Michael. "Gabon's Loango National Park: In the Land of the Surfing Hippos." National Geographic (August 2004), 100-27.
Goodall, Jane. "Fifi Fights Back." National Geographic (April 2003), 76-89.
Quammen, David. "Jane: In the Forest Again." National Geographic (April 2003), 90-103.
Fraser, Sean. African Adventure Atlas. National Geographic Books, 2003.
Godwin, Peter. "Without Borders: Uniting Africa's Wildlife Reserves." National Geographic (September 2001), 2-31.
Quammen, David. "End of the Line: Megatransect, Part III." National Geographic (August 2001), 74-103.
Quammen, David. "The Green Abyss: Megatransect, Part II." National Geographic (March 2001), 2-37.
Quammen, David. "Megatransect: Across 1,200 Miles of Untamed Africa on Foot." National Geographic (October 2000), 2 -29.
McRae, Michael. "Central Africa's Orphan Gorillas: Will They Survive in the Wild?" National Geographic (February 2000), 84-97.
Ward, Logan. "Gorillas in the Aftermath." National Geographic Adventure (Spring 1999), 61-4.
Fay, Michael, and Michael Nichols. "Forest Elephants." National Geographic (February 1999), 100-13.
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