Secrets of the Savanna

When Mark and Delia Owens settled in Zambia, they found elephants and other wildlife decimated by poachers; the local villagers, who depended on the wildlife, were driven to desperate acts--including poaching themselves. To save people and animals, the Owenses started a microlending program that lifted the villagers out of poverty. But older elephants had been slaughtered, taking with them knowledge that had been passed along for generations. Left behind was social chaos--single moms, solitary orphans, rowdy gangs of young males--and a scientific mystery: how could there be so many babies and so few females old enough to be mothers? An orphan eventually provided the clue to a remarkable discovery. Meanwhile, the poachers shifted their sights from the elephants to the Owenses, finally driving them out of the country. After two decades in Africa, Mark and Delia returned to America to find social changes frighteningly similar to what they had seen among the elephants of Zambia.--From publisher description.