Going right up to the present day, and including both natural and man-made features, it demonstrates the sometimes subtle, sometimes radical ways in which people, flora, fauna, climate, soils, and other physical conditions have played a role in shaping the landscape. "...quirky and rewarding...full of answers to questions that others have not had the wit to ask."--Economist. "One thing is certain: no one would be wise to write further on our natural history...without thinking very hard about what is contained in these authoritative pages."--Country Life.

    Two 8-page photo inserts.

    Sure to win a new round of fans, this classic, best-selling (over 90,000 copies sold!) volume of wildlife photography is now available in a handsomely jacketed new hardcover edition.

    This fact led Arjan Singh, the celebrated Indian wildlife expert to attempt a daring experiment: rear a leopard cub in his house and return it to the jungle. The story of how Arjan Singh taught Prince and then the twins Juliette, and Harriet the ways of the forest is enthralling from start to finish. Sharing his whole life with them, building then machans (tree platforms), walking the jungle tracks in their company, encouraging them to hunt, teaching them to disembowel their kills, he came to know the ways and character of the leopard as no man has before. His first great success came when Prince at last took to the jungle, fully rehabilitated.Not only did the author succeed in returning a hand-reared predator to the forest, he has debunked the myth that leopards are treacherous and unpredictable. On the contrary, he demonstrates the 'essential tranquility' of the leopard's temperament, and shows that it is only the animal's intelligence, combined with its capacity for effective retaliation when cornered which has given it a bad name.