Nature’s Fear Factor
When Mozambique’s civil war ended in 1992, more than 1 million people had lost their lives. Another 5 million were displaced. And the carnage was not restricted to humans: Gorongosa National Park, a 1,500-square-mile mosaic of habitats that was home to a richness of life almost unparalleled on Earth, had become a battlefield. Almost every large animal had been killed by soldiers and either eaten or sold. The destruction was so complete that many people doubted whether recovery was even possible.
Just a generation later, it’s a conservation success story, teeming once again with wildlife—but something vitally important is still missing. Apart from lions, other big predators have yet to return. Ecologists studying Gorongosa say that’s created an imbalance, and not only because predators regulate populations of their prey by eating them. “The really interesting idea,” says Sean B. Carroll, “is that predators can shape behavior.”
Carroll is the author, most recently, of . He leads the Department of Science Education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is chair of biology at the University of Maryland. Carroll is executive producer of , which tells the story of how ecologists are trying to bring endangered African painted dogs back to Gorongosa. The title refers to how their presence creates what is known as a “landscape of fear”—an ominous-sounding term, but those dynamics may be vital to restoring Gorongosa to its former glory. has been nominated for best long-form.
