CONTENTS

Home Page Newsletters Introduction Biography & Papers Background Kalahari Years N. Luangwa, '86-'97 N. Luangwa, '97-'07 N. Luangwa, '07-'13 Selkirk Grizzlies Survivor's Story Sister School How To Help NLNP Tourism Info Book Info Contact Us 2007 Goldman Prize

 Honors and Awards    Print Articles    Book Publications     Papers

Delia and Mark Owens near Marula Puku Research camp in North Luangwa National Park of Zambia.

Delia Owens, Ph.D., B.S., and Mark Owens M.Ed., B.S., have conducted research and conservation projects on endangered species in Africa for 23 years. They met in the early 70s as graduate students at the University of Georgia, and soon discovered that they shared the dream of saving part of Africa's vanishing wilderness. Shortly after they married, they auctioned everything they owned, and with $6,000, one-way tickets and back-packs, they headed to "the Dark Continent." For seven years they lived in tents in Botswana's Central Kalahari Desert. There they studied black-maned lions and elusive brown hyenas in an area so remote that the animals had never before seen humans. Cry of the Kalahari, their best-selling book, is a gripping and vivid account of their research and adventures in "the Great Thirst." (See The Kalahari Years)

From 1986 to 1997 the Owenses developed the North Luangwa Conservation Project (NLCP) in Zambia, a multidimensional approach to wildlife conservation and resource development. When Mark and Delia arrived in North Luangwa, more than 100,000 elephants and several thousand black rhinos had already been slaughtered by poachers in the Luangwa Valley; each year 1,000 elephants were still being killed in the "North Park" alone. By 1997, elephant poaching was controlled in North Luangwa. The Eye of the Elephant, the second book by Mark and Delia, published in 1992 by Houghton Mifflin, details their efforts to reclaim the North Luangwa wilderness from commercial ivory and meat poachers. (See North Luangwa Conservation Project)

The Owenses returned to the United States in 1997 to work for conservation in the northwestern United States and to write up their research data from their years of fieldwork in Africa. (See Selkirk Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Recovery Project)

The Owenses are respected scientists in their field and have published in such journals as Nature, Journal of Mammalogy, Animal Behaviour, Natural History, and the African Journal of Ecology. They also serve as roving editors for International Wildlife magazine, in which a number of their articles have appeared.

The Owenses stand before their first "home" in North Luangwa, a traditional mud, wattle and daub Bemba Hut.

Life, People, Sports Illustrated, and Reader's Digest have all featured articles about Mark and Delia. The Owenses have made repeat appearances on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," the "Merv Griffin Show," "AM Canada," "Late Night America," "Good Morning America," and "People Magazine for TV." "African Odyssey," a National Geographic TV special about Mark and Delia, is still being shown periodically on PBS. In 1996, ABC News' "Turning Point" aired an hour-long documentary on them and their North Luangwa Conservation Project in Zambia.

In addition, the Owenses have lectured professionally at the San Diego Zoo, the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Natural History in New York, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the San Francisco Zoological Society, and at many other organizations in a variety of American and Canadian cities.

1994 Ridder of the Golden Ark presented by H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
1993 University of California "Outstanding Alumnus" Award
1981 Rolex Award for Enterprise for Kalahari Research Project

*Newspaper Articles

*Thomasville Courier - September 15, 1977

*Chattanooga News Free Press - September 24, 1978

Wildlife - April 1979
African Wildlife - May-June 1979
Fairlady (South Africa) - August 1, 1979

Das Tier (German) - January 1980
Natural History (New York Museum of Natural History) - February 1980
African Wildlife - November-December 1980

Das Tier (German) - January 1982
International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) - November-December 1982

Wildlife - June 1983
International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) - September-October 1983

Nature - May 1984
*Chattanooga News Free Press, Mike Pare - October 7, 1984
LIFE Magazine - November 1984
*Atlanta Journal Constitution - November 28, 1984 (no copy on file)

*New York Times - March 31, 1985 (no copy on file)
People Magazine, MaryAnne Vollers - April 8, 1985
Reader's Digest - June 1985

International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) - March-April 1986

U.S. News & World Report - January 26, 1987
Owl - Summer 1987

*San Francisco Examiner, Michael Dougan - January 23, 1988
People Magazine, MaryAnne Vollers - October 10, 1988

International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) - July-August 1989
Owens Foundation Brochure - Fall 1989
Fernbank Program - lecture - November 1, 1989
*Atlanta Journal Constitution, Don O'Briant - October 13, 1989

The Colleague - April-May 1990
Fernbank Quarterly (Fernbank Science Center/Atlanta)- May 1990
Sports Illustrated, MaryAnne Vollers - December 17, 1990

*Smoke Signal - Stone Mountain, Georgia - March 1991
Reader's Digest - August 1991
Zoomin' (San Diego Zoo)- Fall 1991
*The World Paper - December 1991

*Smoke Signal - Stone Mountain, Georgia - February 1992
*African Wildlife Newsletter Update - May 1992
Kirkus Reviews - New York - August 1, 1992
*Tallahassee Florida Democrat - August 21, 1992
*Atlanta Journal Constitution - August 30, 1992
International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation) - September-October 1992
Reader's Digest - October 1992
*Thomasville Times Enterprise - October 2, 1992
*Chicago Tribune by Pete Gorner - October 7, 1992
*Democrat - Steve McQueen - October 9, 1992
*State - Tallahassee, Florida - October 12, 1992
*Boston Globe - Vicki Crooke - Review - October 13, 1992
Florida State University Review - Kevin Punsky - October 14, 1992
*Flambeau, Misti Davis - October 15, 1992
*Atlanta Journal Constitution - Peach Buzz Column - October 15, 1992
Florida State Distinguished Lecture Series - October 15, 1992
Flambeau, Andie Foster - October 16, 1992
*Tallahassee Democrat - October 16, 1992
*San Diego Tribune, Bruce Bigelow - October 16, 1992
*Tallahassee Democrat - October 18, 1992
*Saraota Florida Herald-Tribune - October 18, 1992
*Dallas Morning News, Bill Marvel - October 19, 1992
*Covington, Kentucky Post Review, Maureen Conlan - October 19, 1992
*Houston Chronicle, Bruce Bigelow - October 19, 1992
*Sacramento Bee (*this column was syndicated: to 90 US papers) by Paul Craig - October 21, 1992
*Cincinnati Enquirer, Ann Hicks (Review) - October 22, 1992
*Dayton Daily News, Jonathan Brinkman - October 25, 1992
*Chattanooga News Free Press - October 25, 1992
*Covington, Kentucky - October 26, 1992
*Cincinnati, Ohio Post, Maureen Conlan - October 26, 1992
*Cleveland Plain Dealer, Becky Freligh - October 31, 1992
Boston Museum of Science - October-November 1992
Ndeke Magazine (Zambian Airways Inflight Magazine)- November 1992
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Wendy Wasman - November 1992
*Virginia, The Free Lance-Star by Paul Sullivan - November 7, 1992
*Winston-Salem Journal, Frank Tursi - November 7, 1992
*Rock Hill, South Carolina, The Herald, Bill Peschel - November 8, 1992
*Chicago Sun Times, Marcia Schnedler - November 8, 1992
*The Herald - Rock Hill, S.C., Paul Craig - November 10, 1992
*Victoria Times-Colonist - November 12, 1992
*The Calgary Sunday Sun, Thane Burnett - November 15, 1992
Calgary Zoological Society Program - November 17, 1992
*Boston Globe, Vicki Croke - November 28, 1992
*Santa Ana, California - Register, Everett Potter - November 29, 1992
*Contra Costa Times, Carol Fowler - November 29, 1992
*African Wildlife Newsletter Update - Review J. Adams - November-December 1992
Wildlife Activist - December 1992
*Focus On Women - Victoria, Canada - December 1992
*The Times, Argus & Herald - Detroit, Michigan - December 3, 1992
*The Houston Chronicle - December 6, 1992
*The Fulton County Expositor - December 8, 1992
*The Canton Enterprise - December 8, 1992
*Delta Atlas/Fulton County Expositor - December 9, 1992
*The Delta Atlas - December 15, 1992
*The York County (SC) Observer - December 12, 1992
*The Toledo Blade, Steve Pollick - December 15, 1992

Atlanta Magazine, Susan Walker - Review - January 1993
*Chicago Tribune, Peter Gorner - January 21, 1993
Audubon Magazine - Review EOE - January-February 1993
People Magazine, Dick Burgheim - February 1, 1993
*The Enterprise, Davis, California, Elisabeth Sherwin - February 7, 1993
*The Blade - Toledo, Ohio - February 28, 1993 (no copy on file)
Natural History (New York Museum of Natural History), Joseph L. Sax - March 1993
Audubon Magazine - May-June 1993
Georgia Alumni Record (University of Georgia) - Winter 1993
*The San Diego Daily Breeze, Bill Beebe - October 28, 1993

The Humane Society of the U.S. - Spring 1994
Bell Helicopter News - U.S. - June 1, 1994

TV Guide - ABC Turning Point - March 30, 1996
Best Friends Magazine - US - June 1996
Das Tier Magazine (Germany) - December 1996
Animal Behaviour (UK) 51, 535-551 "Social dominance and reproductive patterns in brown
    hyenas, Hyaena brunnea, of the central Kalahari desert" - 1996

International Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation)- May-June 1997
Swara Magazine (East African Wildlife Society) - May-June 1997
Getaway Magazine - RSA - July 1997

*The Idaho Spokesman-Review, Julie Titone - June 21, 1999
*Seattle Post-Ingelligencer - June 22, 1999
*The Columbian/Northern Lights - June 23, 1999
*Eugene Register-Guard - June 28, 1999

Sandpoint Magazine (Sandpoint, Idaho) - June 2000

Cry of the Kalahari, Houghton Mifflin Publishers 1984
   Hardbound ISBN 0-395-32214-6
   Paperback ISBN 0-395-64780-0

The Eye of the Elephant, Houghton Mifflin Publishers 1992
   Hardbound ISBN 0-395-42381-3
   Paperback ISBN 0-395-68090-5

Survivor's Song (Eye of the Elephant - English/European release title), Harper Collins
   Hardbound ISBN 0-00-255196-9

Secrets of the Savanna, Houghton Mifflin Publishers 2006
   Hardbound ISBN 10: 0-395-89310-0
   Hardbound ISBN 13: 978-0-395-893104

Early age reproduction in female savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) after severe poaching
   African Journal of Ecology
   Volume 47, Issue 2, Date: June 2009, Pages: 214-222
   M. J. Owens, D. Owens

    African Journal of Ecology
   © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Download Early age...  (198KB, Adobe Acrobat)

Feeding ecology and its influence on social organization in Brown hyenas (Hyaena brunnea, Thunberg) of the Central Kalahari Desert
   M. J. Owens, D. Owens
   African Journal of Ecology
   Volume 16, Issue 2, 1978. Pages 113-135
   1978 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

    African Journal of Ecology
   © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Download Feeding ecology...  (185KB, Adobe Acrobat)