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Innocent Killers: A Fascinating Journey Through the Worlds of the Hyena, the Jackal, and the Wild Dog
B&W Photographs
222 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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June 30, 2013
Innocent Killers is a book written in 1971 by Jane Goodall and her husband at the time, photographer Hugo van Lawick, describing their time observing three species of carnivores in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater: African wild dogs, golden jackals, and spotted hyenas. They spent two years on these studies, with their infant son in tow, and what emerged is a series of charming, hilarious, and poignant tales about a vast assemblage of animal characters. As Goodall notes in her epilogue, after outlining plans to begin studies on three species of wild cats in the Serengeti (unfortunately, the planned companion volume, The Stealthy Killers, seems never to have been written): "By that time... we shall be trying to keep up with the goings on of over a hundred individual animals of seven different species spread out over the vast spaces of Africa's Tanzania." And keeping up with the goings on of individuals is what Goodall and Van Lawick do, as superbly in this book as in their work on chimpanzees.
The book is divided into four main sections. The first is a fairly lengthy introduction of sorts, written by Goodall, describing their decision to embark on these studies and their life in Serengeti and Ngorongoro. The second, by van Lawick, describes his studies of African wild dogs in the Serengeti, focusing particularly on the power dynamics within the females of one pack as they raise a litter of pups. Van Lawick also wrote the third chapter, which tells the story of Jason the golden jackal raising his family in the Ngorongoro Crater, and contained my favorite anecdote of the book: the pup Rufus, having recently eaten a species of mushroom generally avoided by the omnivorous jackals, begins charging at a full-grown wildebeest, which hurries out of the way, apparently as surprised as Van Lawick himself.
The final chapter is by Goodall again, and may be the book's highlight: an exploration of the lives and behavior of the hyenas of Ngorongoro's Scratching Rocks Clan. The hyenas' personalities come alive in Goodall's writing, from Bloody Mary and Lady Astor to Miss Hyena, Vodka, and Quiz. The hyenas' social structure, which is based on large matriarchal clans, was fairly foreign to me; I haven't seen much coverage of it in nature documentaries and the like. That may be for a good reason — most large carnivores in nature documentaries are framed as noble hunters, and nobility is an anthropomorphic quality that's hard to ascribe to hyenas. Instead of trying, Goodall takes them as they are, and the result is a fascinating portrait of a clan of bizarre creatures, not quite like anything else, but with a charisma all their own.
The book is punctuated by Van Lawick's photographs, and it's always rewarding to find a furry face to match with each name, and leaf through the breath-taking shots of a wild dog greeting ceremony, jackal pups playing tug-of-war with an ostrich feather, or hyenas taking down a wildebeest. The photos are black and white, but their content is vivid enough to more than make up for the lack of color.
The title of the book, Innocent Killers, alludes to the prevailing view at the time that predators like hyenas and wild dogs, which devour their prey alive, were "vicious brutes that should be ruthlessly exterminated." Goodall and Van Lawick freely admit their aversion to watching the brutality of such a kill, but point out that the prey of wild dogs and hyenas die more quickly than that of the big cats, and that they kill only in order to eat and live, and not (as humans do) with knowledge of the suffering they may inflict. In that context, this book has something of an unstated agenda: to make the reader fall in love with these much-maligned animals, and to see a larger picture of them than simply the "cleanness" of their killing. While carnivores in general are better loved and respected today than they were when this book was written, Innocent Killers still succeeds superlatively at its goal, and is well worth the read.
The book is divided into four main sections. The first is a fairly lengthy introduction of sorts, written by Goodall, describing their decision to embark on these studies and their life in Serengeti and Ngorongoro. The second, by van Lawick, describes his studies of African wild dogs in the Serengeti, focusing particularly on the power dynamics within the females of one pack as they raise a litter of pups. Van Lawick also wrote the third chapter, which tells the story of Jason the golden jackal raising his family in the Ngorongoro Crater, and contained my favorite anecdote of the book: the pup Rufus, having recently eaten a species of mushroom generally avoided by the omnivorous jackals, begins charging at a full-grown wildebeest, which hurries out of the way, apparently as surprised as Van Lawick himself.
The final chapter is by Goodall again, and may be the book's highlight: an exploration of the lives and behavior of the hyenas of Ngorongoro's Scratching Rocks Clan. The hyenas' personalities come alive in Goodall's writing, from Bloody Mary and Lady Astor to Miss Hyena, Vodka, and Quiz. The hyenas' social structure, which is based on large matriarchal clans, was fairly foreign to me; I haven't seen much coverage of it in nature documentaries and the like. That may be for a good reason — most large carnivores in nature documentaries are framed as noble hunters, and nobility is an anthropomorphic quality that's hard to ascribe to hyenas. Instead of trying, Goodall takes them as they are, and the result is a fascinating portrait of a clan of bizarre creatures, not quite like anything else, but with a charisma all their own.
The book is punctuated by Van Lawick's photographs, and it's always rewarding to find a furry face to match with each name, and leaf through the breath-taking shots of a wild dog greeting ceremony, jackal pups playing tug-of-war with an ostrich feather, or hyenas taking down a wildebeest. The photos are black and white, but their content is vivid enough to more than make up for the lack of color.
The title of the book, Innocent Killers, alludes to the prevailing view at the time that predators like hyenas and wild dogs, which devour their prey alive, were "vicious brutes that should be ruthlessly exterminated." Goodall and Van Lawick freely admit their aversion to watching the brutality of such a kill, but point out that the prey of wild dogs and hyenas die more quickly than that of the big cats, and that they kill only in order to eat and live, and not (as humans do) with knowledge of the suffering they may inflict. In that context, this book has something of an unstated agenda: to make the reader fall in love with these much-maligned animals, and to see a larger picture of them than simply the "cleanness" of their killing. While carnivores in general are better loved and respected today than they were when this book was written, Innocent Killers still succeeds superlatively at its goal, and is well worth the read.
January 22, 2019
If I had known Jane Goodall was co-author of this book, it is unlikely that I would have bought it to read, because I'm not at all a fan of her. That said, I'm glad I got this book, in part because there just aren't that many books about wild dogs, jackals (golden or otherwise) and hyenas out there.
For me, some confusion arose when I did some internet reading to supplement this book and found that golden jackals aren't found anywhere in Africa. A little bit of digging revealed that what was, and still is, called a golden jackal in Africa is now considered to be a golden wolf, as DNA testing revealed the African golden jackal to be more closely related to wolves than to other jackals. So this is why, if you look up jackals, you will find that the golden jackal is nowhere to be found in Africa, despite the apparently contradictory evidence that some species of jackal aside from black-backed and side-striped is out there. People still refer to this animal as a golden jackal, despite the scientific reclassification. Even though it has been renamed golden wolf, the animal does not appear to be classified as a subspecies of wolf any more than it is a subspecies of jackal. But, wolf or jackal, the golden's the primary species discussed in the book.
There's a set of black and white photographs for each chapter which, while not impressive by today's standards, must have looked truly exceptional in 1970 when this was published. Goodall writes the first and last chapters, the former being something of a summary of their time in Ngorongoro, the latter being about spotted hyenas. van Lawick, meanwhile, is relegated to the middle portion of the book, which any writer can tell you isn't the ideal place to be remembered, because readers will mostly recall the beginning where they were drawn in, and the dramatic conclusion of a book. Despite this, along with the fact that in the first chapter Goodall basically steals van Lawick's opening to the wild dogs chapter which follows, and the additional handicap of it being his first book (whereas Goodall was already published and famous in her field of chimpanzee research), van Lawick holds his own, and interestingly recounts the activities of a wild dog pack and a family of golden jackals.
Goodall is more prosy than van Lawick, but also falls into the trap of frequently comparing animal behaviors with humans, and of course stopping off to babble about evolution and the history of mankind, and stopping off to explain why she finds adding an 's' to the end of the plural for hyena or zebra important when just doing it without comment would be less irritating. In short, she did everything in this book that was possible to remind me why I don't enjoy books or documentaries in which she played a major role. It's not so much her views, as her approach to those views that I can't stand.
Even so, she managed to contain herself for large portions of her chapter on hyenas and just describe them. But every so often she had to hop off the documenting behaviors train and hang around judgment station, where she judged hyena eating habits, and human reaction to it, and at one point made the comparison between lady's perfume and the hyena's habit of rolling in vomit. I don't think much of perfume, in fact I hate the stuff. But this is just one example of how Goodall has to constantly shoehorn the topic of humans into the subject of animals, which is something I've always found incredibly annoying.
The first chapter I didn't mind so much, as she was describing their journey and living arrangements during their study, which was not much mentioned anywhere else in the book. I was fine with a chapter set aside for that, though I could have been just as pleased by that 50 pages being spent on the wild dogs, jackals and hyenas (each of the four chapters is almost exactly 50 pages long).
But, aside from all my complaints, there's some interesting stuff here and some solid discoveries were made that have since been further documented, and some even explained by further research. It is also important to realize, which the book does mention a few times, that the behavior of animals in the Ngorongoro Crater is not necessarily the same as that of the animals outside of it. Certain behaviors even vary from one pack of dogs or family of jackals or clan of hyenas to another, and the why is not always obvious. Which I find fascinating.
So if you can stomach Goodall's approach to writing, or even enjoy it, then this is certainly well worth the read, though unfortunately the second book that was planned around big cats never saw the light of day.
For me, some confusion arose when I did some internet reading to supplement this book and found that golden jackals aren't found anywhere in Africa. A little bit of digging revealed that what was, and still is, called a golden jackal in Africa is now considered to be a golden wolf, as DNA testing revealed the African golden jackal to be more closely related to wolves than to other jackals. So this is why, if you look up jackals, you will find that the golden jackal is nowhere to be found in Africa, despite the apparently contradictory evidence that some species of jackal aside from black-backed and side-striped is out there. People still refer to this animal as a golden jackal, despite the scientific reclassification. Even though it has been renamed golden wolf, the animal does not appear to be classified as a subspecies of wolf any more than it is a subspecies of jackal. But, wolf or jackal, the golden's the primary species discussed in the book.
There's a set of black and white photographs for each chapter which, while not impressive by today's standards, must have looked truly exceptional in 1970 when this was published. Goodall writes the first and last chapters, the former being something of a summary of their time in Ngorongoro, the latter being about spotted hyenas. van Lawick, meanwhile, is relegated to the middle portion of the book, which any writer can tell you isn't the ideal place to be remembered, because readers will mostly recall the beginning where they were drawn in, and the dramatic conclusion of a book. Despite this, along with the fact that in the first chapter Goodall basically steals van Lawick's opening to the wild dogs chapter which follows, and the additional handicap of it being his first book (whereas Goodall was already published and famous in her field of chimpanzee research), van Lawick holds his own, and interestingly recounts the activities of a wild dog pack and a family of golden jackals.
Goodall is more prosy than van Lawick, but also falls into the trap of frequently comparing animal behaviors with humans, and of course stopping off to babble about evolution and the history of mankind, and stopping off to explain why she finds adding an 's' to the end of the plural for hyena or zebra important when just doing it without comment would be less irritating. In short, she did everything in this book that was possible to remind me why I don't enjoy books or documentaries in which she played a major role. It's not so much her views, as her approach to those views that I can't stand.
Even so, she managed to contain herself for large portions of her chapter on hyenas and just describe them. But every so often she had to hop off the documenting behaviors train and hang around judgment station, where she judged hyena eating habits, and human reaction to it, and at one point made the comparison between lady's perfume and the hyena's habit of rolling in vomit. I don't think much of perfume, in fact I hate the stuff. But this is just one example of how Goodall has to constantly shoehorn the topic of humans into the subject of animals, which is something I've always found incredibly annoying.
The first chapter I didn't mind so much, as she was describing their journey and living arrangements during their study, which was not much mentioned anywhere else in the book. I was fine with a chapter set aside for that, though I could have been just as pleased by that 50 pages being spent on the wild dogs, jackals and hyenas (each of the four chapters is almost exactly 50 pages long).
But, aside from all my complaints, there's some interesting stuff here and some solid discoveries were made that have since been further documented, and some even explained by further research. It is also important to realize, which the book does mention a few times, that the behavior of animals in the Ngorongoro Crater is not necessarily the same as that of the animals outside of it. Certain behaviors even vary from one pack of dogs or family of jackals or clan of hyenas to another, and the why is not always obvious. Which I find fascinating.
So if you can stomach Goodall's approach to writing, or even enjoy it, then this is certainly well worth the read, though unfortunately the second book that was planned around big cats never saw the light of day.
Read
March 26, 2019The writing on the animals is excellent and interesting. However, there is clear racial bias in the language used when the authors discuss research / camp life that should not be ignored, and the book would be better off if these instances were removed.
March 25, 2014
Fantasztikus ismeretterjesztő könyv. Bár nem szeretem a kutyaféléket, macskás ember lévén, kimondottan megkedveltem olvasás közben a vadkutyákat. A hiénákat sajnálom, de még így se sikerült szívembe zárnom, viszont arra mindenképp rádöbbentem, hogy mennyire igaz az, hogy az ember csak azt képes megkedvelni, amit ismer. Minél jobban ismerünk valamit, annál jobban fogjuk szeretni és tisztelni.
Épp ezért felbecsülhetetlen Jane Goodall és a többi természetkutató munkája. Lebilincselő élmény beleélni magunkat abba, hogy az a munkánk, hogy figyeljünk élőlényeket. Ez nem munka, ez maga a szabadság. Legkedvesebb részeim azok, amikor azt is beleszövi, hogy velük volt kicsi fiúk, Grublin is. A könyvben fellelhető képek közül is azt szeretem legjobban, amin Jane épp a terepjáró mellett egy kannából fürdeti a körülbelül 2-3 éves kisfiút. Vagány anyuka, akit nem a steril körülmények izgatják, hanem az, hogy gyermekét hozzá hasonlóan a legfontosabb szülőszoba, Föld Anya tiszteletére és szeretetére nevelje.
Bevallom irigylem ezt az életmódot, és lehet városi puhány vagyok egyenlőre, de minden szívbaj nélkül lecserélném az okos telefonomat, magassarkúmat, kényelmes szobámat arra, hogy a természetben élhessek. És ha jön egy éhes vadkutya falka, vagy épp a csúf hiénák kívánnák meg porhanyós húsomat, hát istenem … nekik is enni kell valamit! Kimondottan tetszik, amikor azt ecseteli, hogy igazából egy városban sokkal több veszély leselkedik egy gyerekre, mint a vadonban, ahol a kiismerhető állatok „ellen” képes az ember védekezni, ha odafigyel.
Vannak azért sírós részei is a dolognak, például nem túl jó dolog, hogy a vadvédelmi törvények miatt egy éhes állatnak nem lehet enni adni a vadrezervátum területén, vagy épp nem lehet egy egyértelműen haldokló állat szenvedését lerövidíteni, hanem ott kell hagyni, had végezze a természet a maga dolgát. Kemény lelkierő kell ahhoz, hogy az ember csak figyeljen. Hisz épp azzal kezdtem, hogy amit ismerünk, azt megszeretjük. Ha figyelünk, akkor megszeretünk, ha megszerettük, nehéz magára hagyni szeretetünk tárgyát. Nem vagyok benne biztos, hogy én kibírnám, mondjuk Jane se állta meg mindig száraz szemmel… de azért a kölyök állatok születése, játéka kárpótolja az embert ezekért a pillanatokért is.
Minden esetre ez egy nagyon jó könyv, és Jane Goodall, valamint férje, és több munkatársa is nagyon jó emberek! Több ilyen jó ember kéne, tán ha többen olvasnák munkáik gyümölcsét több lehetne …
Épp ezért felbecsülhetetlen Jane Goodall és a többi természetkutató munkája. Lebilincselő élmény beleélni magunkat abba, hogy az a munkánk, hogy figyeljünk élőlényeket. Ez nem munka, ez maga a szabadság. Legkedvesebb részeim azok, amikor azt is beleszövi, hogy velük volt kicsi fiúk, Grublin is. A könyvben fellelhető képek közül is azt szeretem legjobban, amin Jane épp a terepjáró mellett egy kannából fürdeti a körülbelül 2-3 éves kisfiút. Vagány anyuka, akit nem a steril körülmények izgatják, hanem az, hogy gyermekét hozzá hasonlóan a legfontosabb szülőszoba, Föld Anya tiszteletére és szeretetére nevelje.
Bevallom irigylem ezt az életmódot, és lehet városi puhány vagyok egyenlőre, de minden szívbaj nélkül lecserélném az okos telefonomat, magassarkúmat, kényelmes szobámat arra, hogy a természetben élhessek. És ha jön egy éhes vadkutya falka, vagy épp a csúf hiénák kívánnák meg porhanyós húsomat, hát istenem … nekik is enni kell valamit! Kimondottan tetszik, amikor azt ecseteli, hogy igazából egy városban sokkal több veszély leselkedik egy gyerekre, mint a vadonban, ahol a kiismerhető állatok „ellen” képes az ember védekezni, ha odafigyel.
Vannak azért sírós részei is a dolognak, például nem túl jó dolog, hogy a vadvédelmi törvények miatt egy éhes állatnak nem lehet enni adni a vadrezervátum területén, vagy épp nem lehet egy egyértelműen haldokló állat szenvedését lerövidíteni, hanem ott kell hagyni, had végezze a természet a maga dolgát. Kemény lelkierő kell ahhoz, hogy az ember csak figyeljen. Hisz épp azzal kezdtem, hogy amit ismerünk, azt megszeretjük. Ha figyelünk, akkor megszeretünk, ha megszerettük, nehéz magára hagyni szeretetünk tárgyát. Nem vagyok benne biztos, hogy én kibírnám, mondjuk Jane se állta meg mindig száraz szemmel… de azért a kölyök állatok születése, játéka kárpótolja az embert ezekért a pillanatokért is.
Minden esetre ez egy nagyon jó könyv, és Jane Goodall, valamint férje, és több munkatársa is nagyon jó emberek! Több ilyen jó ember kéne, tán ha többen olvasnák munkáik gyümölcsét több lehetne …
February 4, 2025
She was a legend at the start of her career.
January 15, 2026
a must read for animal lovers
March 16, 2014
This book recounts observations of packs of wild dogs, jackals and hyenas in Tanzania by Jane Goodall and her then husband. I was attracted to the book having met Jane a few years ago in India. She wrote the introductory section and the one on hyenas, he wrote about the wild dogs and the jackals. She is definitely the more engaging writer of the two and I sometimes found the parts which Hugo wrote quite hard going. There's quite a lot of repetition and laborious recounting of not especially interesting events. It would have been better if they could have been clearer about certain areas of basic information, such as how long the animals live and also more explicit about comparing the three animals. Just about worth reading to get a better understanding of these animals which I previously had no knowledge of, but I don't feel any better disposed to them after reading the book!
April 21, 2015
What was initially a interesting and compelling subject slowly became slobber and drool due to excessive repetition. I did enjoy some aspects of the book, as it was recommended to me by the local "dog whisperer".
It seems he has spent so much time talking to dogs that he has forgotten what a good book is like.
It seems he has spent so much time talking to dogs that he has forgotten what a good book is like.
Want to read
April 3, 2008Reminder to myself this is a book about hyenas, jackals, and wild dogs.
January 3, 2015
Excellent nature writing. Accessible to the layman.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews