I wasn't trying to be a scientist. I only ever wanted to be a naturalist, like a David Attenborough.

...it honestly didn't matter how we humans got to be the way we are, whether evolution or special creation was responsible. What mattered and mattered desperately was our future development. Were we going to go on destroying God's creation, fighting each other, hurting the other creatures of the His planet?

My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature. And can I do that alone? No. So there is a whole army of youth that can do it. So I suppose my mission is to reach as many of those young people as I can through my own efforts.

It's not a pretty picture, but there are reasons for hope.

When I was a child, the African forest sounded like a dream to me, because it was full of animals and it was wild.

Every individual matters and has a role to play in this life on Earth.

I always loved animals. And when I was ten, I decided I had to go to Africa and live with animals and write books about them.