The Serengeti Rules

Travel back in time with a pioneering group of scientists who make surprising discoveries that transform human understanding of how nature works. Based on a book of the same name.

Witness scientist Bob Paine's breakthrough discovery of keystone species, through his ingenious experiment with tidepool starfish.

With severe myopia hindering her vision on land, scientist Mary Power's love for aquatic life began when she realized she could see much better underwater. The refraction of the water in her snorkeling mask allowed her to see clearly for the very first time.

In the 1960s, ecologist Tony Sinclair made a breakthrough discovery when he observed a huge population surge of wildebeest in the Serengeti. He found that the wildebeest were the key to keeping the ecosystem balanced and that keystone species could be prey as well as predators.

Jim Estes got his start as an ecologist by chance. Half a century later, his research on sea otters is heralded as a classic case study on keystone species.

Mary Power is a freshwater ecologist who has spent her life studying river ecosystems all over the world. Her work has revolutionized our understanding of how these complex habitats work.

John Terborgh has spent a lifetime studying the Amazon rainforest. He is a world authority on tropical ecology.

Bob Paine was one of the greatest ecologists of all time. He experimented by removing different species from tidepools and his discoveries turned the field of ecology on its head.

Tony Sinclair arrived in the Serengeti in 1965, looking to study the wildlife. In the decades that followed, his work revealed the ecological rules that govern this majestic place and most other ecosystems on Earth.

In this bonus scene from-The Serengeti Rules, scientist Jim Estes discovers the collapse of the kelp forest ecosystem he had once seen thriving in the 1970s. He determines how it’s caused by a ripple effect from the Pacific Northwest whaling business in the 1990s, changing the predation of orcas, thereby decimating the otter population and the kelp forest ecosystem by extension.