Kevin Richardson - The Animal Behaviorist

There are lion tamers, and then there are lion tamers. Animal behavioristKevin Richardson has such an incredible gift with wild animals that he canspend the night curled up with lions without trepidation or fear of beingattacked. Cheetahs, leopards and hyenas hold no threat to him.Richardson is based in a wildlife conservation area near Johannesburg inSouth Africa , where he works his unusual gift with wild animals. Animalbehaviorists typically study the behavior of social groups of animals andthe social structure within them. Kevin is so instinctively in tune withthese beasts that volatile mother hyenas even allow him to hold theirnewborn cubs without leaping to the rescue in attack. But lions are hisfavorite. He lavishes them with unconditional love, he says, treating eachindividual differently, speaking to them, caressing them, and above all,treating them with respect,reports