Owens, Delia 1949(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born Delia Dykes, c. 1949; married Mark Owens, December 31, 1972; children: a stepson. Education: University of Georgia; B.S., Ph.D.

CAREER:

Biologist, zoologist, environmental activist, writer, and lecturer. Conducted research projects on animals in Africa, including in the Kalahari desert in Botswana, c. 1974-81, and in Zambia, 1985-97; developed the North Luangwa Conservation Project (NLCP) in Zambia; Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conversation, Stone Mountain, GA, cofounder; grizzly bear conservation efforts in Idaho and the United States, 1997—. International Wildlife, roving editor. Has lectured throughout the United States and Canada, including at the San Diego Zoo, the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Natural History in New York, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, and the San Francisco Zoological Society. Once worked in a department store.

AWARDS, HONORS:

With husband, Mark Owens: Rolex Award for Enterprise for Kalahari Research Project, 1981; University of California Outstanding Alumnus Award, 1993; Ridder of the Golden Ark (Netherlands), 1994.

WRITINGS:

WITH HUSBAND, MARK OWENS

Cry of the Kalahari (memoir), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1984.

The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness (memoir), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1992.

Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People (memoir), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

Contributor to professional journals, including Nature, Journal of Mammalogy, Animal Behaviour, Natural History, and the African Journal of Ecology.

SIDELIGHTS:

Delia Owens and her husband, Mark Owens, are zoologists who have written books together about their animal conservation efforts in Africa. In their first book, Cry of the Kalahari, the authors tell their story of leaving the University of Georgia and heading off for the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, where they lived in isolation as the only people in the harsh environment that nonetheless supports numerous species of wildlife. The Owenses remained there for seven years, studying the Kalahari lion and the brown hyena. In their memoir, the couple recount their adventures, including close encounters with both of the predators they are studying. In a review of Cry of the Kalahari in People magazine, Jim Seymore wrote: "Read their remarkable book to be delighted, moved and awed by life and death in a world without man that yet may be ended by him."

The couple's next book, The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness, once again focuses on their conservation efforts in Africa. This time, they write about their efforts to stop poaching in North Luangwa National Park in Zambia, where they moved their operations after being expelled from Botswana. The narrative follows their attempts to convince the local people that instead of poaching elephants, they should be supporting these animals because they will ultimately be more valuable to them alive by attracting tourists and bolstering the economy. The book, written in alternate chapters by the husband-and-wife team, follows Delia Owens's efforts to help establish programs aimed at farming, fishing, and tourism, which will help the locals survive and prosper. In his chapters, Mark Owens describes his dangerous night patrols with game wardens to stop poaching. In a review of The Eye of the Elephant in Publishers Weekly, a contributor wrote: "Their personal story is an adventure filled with the color and scent of wild Africa." Natural History critic Joseph L. Sax called the book "a provocative, disturbing, and eminently readable work." Sax added: "One cannot put the book down without reflecting on the bizarre global economy that produced the circumstances the Owenses describe."

Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People is a sequel to The Eye of the Elephant and follows the couple's continued efforts to stop elephant poaching in Zambia until their ultimate decision to leave the country in 1997 after their lives were repeatedly threatened. Once again writing in alternating chapters, the couple recount their various efforts, with Delia Owens reporting on an orphaned elephant who grows up and eventually becomes a mother herself. A Publishers Weekly contributor observed: "Although Mark's writing is vivid, Delia's chapters present the book's most moving scenes." Nancy Bent, writing in Booklist, expected that "the excitement of wildlife research in Africa will attract interested teens," while Library Journal contributor Edell M. Schaefer asserted that the book "deserves a wide readership."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Newsmakers 1993, Issue 4, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1993.

Owens, Delia, and Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1984.

Owens, Delia, and Mark Owens, The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1992.

Owens, Delia, and Mark Owens, Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 2006, Nancy Bent, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 14.

California Bookwatch, August 2006, review of Secrets of the Savanna.

Entertainment Weekly, May 26, 2006, Tim Purtell, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 109.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2006, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 278.

Library Journal, May 1, 2006, Edell M. Schaefer, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 116.

Natural History, March 1993, Joseph L. Sax, review of The Eye of the Elephant, p. 90.

People, April 8, 1985, Jim Seymore, review of Cry of the Kalahari, p. 14; October 10, 1988, Maryanne Vollers, "Amid Stark Beauty and Danger, Mark and Delia Owens Fight to Save Zambia's Imperiled Wildlife," p. 79; February 1, 1993, Richard Burgheim, review of The Eye of the Elephant, p. 25; July 3, 2006, Michelle Green, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 47.

Publishers Weekly, August 17, 1992, review of The Eye of the Elephant, p. 475; March 20, 2006, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 50.

Science News, June 10, 2006, review of Secrets of the Savanna, p. 367.

ONLINE

Earthwatch Radio Web site,http://ewradio.org/ (November 11, 1992), "From Research to Rescue: Two Scientists Put Their Lives on the Line to Stop Poaching in Africa."

EverGreen State College Web site,http://www.evergreen.edu/ (April 26, 2006), "Zoologists Delia and Mark Owens to Speak at Annual Rachel Carson Forum at Evergreen."

OnPoint,http://www.onpointradio.org/ (May 23, 2006), Tom Ashbrook, audio interview with Delia and Mark Owens.

Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conversation Web site,http://www.owens-foundation.org (November 6, 2006), profiles of Delia and Mark Owens.*