Craig Packer

Founder and Director, Lion Center
Distinguished McKnight University
Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
[email protected]
612-625-5729

Meet Dr. Craig Packer

Considered the world’s foremost expert on African lions, Dr. Craig Packer established the world’s first research center dedicated to the study of lions in 1986.  Working with a team of PhD students and dividing his time between Minnesota and Africa, Dr. Packer’s studies of lion behavior and ecology have shaped much of what is known about these animals today.  His first book, Into Africa, provided a day-to-day narrative of his research and personal experiences in Tanzania and won the John Burroughs Medal in 1995.  His latest book, The Lion: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of an iconic species, presents a comprehensive summary of nearly a half-century of lion research in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. 

Dr. Packer first traveled to Africa in 1972 to work as a field assistant to Dr. Jane Goodall in Gombe National Park and returned to conduct his PhD research on olive baboons in 1974-75.  In 1978, he headed the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Lion Project and over the next 37 years sparred with angry trophy hunters, took on corrupt politicians, endured death threats and even survived a home invasion. 

Dr. Packer admits his reflex is to “confront danger and go right at it.”  In 2014, his boldness led the Tanzanian authorities to bar him from returning to the country, citing his outspoken remarks about pervasive corruption in the government-run trophy hunting industry.  His book, Lions in the Balance: Man-Eaters, Manes, and Men with Guns, recounts these events, mixing spy-novel intrigue with details of his scientific research.

Since leaving the Serengeti, Dr. Packer has advised UMN post-docs in Botswana and Namibia and graduate students South Africa.  His own focus is now on lion conservation in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Reserve, where he is the Scientific Director of the Mara Predator Conservation Project in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Trust.

In addition to his work with lions, Dr. Packer is also the founder of “Savannas Forever,” an NGO measuring the effectiveness of foreign aid projects in rural Africa.  In response to the continuing decline of Africa’s wildlife, Dr. Packer and his team established “Snapshot Serengeti,” a large-scale citizen science project. This popular initiative evolved into “Snapshot Safari,” encouraging citizen explorers from around the world to study the behavior and movement of animals in the wild, as well as providing invaluable feedback on the management strategies of individual conservancies throughout Africa.  Most recently, Dr. Packer has helped establish grassland restoration projects in the Maasai pasturelands of East Africa.  Like the wildlife their traditional lifestyle has helped to conserve, pastoralist communities have become increasing limited to shrinking islands of savanna habitat with the inevitable consequences of overgrazing and human-wildlife conflict.

Portrait of Craig Packer