Biologist Craig Packer has headed the Serengeti Lion Project since 1978. The director of the Lion Research Center and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota has spent countless hours on the Serengeti plains, studying lion ecology, genetics, health, and other factors. (Hear some of Packer’s expert commentary in the interactive Serengeti Lion experience and read more in “The Short Happy Life of a Serengeti Lion.”)

Packer spoke to National Geographic on the phone from Zanzibar, where a Muslim call to prayer could be heard in the background. “I was always puzzled as to how lions fit into the broader context of the Serengeti,” Packer said.

“They have the reputation as the king of the