Joe McDonald 
Gorillas in the Wild 
A Visual Essay

In this beautifully illustrated book, author Joe Mc Donald presents a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the natural history of mountain gorillas, one of the world’s most endangered great apes. The volume includes over 170 photos from Joe, his wife, Mary Ann, and a third contributor—plus interesting, eye-opening facts about gorillas (plus a chapter devoted to other great apes), spiced with personal observations and anecdotes from the author and his wife’s combined 202 treks to study and photograph Rwanda’s mountain gorillas. Readers will learn all of the essential facts about gorillas—from what they eat, to how and where they live, to why they chest beat, how they play, and their future prospects as a threatened species. This book contains the most thorough and diverse portfolio of mountain gorillas images ever published, featuring detailed, full-color photographs that show every facet of their behavior, some of which has never been captured before.

About the author

Joe and Mary Ann hold the unofficial “world record” for the most mountain gorilla treks for any tourist in Rwanda. They have completed over 100 treks each, amassing a photographic collection of mountain gorillas unsurpassed by any other photography team. Joe’s mountain gorilla photographs have won awards in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition three times, and both Mary Ann and Joe have had the honor of naming a baby gorilla in Rwanda’s annual Kwitza Inza ceremony, perhaps the highest honor in the world of gorilla conservation. Their photo tours to Rwanda have contributed over $1, 000, 000 to the local economy. Joe has authored 12 books on wildlife/wildlife photography; Mary Ann has written 29 children’s books. Joe and Mary spend over half the year in the field photographing, leading photo safaris, and conducting tours to worldwide destinations that typically include five continents.