born May 22, 1927, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. naturalist and writer.
He attended Yale University and worked as a fisherman on Long Island before undertaking his extensive world travels. His nonfiction, much of it inspired by his career as a naturalist, includes Wildlife in America (1959), The Snow Leopard (1978, National Book Award), and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983). His novels include At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1965; film, 1991), Far Tortuga (1975), and Killing Mister Watson (1990). The Cloud Forest (1996) is a chronicle of his travels in South America.