The Fate of the Elephant

by Douglas H . Chadwick (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.30

  Largest of all beasts that dwell on land, elephants can uproot trees or topple the huts of a village. They have the power to communicate in a language of subsonic frequencies, snorkel across the open sea between islands, care for their wounded and mourn their dead. Asian elephants were domesticated more than 4,000 years ago and, like their African cousins (whose numbers have been halved each decade since the 1970s), they face extinction through an over-whelming loss of habitat. In this book, Douglas Chadwick provides a comprehensive exploration of the natural history and modern fate of the world's elephants, centred around the theme that we are discovering a creature greater in many ways - and more like us - than we had ever imagined it to be even as we are destroying it. The book blends field biology with personal observation. It looks behind the headlines, he covers the ivory wars in East Africa and elsewhere.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $5.96

  This is an exploration of the natural history and troubled fate of the elephant. Douglas Chadwick travels the world to acquaint us with these awesome giants. India, Siberia, Botswana, Thailand, Malaysia, Kenya and even an American zoo are all visited and in each place the elephant is revealed as a playful and surprising being, ready to smash the narrow confines from which we traditionally view animals. The book illustrates how the elephant is integral to the history and mythology of the people with whom it has lived, and shows us why, despite that bond, elephants and humans have come into inevitable conflict as they vie for the same crucial tracts of land. This is more than a wildlife book, and yet not merely a conservation polemic - Chadwick shows us why the fate of the elephant is a potent metaphor for our own fate and makes a compelling case for acting immediately to save the elephant from oblivion.