Africa's Elephant: A Biography

by Martin Meredith (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $12.48

  Elephants have fascinated man since early civilization. They have been used as symbols of wisdom and power; they have featured in myths and religions, and appeared on coins, in architecture and in folklore. Yet elephant history has been dominated by periods of brutality and persecution, used in gladiatorial combat; as weapons of war (most notably by Hannibal) and for their ivory, prized since ancient times as a symbol of wealth and status. As the ivory trade continued there are now only five countires with sizable elephant populations, where a few hundred years ago there were 46 - before the European hunters arrived. This is a biography about the African elephant.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2001

  $4.20

  Yet elephant history has been dominated by periods of brutality and persecution, used in gladiatorial combat, as weapons of war (most notably by Hannibal) and for their ivory, prized since ancient times as a symbol of wealth and status. As the ivory trade continued there are now only five countries with sizeable elephant populations, where a few hundred years ago there were forty-six - before the European hunters arrived. Acclaimed African expert Martin Meredith has written the first full biography of the elephant - wide-ranging, moving and never less than fascinating in his travels through the history and present of 'Nature's great masterpiece' (John Donne).