Elephant Destiny: Biography Of An Endangered Species In AfricaFor thousands of years, the majestic elephant has roamed the African continent, as beloved by man as it has been preyed upon. But centuries of exploitation and ivory hunting have taken their toll: now, as wars and poachers continue to ravage its habitat, as disease and political strife deflect attention from its plight, the African elephant faces imminent extinction. What will become of these magnificent beasts? As the elephant's future looms ever darker, Martin Meredith's concise and richly illustrated biography traces the elephant's history from the first ivory expeditions of the Egyptian pharaohs 2500 years ago to today, exploring along the way the indelible imprint the African elephant has made in art, literature, culture, and society. He shares recent extraordinary discoveries about the elephant's sophisticated family and community structure and reveals the remarkable ways in which elephants show compassion and loyalty to each other. Elegant, illuminating, and urgent, Elephant Destiny offers a beautiful and important tribute to one of earth's most magisterial creatures at the very moment it threatens to vanish from being. |
Contents
Arms and the Elephant | 13 |
ix | 139 |
Family Life | 147 |
Mating Pandemonium | 157 |
Body and Mind | 165 |
1 | 167 |
Rumbles | 177 |
Death | 183 |
The Culling Option | 191 |
13 | 194 |
Ivory Wars | 201 |
An Image of Liberty | 223 |
| 227 | |
| 237 | |
| 238 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adult African elephant Amboseli animals Arab areas arrived Asian elephants became biologists body bones calf calves Cape CITES coast Congo countries culling Cynthia Moss dead elephants demand for ivory ears elephant herds elephant populations Elephant’s Child eventually expedition extinct Falls National Park family members feet females forest elephant Game Department game warden head Hong Kong human hunt elephants hunters Iain Douglas-Hamilton infrasound ivory trade Joyce Poole Kenya killed kilos Kruger Lake large numbers legs Loxodonta males mammals Manyara Manyema matriarch ment Moeritherium mouth move Murchison Falls National musth musth bulls Nile numbers oestrus once organised Payne percent phants poachers poaching Portuguese pounds quota rainforests reached recorded reported River Roman rumbles scientists screaming Selous Sheldrick shot slaves South Africa square miles Stanley stockpiles Sudan survival Tanzania tion Tippu Tip tons of ivory trees trumpeting trunk Tsavo tusks Uganda weight wildlife Zanj Zanzibar Zimbabwe