Elephant Destiny: Biography Of An Endangered Species In Africa

by Martin Meredith

Overview

For 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586482336
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	06/30/2004
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.04(w) x 5.44(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer, and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. His previous books include Mandela; Mugabe; Diamonds, Gold, and War; Born in Africa; and The Fate of Africa. He lives near Oxford, England.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	ix
1.	Manyara	1
2.	The Land of Punt	7
3.	Arms and the Elephant	13
4.	Roman Games	23
5.	Proteges of the Gods	29
6.	The Elephants' Graveyard	35
7.	Nature's Masterpiece	41
8.	Footholds on the Coast	47
9.	The Cape of Death	61
10.	Zanzibar's Tune	75
11.	The Khartoum Run	87
12.	Heart of Darkness	97
13.	Rivers of Ivory	107
14.	Jumbo and Friends	113
15.	Safe Havens	123
16.	Ancestors	131
17.	Enter the Scientists	139
18.	Family Life	147
19.	Mating Pandemonium	157
20.	Body and Mind	165
21.	Rumbles	177
22.	Death	183
23.	The Culling Option	191
24.	Ivory Wars	201
25.	An Image of Liberty	223
	Select Bibliography	227
	Index	237

Editorial Reviews

In this solid introduction to the world of elephants, Meredith covers all the major topics including biology, social behavior, recent scientific discoveries, ancient elephantology, the devastating ivory trade, the truth about elephant graveyards and the insistent threat of extinction. Meredith demonstrates that human involvement in elephantine affairs has been disastrous to the pachyderm: the quest for ivory had caused the extinction of all Syrian herds by 500 B.C.; many ancient cultures took elephants to war; and Romans used the animals in their blood sports. Much of the book follows the history of the European exploitation of Africa's three treasures: gold, slaves and ivory. The quantities of murdered elephants and descriptions of killing methodologies are deeply affecting. Once Meredith's history reaches modern times, the shock of population counts is astounding in comparison with the numbers of elephants that roamed free in the past. Aristotle's treatise on the animals' anatomy, behavior, diet and reproduction was the beginning of a long line of interest, but only recently has science uncovered the answers to mysteries such as how separate herds coordinate movement over many miles. Meredith's primer on elephantine matters will help turn a reader's casual interest into a fascination. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

When Meredith learned that well-known and highly respected field researchers such as Cynthia Moss (Elephant Memories) and Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton (Among the Elephants) had recorded actual family histories of elephants, he was intrigued. A British journalist who has been writing about Africa for decades (e.g., Mugabe: Power and Plunder in Zimbabwe), he was no longer satisfied knowing elephants as a species-he wanted to know them as individuals and family units. In preparing this book, he traveled extensively throughout the continent, drawing on the works of the scientists he admired. Elephant Destiny is his attempt to broaden our understanding of elephants and demonstrate the survival challenges they face. As he points out, unless something is done soon, it is very likely that elephants will disappear from the wild in the near future. Through exceptionally readable text, as well as line drawings and color photographs, Meredith takes the reader on a journey from humanity's first contact with elephants to today's poaching and the illegal trade in ivory. Meredith illustrates how the effects of colonialism in Africa-poverty, wars, and disease-have all but destroyed the environment elephants need to survive. First published in Britain, his book is highly recommended for most natural history collections because of the depth of the author's research and experience.-Edell M. Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A compilation of thoughts, facts, and literature on the African elephant, from a former journalist and scholar who has written extensively about the continent. Elephants once ranged over all of Africa; now only five countries there have populations of more than 50,000. Meredith (Coming to Terms, 2000, etc.) begins 5,000 years ago in Egypt, whose pharaohs hunted elephants for their ivory until the climate became too arid to support such herds. They then turned to Syria, eventually driving the small Asian elephant population to extinction. The author next profiles Alexander the Great, who was so impressed by the Persians’ use of armored elephants that he incorporated them into his own army after 331 b.c. But by 46 b.c., the African elephant’s primary use was for entertainment: Romans pitted gladiators against dozens of elephants at a time, and the demand for this brutal spectacle eventually rendered the North African herds all but extinct. Over centuries, the African elephant population suffered losses and made gains until the great ivory trade began in the mid-1400s. Due to the lucrative market in piano keys and billiard balls (among other items), by 1760 elephant herds in southern Africa were much diminished, and by 1880 they had vanished. In East and West Africa, the same story was playing out. At this point, Meredith focuses on recent scientific studies, notably the work of Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton, Cynthia Moss, Joyce Poole, and Katherine Payne. He’s an engaging writer, and his synopses should lead readers to the original works themselves. He concludes with the great ivory wars of the 1970s and ’80s, naming Hong Kong and Japan as the major culprits. Now that many countries havejoined the ban on ivory, some elephant populations may make a comeback, but their situation is perilous at best. The author provides a nice overview of the troubles facing the African elephant, but no original research at all. Serviceable, though nothing new. (8 pages b&w photos, 32 illustrations)

Kirkus Reviews