Elephant Reflections
by Dale Peterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dale PetersonPhotographer: Karl Ammann
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-05-04
ISBN: 0520253779
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: University of California Press
Book Reviews of Elephant Reflections
Book Review: Portraits of Wondrous Beasts
Summary: 5 Stars
Elephants are the first exotic animal of which kids have some knowledge. Every Noah's Ark set has a pair, and children are able to draw elephants almost as soon as they can draw any recognizable animal. We love Babar and we love Horton. But most westerners see real elephants only in zoos and circuses, where they are among the favorite attractions. In zoos, they don't do a whole lot besides stand around, but they are still a big draw. Why this should be so is not answered by the book _Elephant Reflections_ (University of California Press) with photographs by Karl Ammann and text by Dale Peterson. In fact, although there is much understanding promoted by Peterson's text, even he can't account for what he calls "the almost inexplicable sense of elephant otherness." This lovely, large-size book of 150 photographs of different aspects of the African elephant has enough dramatic, anatomical, or endearing pictures to increase anyone's appreciation for the mysteries of this largest of land animals.
The book is not a biology text, but more a coffee-table art book, and is entirely successful in this realm. The photos are not categorized by species or age, but by themes, like "Textures" or "Behaviors" or "Colors". Colors? Elephants are gray. But here they are not limited to gray. Ammann has taken advantage of different shades of sunlight to show an orange-shaded elephant, for instance, but usually the colors come from the exteriors of the elephants themselves, dusted or dribbled with gold or tan. The gorgeous section of textures show that this is a category to which a whole larger book might be devoted. Certainly here are the smooth hard tusks, or the strange toenails that look like half a goose egg. But the elephant has the most varied skin texture of any animal. There are broad sections of skin that look just like the bark of an old tree, or foreheads which are like lichen-covered stones, or ears with fancy dendriform patterns of veins beneath (patterns some researchers use to identify one individual from another). Some of the pictures of skin and wrinkle patterns are here in close-up without context of other body parts, and are stunning in their abstract complexity. Peterson explains that with all our experience of elephants since we were savanna hunters, using them for food, display, warfare, and labor, we ought to know them well, but by the middle of the twentieth century, we did not have scientific sureness of basic issues of how they sleep or migrate or socialize.
He reviews the results of the recent decades of intensive research. We have a good idea about gestures the elephants use for greeting, for instance, or their use of infrasound, signals too low for us to hear but which they send through the ground and sense through their footpads. We know much more about their matriarchal society and how females support each other in herds while males tend to be loners. Unfortunately, we also know how much damage ivory hunters have caused (though in a commentary from the photographer, Ammann explains that elephants are being killed now for meat, not for teeth). Here is a gorgeous collection of photographs to incite your wonder at this strangest and most inexplicably loveable of exotic beasts, and to make you care about what comes of them.
Summary of Elephant Reflections
Elephant Reflections brings award-winning wildlife photographer Karl Ammann's gorgeous images together with a revelatory text by writer Dale Peterson to illuminate one of nature's greatest and most original works of art: the elephant. The photographs move from the purely aesthetic to the informative, depicting animals who are at once enigmatic, individual, mysterious, elusive, and iconic. In riveting prose, Peterson introduces the work of field scientists in Africa and explains their recent astonishing discoveries. He then explores the natural history and conservation status of African elephants and discusses the politics of ivory. Elephant Reflections is a book that could change the way the world thinks about elephants while we still have some measure of control over their fate.Nature & Wildlife Books
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