Today is the 11th World Elephant Day. Last spring, a herd of elephants in Xishuangbanna traveled north, causing worldwide attention. As the largest land mammal, there are numerous articles, books and documentaries about elephants, but it is still one of the most misunderstood animals. How to read the elephant's small movements? What kind of joys and sorrows do elephants that share more than 90% of their genome with humans have? How can humans live in harmony with them?
The Last Elephant, published by Guangxi Normal University Press, provides an opportunity to learn more about elephants. This is a collector's edition of the African elephant science book. Through the diverse perspectives of more than 40 researchers, animal conservationists, and rangers, the book tells the life and survival of African elephants. The book not only shows the cute and intelligent side of elephants, but also exposes the brutal killing of elephants, the poaching of ivory, and the unremitting efforts of people on the African continent for the survival and well-being of elephants. The book is accompanied by 375 beautiful documentary photographs taken by Africa's top wildlife photographers, showing details of the life and survival of elephants.
The Last Elephant, Guangxi Normal University Press, April 2022
[South Africa] Don Pinnock [South Africa] Colin Bell, eds.; Translated by Liu Yang and Zhang Hongzhaojie
By reading this book, we will learn more about elephants, why they are important, and the current predicaments that exist, which will make us better able to love them and live in harmony with this extraordinary creature.
Collector's Edition African Elephant Science Book
This is a book that can be browsed like a flipped magazine. Looking at the pictures, you can almost get a rough picture of African elephants. This book covers Africa's forest elephants, grassland elephants, and desert elephants, allowing you to appreciate the best of elephants.
● Forest elephants
The total number of forest elephants is one quarter to one third of the total number of African elephants and is currently estimated at about 100,000 heads. Forest elephants are highly social and form close family ties on the basis of matriarchy. Young males leave their mothers' groups as early as 5 years old. Even after leaving the family permanently, they greet their mothers.
Jane and herd of elephants in the Vitty Alymppo Nature Reserve in South Africa.
There are currently 37 African countries with steppe and forest elephants, covering an area of 3.1 million square kilometers, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
● Desert elephants
The so-called desert elephants that live in namibia's arid and semi-arid northwestern regions are shrouded in mystery. Many people will be surprised when they first hear about the Malian elephants living near the ancient desert towns of Timbuktu and Diyan. Even for veteran conservationists, these particular herds remain an unsolved mystery. Their presence in this extremely arid country is surprising, and their way of survival is foggy.
At the same time, you can also enjoy a lot of wonderful figures of tusk elephants, including Mutanda, Mulembo and Satau in Kenya's Tsavo Park.
The tusks weigh more than 60 kilograms, but there are now fewer than 40 such tusks in Africa.
There are also free and happy baby elephants in Addo Park in South Africa, where there are many baby elephant cubs, and you can feel their joy and cuteness through the book.
375 blockbusters
The book has a very large proportion of pictures, with 496 pages containing 375 pictures. The photo is 1:1 four-color printing, restoring the exquisite pictures of the original book, showing every frame of the elephant in wonderful details, and the high-definition is amazing. The book uses the process of locking the thread naked back, so that the book can be tiled at 180 degrees, and the reader can seamlessly enjoy these shocking blockbusters.
Double-column typography reduces the burden of reading. The 105 g matte pink paper printing brings a collector's-level flip-through experience, presenting all aspects of African wild elephant life. It can be called a high-definition documentary on a book shelf.
The weight of this book is 1500g, heavy and thick, and when the book is held in the hand, the reader can feel a sense of mission being delivered in the hand. At the end of the book, the reader is also shown a variety of exquisite elephant stamps to feast your eyes.
A practical guide to elephant behavior, master the elephant's body language, and learn about the elephant's joys and sorrows
● After the end of the rainy season, the riverbed dries up. Elephants dig wells with big feet and flexible noses, and they drink them and leave, and other wildlife can drink water from the wells.
Mining nutrient-rich soil can promote the formation of water cavities.
Elephants only have a huge stomach and simple digestive system, so some of the plants in fresh elephant droppings are still intact. Other creatures can rip off elephant droppings in search of food or get minerals from it. Elephants can't fully digest food, which is a bonus for many animals.
Male baboons eat uncompromised seeds found in fresh elephant droppings.
Because of their size, longevity, and intellectual superiority, elephants became the main road builders in the bush. They built U-shaped roads connecting feeding grounds and water holes as well as rivers, which are also used by other wildlife. Hikers walking along elephant paths is also the easiest and least labor-intensive way to travel.
Through the text, readers will also learn that elephants share more than 90% of their genes with humans.
The social nature of the elephant group is very high, and there is an old elephant like a big parent, and this elephant has accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience, it will educate the grumpy elephants in the elephant group, and it will also pass on its knowledge and experience to the next parent.
Elephants have human emotions, so they are happy and mischievous, and when they are idle, they like to dig puddles and hit trees to entertain themselves, just as they are worried and depressed. At the end of the book, a very practical guide to elephant behavior is provided. For example, an elephant shakes its head, which is a threat signal. When an elephant rolls up its nose, it means that it is worried and overwhelmed. Elephants also eat in disguise, rolling branches with their noses, but they do not really eat them, and eating in disguise is to secretly observe and monitor the development of the situation.
Elephants are intelligent, emotional creatures that don't like to be disturbed. They have a personal space that is as inviolable as humans. For their own safety, it's important to know their body language.
Showcasing the current situation, plight and future of African elephants and providing conservation experiences
The book is informative and detailed about the number of elephants in Africa, their living conditions, poaching routes, and conservation strategies.
The book presents the current situation of ivory poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Human obsession with ivory has led to rampant poaching and a sharp decline in elephant populations in Africa.
Another alarming problem is that among the remaining African elephant herds today, there is a strange and obvious phenomenon that elephants are gradually losing their "elephant identity". The large root ivory gene is disappearing and is rapidly being replaced by the small root ivory gene, even the toothless gene. Elephant tusks have many basic life functions, you can remove the bark from books, dig out the roots, pick up young children trapped in the mud, dig the ground for water, defend, and the male elephant also uses ivory to compete for the mother elephant. While toothless elephants can also survive, they are largely disabled and they have lost a lot of their "elephant traits." "It's a man-made, unnatural choice.
After reading this, it is difficult not to feel sad about the tragic fate of the elephant.
Reading this book carefully, you will also gain a lot of feelings. You'll see people working hard for the elephant cause, especially those who risk their lives every day to protect elephants, especially field rangers and anti-poaching teams, many of whom have dedicated their lives to these great, graceful and fascinating animals.
Impressive is the resolution of human-elephant conflicts. Unlike the docile personality of Asian elephants, African elephants are wild, difficult to domesticate, and extremely destructive. When there are no protected areas, wild elephants often destroy farmers' crops and even directly attack humans and kill humans. This also caused the local people to hate the elephants, and in turn shot the elephants for the convenience of poaching groups.
The book also tells that in some countries in Africa, the right way to get along with elephants has been found, and these experiences are worth learning.
Familiarity leads to trust. The feeling of being trusted by a huge wild elephant is unparalleled.
In the book's postscript, the translator Zhang Hongzhaojie mentioned: "People and elephants are also trying to adapt to the new and changing situation. This does not mean that we can sit on the sidelines and console ourselves to believe in the wisdom of future generations. Perhaps without waiting for the descendants of wisdom, Africa's elephants will remain in the corpses of legends and wilderness. Take action and use the wisdom of this generation to allow these behemoths to accompany us and witness the future of this blue planet. (Guo Ying)
(The picture of this article is provided by the publisher, and the book is taken by Zhao Yanfang)