Ersin Tezcan Tezcan من عند Moisson, فرنسا من عند Moisson, فرنسا

Elephants are highly intelligent, social animals that live in the wild in Africa and Asia. They use a variety of different sounds – some inaudible to the human ear – to communicate with one another among their close knit herds and across miles. Ann Downer introduces us to these amazing creatures, how they live, how they communicate, current research on their social interactions, conservation, and what the future holds. I found myself initially hung up on how much scat one elephant produces in a day – 300-540lbs! I can’t even imagine what all of that would look like if it ended up in one place. And they travel in herds, so multiply it by however many elephants are traveling together. And how much do they have to eat to produce so much waste? Ack. The brain just balks. Once you get beyond the dung issue, you’ll learn that there are essentially 3 different species of elephants, that males and females live in separate herds (young males will live with their mothers until they are old enough to join a male group). Elephants’ early ancestors are known as “proboscideans” – referring to their unique noses. Elephants’ sense of smell is even better than that of dogs. And, the infrasound rumblings they make – the ultra-low-frequency ones that we can’t hear – can be heard/felt (through their feet!) by other elephants 12-115 miles away! Pretty amazing. There were a few places where the text left the reader hanging and didn’t provide adequate explanations/information, and there were 2 photos – one of preserved elephant foot stools, and one of the bodies of elephants that had been killed by poachers for their tusks – that were disturbing and sad (but effective for those very reasons). Informative, fun to read, and filled with interesting facts!