Can elephants cry? Why are grandmother elephants so important? How does an elephant grieve the death of a loved one? These are just of few of the many questions people have about elephants. The Incredible Essence of Elephants explores the fascinating and remarkable answers to these questions, and much, much more. With the expertise of two long-time veterinarians, this book offers insights into the origins of elephants; different types of elephants and their habitats; famous and influential elephants throughout history; the biology of elephants; human management and interference in elephants; and the striking similarities between the human and elephant behaviour, social development and connection, compassion, and grief. In this newly translated book with latest fresh topics, we can learn about one of the most endearing and sometimes misunderstood animals on our planet. Through examining how elephants’ habitats are threatened and the ways they are exploited by humans, we also learn about the difficult side of human nature in how we relate to elephants. Dr. Changaram Venugopal and Dr. Jacob V. Cheeran remind us of the complexities of the animal kingdom and the power of observation. Packed with first-hand experience and expert insights, this book is funny, informative, and thorough. The Incredible Essence of Elephants is comprehensive and enjoyable read for anyone interested in elephants.

How the lives and labors of nineteenth-century circus elephants shaped the entertainment industry. Consider the career of an enduring if controversial icon of American entertainment: the genial circus elephant. In Entertaining Elephants Susan Nance examines elephant behavior—drawing on the scientific literature of animal cognition, learning, and communications—to offer a study of elephants as actors (rather than objects) in American circus entertainment between 1800 and 1940. By developing a deeper understanding of animal behavior, Nance asserts, we can more fully explain the common history of all species. Entertaining Elephants is the first account that uses research on animal welfare, health, and cognition to interpret the historical record, examining how both circus people and elephants struggled behind the scenes to meet the profit necessities of the entertainment business. The book does not claim that elephants understood, endorsed, or resisted the world of show business as a human cultural or business practice, but it does speak of elephants rejecting the conditions of their experience. They lived in a kind of parallel reality in the circus, one that was defined by their interactions with people, other elephants, horses, bull hooks, hay, and the weather. Nance’s study informs and complicates contemporary debates over human interactions with animals in entertainment and beyond, questioning the idea of human control over animals and people's claims to speak for them. As sentient beings, these elephants exercised agency, but they had no way of understanding the human cultures that created their captivity, and they obviously had no claim on (human) social and political power. They often lived lives of apparent desperation.

Elephants are as unique as people. They can be clever and curious or headstrong and impulsive, shy or sociable. Learn to know them as individuals as well as a species in this evocative account of years spent studying elephant behaviour in the wild.

Elephants have fought in human armies for more than three thousand years. This is the largely forgotten tale of the credit they deserve and the sacrifices they endured.

This trans-historical collection explores analogue performance technologies from Ancient Greece to pre-Second World War. From ancient mechanical elephants to early modern automata, Enlightenment electrical experiments to Victorian spectral illusions, this volume offers an original examination of the precursors of contemporary digital performance.

Collection of elephant stories, descriptions and insight into animal behavior, anatomy and haunts.