Elephant Reflections [Hardcover]

Dale Peterson (Author), Karl Ammann (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0520253779 | ISBN-13: 978-0520253773 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Amman and Peterson (coauthors, Eating Apes) offer a revelatory collection of photos and text on elephants. Ammann's photographs capture an astonishing range of elephant behavior, but Peterson's text—with its scope, synthesis of history and observation, précis of the ivory trade and conservation—is what distinguishes this book. He spins the history of elephant research into mini-mysteries of how scientists struggled to understand elephants' secretive behaviors. Why do male elephants vanish from time to time? Do elephants communicate infrasonically like blue whales? Peterson's awe and affection for the creatures is contagious—readers will be moved by his description of how females form life-long families (males are isolated drifters) and occasionally speak in choruses, in the elephant equivalent of we. The photographs and text complement each other beautifully in their respective odes to the improbable physicality of the elephant's body: the tusks, the trunk—an organ coordinated by 150,000 interlocking muscles used to suck water from parched riverbeds, console babies, communicate, grasp and convey emotion. A stunning testament to the last of the giants standing, bereft, at the door of ancient time. (May)
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Review

"A revelatory collection of photos and text on elephants. . . . Peterson's awe and affection for the creatures is contagious." Starred Review--Publishers Weekly

"Revelatory text. . . Photographs (that) move from purely aesthetic to informative, depicting animals that are at once enigmatic, individual and iconic."--Wildlife Conservation Magazine

"A bountiful pictorial feast for the eye."--Deseret News

"Combines the extraordinary images of award-winning photographer Karl Ammann with the compelling writing of Dale Peterson."--National Wildlife

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520253779
• ISBN-13: 978-0520253773
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 10.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #478,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, beautiful and wondrous, May 29, 2009

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elephant Reflections (Hardcover)

Stunning photography and concise, beguiling text communicate the "otherness" of African elephants to our awe and understanding in this gorgeous and absorbing oversize volume.

While the bulk of the book is photography and the pictures lead into the text at the back, readers really should read Peterson's words first, then go back and view the photographs in a new and richer light.

Although it's now widely known that elephants live in matriarchal family groups, that bulls are solitary, that they show affection and grief and communicate with each other over long distances, it was only 40 years ago that we didn't even know what elephants ate or how much.

Peterson covers elephant study from its beginnings in the 60s when Iain Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the field study of individuals, family groups and socialization, similar to the work Jane Goodall was doing with apes. Since then field researchers have viewed: bulls in musth (some very funny - and dangerous - stories about this condition, initially diagnosed as "an alarming malady"), the reunions of social groups, childcare networks, fear, sickness, and all the drama of family life, including the tragedy of poaching and slaughter.

Peterson describes the working of the elephants' bodies - their sensitive feet, their replaceable teeth, their formidable hide, their remarkable trunk. Reading Peterson's appreciation of the trunk, you will want one yourself. Its sense of smell is ten times more powerful than a bloodhound and it can pick up a coin off the ground. It's an arm, a snorkel, a suction tool for drinking or showering, a communication device, a digger, a scratcher, even a cane.

Peterson's eloquence is fueled with affection and enthusiasm and he concludes with the present day plight of elephants - poaching for ivory and meat.

Award-winning photographer Amman documents all these behaviors and more but you wouldn't know it without reading Peterson's text, as there are no captions. Amman's only explanation is a brief intro at the beginning and some pages of photographer's notes at the end.

Amman divides his pictures into categories focusing on aspects of elephant life and photographic beauty: Beginnings, Textures, Colors, Perspectives, Fragments, Portraits, Behaviors, Associations, Passages. The technical and artistic quality is superb, but even more they communicate affection, majesty and understanding.

Amman and Peterson (who also co-authored the acclaimed "Eating Apes") have produced a gorgeous, comprehensive homage to the strange and wonderful elephant.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portraits of Wondrous Beasts, May 26, 2009

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elephant Reflections (Hardcover)

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pictures are good, not amazing, September 14, 2009

By 

Enjolras (Springfield, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elephant Reflections (Hardcover)

I love Elephants and was inspired to purchase this book after seeing African Elephants in the wild in East Africa. I wanted something to remember these incredible animals. In that sense, this book is good for Elephant aficionado. It includes hundreds of close-up photos of Elephants by Karl Ammann, as well as text by Dale Peterson. However, as a photo book, I had mixed feelings about Elephant Reflections.

I enjoyed looking through Ammann's photographs, and many of them are very good, but to be honest they're not as amazing as I had expected from a professional wildlife photographer. This might be because, having photograph African Elephants in the wild myself, I have very high standards. However, some of the pictures also look a bit blurry and don't really portray the vibrant colors of East Africa - they seem drab when compared to the real thing. I think this is in large part because Ammann still uses film rather than digital, the latter of which allows you to enrich colors. Of course, there are some excellent photos, particularly of Elephants fighting and adults mating, which you probably won't seen on your average safari. By contrast, I found the pictures Steve Bloom's Elephant a lot better, with colorful photos taken from creative angles.

Most of the book is taken up with pictures, not the text about Elephants, as it should be. Nonetheless, I was disappointed with Dale Peterson's text. First of all, there really isn't much, just a short intro and conclusion. It doesn't really explain what's happening in the pictures or anything about Elephant biology. Moreover, the introduction was useless mutterings on the philosophy of photography. The conclusion was much better and more substantive (at over 40 pages) and goes into Elephant biology. However, it often seemed as if Peterson had just cut and paste anecdotes from Cynthia Moss' Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. If you haven't read much on Elephants already, it's a nice synthesis of the literature. Ammann himself has a brief essay at the end that was rather interesting about the bushmeat trade. Overall, I got the sense that Ammann is really interested in campaigning against the bushmeat trade, not Elephants.

I decided to give this book 3 stars, despite my disappointment, because there are some good photos. However, I can't say I strongly recommend it. Hopefully, if you haven't yet seen wild African Elephants, I hope Elephant Reflections inspires you to plan your safari and take your own photos.

For anybody who loves Elephants, I'd strongly recommend:

Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family

Elephant Destiny

Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures