From School Library Journal
YA-As splendid as its subject, this huge book is filled with color plates and photographs. Groning begins with a chapter on the "Primeval wanderer" concerning the elephant in the Garden of Eden and follows with an evolutionary tree of the great beast. Sections detail evidence of the animal from the Noah's Ark and Gilgamesh periods, through its arctic phase as the mammoth, and its natural life in the wild. The segment on "Elephant Power" in the Hellenistic period covers Alexander's use of the creatures as part of his war machine. A follow-up section treats Hannibal's march across the Alps and continues through the role of elephants in jungle warfare in comparatively modern times. Unhappy accounts follow as the noble beasts are trapped, hunted for ivory, and diminished in culture, if not size. Happier notes are sounded in the last 100 pages or so with descriptions of new zoo habitations, medical treatments, and reserves where survival of the species is paramount. Striking full-color photos, maps, and tables appear throughout. A beautifully designed volume.
Frances Reiher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Frances Reiher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This sumptuous, large-format volume may be the last word on elephants that any library will need. Although the publisher describes the work as an art title--and with more than 800 illustrations it definitely qualifies as aesthetic--the text takes it beyond the realm of the coffee table. The first three chapters provide a good overview of the evolution of the Proboscidea and the anatomy of the two surviving species and their behavior in the wild. The meat of the book is embodied in the next 12 chapters, on the human relationship with elephants. They are followed from the ancient world to modern times and filled the role of sacred animals, forestry workers, state gifts, bearers of ivory, and as war animals (from Hannibal crossing the Alps to the Vietnam War). Tamed elephants were (and still are) mostly of the Asian species, African elephants unfortunately mostly serving as targets for their ivory or for big-game hunters. The last two chapters discuss elephants as they are found today, mostly in zoos and refuges. Excellent appendixes provide maps of the current ranges of elephants, surviving population numbers, and elephants in zoos. This beautiful book is an absolute bargain at the price and highly recommended for all libraries. Nancy Bent
