Elephant books and literature

The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives by Jeheskel Shoshani, Pascal Tassy

Though only two elephant species remain alive today, the Proboscidea were one of the great mammalian orders of the Cenozoic. Their success through the ages is reflected by their morphological and taxo...More info?

Hansa: The True Story of an Asian Elephant Baby by Clare Hodgson Meeker, Linda Feltner, Woodland Park Zoo

Gray, fuzzy, a little wrinkled, and waving around one helluva snout, Hansa the baby elephant was born at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle -- and is now a star! Hansa, which means “supreme happiness” i...More info?

Jumbo: This Being the True Story of the Greatest Elephant in the World by Paul Chambers

British author Chambers (A Sheltered Life: The Unexpected History of the Tortoise) tells the colorful story of a magnificent animal. Captured in Africa in 1862, the young elephant, later called Jumbo,...More info?

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Life is good for Jacob Jankowski. He's about to graduate from veterinary school and about to bed the girl of his dreams. Then his parents are killed in a car crash, leaving him in the middle of the Gr...More info?

Ruby: The Painting Pachyderm of the Phoenix Zoo by Dick George

The story of an elephant named Ruby and her life at the Phoenix Zoo, where she creates paintings (with a brush on canvas) that are displayed around the country. An introductory section describes her a...More info?

Jumbo Ghosts: The Dangerous Life of Elephants in the Zoo by Michael Schmidt

Jumbo Ghosts is about both the ancient and mysterious bond we have with elephants, and why/how we've broken that bond in our modern zoos. Jumbo Ghosts is divided into three sections. Each chapter beg...More info?

Proboscidean and Paleoindian Interactions by John W. Fox, Calvin B. Smith, Kenneth T. Wilkins

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Wild Orphans by Gerry Ellis

Wild Orphans tells the emotional tale of eight baby elephants living in the nursery of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphanage at the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, East Africa. It chronicles th...More info?

Elephant Book: For the Elefriends Campaign by Ian Redmond

Biologist Ian Redmond pays tribute to the pachyderm in The Elephant Book, with breathtaking photos of the African landscape. Divided into sections such as "The Architect of Africa," "Trunks and Tusks"...More info?

Faithful Elephants : A True Story of Animals, People, and War by Yukio Tsuchiya

A zookeeper narrates the story of how there came to be graves at the zoo: when Tokyo was showered with bombs during the bleak days of World War II, the authorities feared that if the zoo were destroye...More info?

When Elephants Paint by Komar & Melamid, David Eggers

For centuries elephants in Thailand have been revered as a national symbol, worshiped as living gods and employed as beasts of burden in the nation's thriving timber industry. But when logging was ban...More info?

The Wild Beasts, Birds And Reptiles Of The World: The Story Of Their Capture by P. T. Barnum

The Fascinating First Hand Account Of Barnum's Big Game Hunting And His Bring Them Back Alive Exploits. More info?

Eyewitness: Elephant by Ian Redmond, Dave King

Discover the world of elephants -- their natural history, behavior and how humans have changed their lives. Here is a spectacular and informative guide to the fascinating world of elephants. Superb ...More info?

Hannibal : The Elephant-Riding General by Joseph Tal

The legacy and legend surrounding Carthaginian general Hannibal are brought to life in this historical account of how his mythical military prowess nearly collapsed the Roman empire. Anecdotes and wri...More info?

The Elephant in Sri Lanka by Jayantha Jayewardene

Jayantha Jayewardene is the Managing Trustee of the The Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT), a trust registered for the express purpose of conserving Sri Lanka’s biodiversity, and espe...More info?

Just for Elephants by Carol Buckley

Most elephants in America live in circuses and zoos, and their lives are very different from what they would be in the wild. But there's a very special place in Tennessee called the Elephant Sanctuary...More info?

The Day They Hung the Elephant by Charles Edwin Price

There is no doubt that in 1916 a five-ton circus elephant was lynched from a 100-ton Clinchfield railroad crane car in the little town of Erwin, Tennessee. The details of the execution and the tragic ...More info?

Elephant's Ancestors by M. J. Cosson

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Biology, Medicine and Surgery of Elephants by Murray Fowler and Susan Mikota

Elephants are possibly the most well-known members of the animal kingdom. The enormous size, unusual anatomy, and longevity of elephants have fascinated humans for millenia. Biology, Medicine, and Sur...More info?

Kandula Elephant Story by

On a seemingly ordinary day in November, 2001, something amazing happens at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.  Baby Kandula is born. His birth marks a rare success and huge scientific ...More info?

Why Elephants Have Big Ears: And Other Riddles from the Natural World by Chris Lavers

Why Elephants Have Big Ears is the result of one man's lifelong quest to understand why the creatures of the earth appear and act as they do. In a wry manner and personal tone, Chris Lavers explores a...More info?

Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant by Lyall Watson

A scientific safari and personal memoir celebrating the enigmatic dignity of the world's largest land animal. As a child in South Africa, spending summers exploring the wild with his boyhood friends...More info?

I Loved Rogues by George Washington Lewis

"Slim" Lewis loved the "bad boys" of the zoo and circus: the elephants that no one else could handle, the most dangerous and unpredicatable creatures in captivity. Elephants are uncanny animals, somet...More info?

Elephants and Their Diseases by Griffith H. Evans

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Travels With Tarra by Carol Buckley

Tarra, an Asian elephant raised in captivity, is the subject of this tender photo-essay by Tarra's elephant-advocate owner. College student Buckley's courses in the care of exotic animals sprang to li...More info?

African Elephants: A Celebration of Majesty by Daryl Balfour, Sharna Balfour, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, John Hanks, Daphne Sheldrick

In this stunning showcase, photographers Daryl and Sharna Balfour present a celebration of the most magnificent awe-inspiring land animal on earth. This incredible collection of over 200 photographs, ...More info?

Untamed: Autobiography of Gunther Gebel-Williams by Gunther Gebel-Williams

Having dazzled American circus audiences for 20 years, Gebel-Williams attributes his success as an animal trainer to patience and respect--his for the animals and theirs for him. He grew up in WW II G...More info?

The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation by Raman Sukumar

The Living Elephants is the authoritative resource for information on both Asian and African elephants. From the ancient origins of the proboscideans to the present-day crisis of the living elephants,...More info?

Elephant Memories : Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family by Cynthia Moss

First Sentence:
In the early morning light, the large gray forms moved slowly, deliberately, and nearly silently along a well-worn path amongst lava boulders and small thorny Balanites tree...More info?

Life is a Circus: Das leben ist ein Zirkus by Hugh Schmitt

Hugh Schmitt was born in Hamburg, Germany on February 26, 1938, growing up under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler and a war torn country. Running to bomb shelters, losing a house and possessions to b...More info?

Elephants (Nature Fact Files) by Barbara Taylor and Dr Lister Adrian

Elephants are the gentle giants that inhabit the continents of Africa and Asia. This fascinating guide with over 180 stunning color photographs of these amazing, intelligent creatures offers insight i...More info?

Love, War, and Circuses: The Age-Old Relationship Between Elephants and Humans by Eric Scigliano

For millennia, people all over the world have revered, adored, and exploited elephants. In Thailand, a pregnant woman ducks under an elephant's belly in hopes of having an easy delivery; a tycoon buil...More info?

Elephants of Thailand : Myth, Art, and Reality by Rita Ringis

This beautifully illustrated book surveys a wide range of elephant lore in Thailand, past and present. It looks at the religious, artistic, and literary background to Thai attitudes toward the elephan...More info?

The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa by Caitlin O'Connell

Naturalist O'Connell's memoir of her 14 years researching the complexities of elephant behavior is a successful combination of science and soulfulness, explaining her groundbreaking theory of how elep...More info?

The Elephant's Foot: Prevention and Care of Foot Conditions in Captive Asian and by Blair A. Csuti, Eva Lee Sargent, Ursula S. Bechert

Based on the presentations given at the First North American Conference on Elephant Foot Care and Pathology, held in Beaverton, Oregon, March 19-21, 1998. The conclusions and recommendations of the co...More info?

Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800 by Jeff Sypeck

Sypeck affectionately peers behind the legends surrounding Charlemagne and magnificently chronicles four significant years in the emperor's life. From 796 to 800, Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, ...More info?

Elephants (Animals Attack!) by Kris Hirschmann

Elephants are not always gentle giants. They are dangerous animals that sometimes attack - and kill - humans. In the wild, they attack when people get too close; in captivity, they attack because they...More info?

The Pope's Elephant by Silvio A. Bedini

In early 16th century Rome, at the height of the Italian Renaissance, when artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo thrived in the Holy City, the decadent court of Pope Leo X was a place wh...More info?

The Indian elephant: Endangered in the land of Lord Ganesha by Ajay Desai

On behalf of the Bombay Nature History Museum, Ajay Desai started to study asian elephants behaviour and ecology at Mudumalai in south India in the 80´s. A task as much difficult as dangerous. ...More info?

The Fate of the Elephant by Douglas H. Chadwick

It's no longer news that animals are being driven to extinction at an astonishing rate, with some scientists now estimating that 1,000 species disappear each year. What is news is that the species are...More info?

Cleopatra's Journey by Iain Macdonald

Cleopatra is an elephant and matriarch. The journey is her endeavour to keep her precious family alive against enormous odds. All the events contained in this book take place between 1966 and 1994...More info?

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Elephants: From Their Origins and Evolution to T by S. K. Eltringham, David Ward

Smithmark Publishers - NY - 1991, 1997 Salamander Books Ltd. - LondonMore info?

Anatomy and Histology of the Indian Elephant by D. Mariappa

One of the few books that shows the anatomy of elephants. Dr Mariappa is a well known Indian veterinary who gives an insight into the asian elephant in this book.More info?

The Asian Elephant: An Action Plan for Its Conservation by Charles Santiapillai, Peter Jackson, Iucn, Ssc Asian Elephant Specialist Group

The Asian elephant is unique, being the only species of wild animal that, after a few months of teaching by man, behaves towards him with patience and understanding. This touching relationship between...More info?

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