Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us about Humanity - Softcover

Bradshaw, G. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300167830 ISBN 13: 9780300167832

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

In the tradition of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, a renowned animal trauma specialist offers an unusual glimpse into the elephant mind and makes an appeal for new notions of human uniqueness and treatment of animals

Drawing on accounts from India to Africa and California to Tennessee, and on research in neuroscience, psychology, and animal behavior, G. A. Bradshaw explores the minds, emotions, and lives of elephants. Wars, starvation, mass culls, poaching, and habitat loss have reduced elephant numbers from more than ten million to a few hundred thousand, leaving orphans bereft of the elders who would normally mentor them. As a consequence, traumatized elephants have become aggressive against people, other animals, and even one another; their behavior is comparable to that of humans who have experienced genocide, other types of violence, and social collapse. By exploring the elephant mind and experience in the wild and in captivity, Bradshaw bears witness to the breakdown of ancient elephant cultures.

All is not lost. People are working to save elephants by rescuing orphaned infants and rehabilitating adult zoo and circus elephants, using the same principles psychologists apply in treating humans who have survived trauma. Bradshaw urges us to support these and other models of elephant recovery and to solve pressing social and environmental crises affecting all animals, human or not.

About this title

From the Author

Q: How did you become interested in elephants and their welfare?

 

A: Often, when people who work with elephants are asked this question, they answer, The elephants chose me.” And I have to say that has been my case. From a more rational perspective, my decision to study elephants was compelled by their obvious suffering.  The stress has been so extreme that it has led to such un-elephant-like behavior what the media refers to as elephant violence.” Changes in behavior from what is considered normal don't just happen out of the blue; there are reasons for them. I wanted to understand the nature of elephant trauma, the causes of their psychological anguish, and how to help the elephants.

 

Q: What is it about elephants that inspires you?

 

A: They are honest and straightforward, and prize relationships above all. Elephants embody so many qualities that we humans admire, and offer a model and inspiration for what we can become.

 

Q: What hopes do you have for the future of elephants?

 

A: We have to be concerned about the present. It is not just the future, but the conditions under which elephants live today that are so dire. We need to pay attention to the great suffering of individual elephants and other wildlife, and urgently remedy these situations. If we can fix the present, we can fix the future.

About the Author

G. A. Bradshaw, who holds doctorates in ecology and psychology, is director of the Kerulos Center. Her work on elephants, chimpanzees, parrots, and other animals is frequently featured in the national media, including the New York Times, NPR, 20/20, Time magazine, the London Times, National Geo­graphic television, and National Geographic magazine. She lives in Jacksonville, OR.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0300167830
• ISBN 13: 9780300167832
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 310