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

ISBN: 9780618015832 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 1st/1st 2002Hardcover, 358 pages 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 builds an elephant-shaped skyscraper; and pirate loggers feed amphetamines to their elephants to make them haul backbreaking loads. In India, milling worshippers dance with gilded tuskers at ecstatic temple festivals. From the steppes of Siberia to America's prairies, scientists have proposed restoring lost ecosystems by reintroducing the elephants and mammoths that once ruled them. And generation after generation of readers have delighted in Babar, Horton and Dumbo. In a kaleidoscopic account rich in historic lore, surprising science and exotic adventure, Eric Scigliano traces an age-old, extraordinary relationship between species and shows how it still haunts and inspires us today. He explains how elephants may have been 'nursemaids' to human evolution and how they shaped history, art, religion, and popular culture as no other animals have. He joins a gruelling chase after crop-raiding rogues in Sri Lanka and probes the bitter battle over the roles of elephants in zoos and circuses, revealing the enduring ecological importance and mythic fascination of these endangered giants. Title: Love, War, and Circuses: The Age-Old Relationship Between Elephants and Humans Author Name: Eric Scigliano Edition: 1st Edirion, 1st printing Created: 2002 ISBN Number: 0618015833 ISBN-13: 9780618015832 Location Published: Houghton Mifflin: 2002 Binding: Hardcover Book Condition: New Type: Hardcover Categories: Animals, Nature & Wildlife Seller ID: 9780618015832