The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa

ISBN: 0226616746

Author: O'Connell, Caitlin

Condition: New

While observing a family of elephants in the wild, Caitlin OConnell noticed a peculiar listening behavior-the matriarch lifted her foot and scanned the horizon, causing the other elephants to follow suit, as if they could hear the ground. The Elephants Secret Sense is OConnells account of her groundbreaking research into seismic listening and communication, chronicling the extraordinary social lives of elephants over the course of fourteen years in the Namibian wilderness.This compelling odyssey of scientific discovery is also a frank account of fieldwork in a poverty-stricken, war-ravaged country. In her attempts to study an elephant community, OConnell encounters corrupt government bureaucrats, deadly lions and rhinos, poachers, farmers fighting for arable land, and profoundly ineffective approaches to wildlife conservation. The Elephants Secret Sense is ultimately a story of intellectual courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.I was transported by the authors superbly sensuous descriptions of her years spent studying the animals. . . . Conjures a high-class nature documentary film in prose.-Steven Poole, GuardianA ride as rough and astonishing as the roads of the African floodplain.-Joan Keener, Entertainment WeeklyA successful combination of science and soulfulness, explaining her groundbreaking theory of how elephants use seismic communication. . . . OConnells account is studded with sympathetic insights and well-turned phrases.-Publishers WeeklyThis fascinating book reads like a fast-paced detective story of a scientific discovery and adventure set in contemporary Africa. . . . By the end, OConnell takes her rightful place among the leading biographers of the African elephant.-Iain Douglas-Hamilton, author of Among the Elephants