Since falling in love with elephants on my first African safari in 1984, I have returned more than 25 times, learning about elephant behavior, the impact they have on their ecosystems, the way in which they have interacted with humans over the millennia and the challenges they face moving forward.  Each trip has also informed me about human behavior, now and then, and how intertwined our two species really are.

 

“Elephant Story” tells that story, beginning with the parallel evolutionary paths our species have followed, the role elephants have played in human history and how the elephant’s unique characteristics have made it one of the most iconic species in the world.  The story also recounts the shame we have brought upon our own species historically through the tightly linked slave and ivory trades and rampant poaching the in 20th and 21st centuries.  Finally, the story celebrates the many human heroes that have emerged over the same period, who devote and risk their lives to finding ways in which the largest land mammal and the world’s apex species – us – can not only co-exist but also benefit each other.

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For more information about me, please visit my photography website:  www.charlotterushbailey.com