The Elephant Scientist

by O'Connell, Caitlin; Jackson, Donna M.; Rodwell, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9780547053448
• ISBN10: 0547053444
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-07-11
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

The people of northern Namibia in the African desert refer to Caitlin O'Connell as "the mother of all elephants." In this book, O'Connell juggles several roles while she studies elephant behavior in Namibia's Etosha National Park: field scientist, mediator, ecologist, conservationalist and environmentalist. In decoding the patterns of elephant communication, she has aided tremendously in the fight against killing and poaching elephants--in some cases, those which are endangered, like the Asian elephant. Her scientific observations and procedures have also acted to mediate between the farmers of the region and the elephants who eat their yet-to-be harvested crops. Donna M. Jackson, author ofExtreme ScientistsandER Vetscaptures the most intriguing pieces of Caitlin O'Connell's scientific observations of elephant communication through seismic signals--vibrations they transmit with their feet. Interestingly enough, Caitlin found herself hypothesizing and discovering how elephants "listen with their limbs" through her early observations of how insects communicate through vibrations they cause in the leaves of plants. The text teems with other intriguing facts about these pachyderms (which means "thick skin"). Elephants are nature's largest mammal weighing in at 14,000 pounds. There are 40,000 muscles in an elephant's trunk, which is a multifaceted tool used for many more purposes than just smelling daisies. A hundred year ago, 10 million African elephants roamed the earth; now only 500,000 remain.