Customer Reviews:
 Thorough and moving study of elephants! March 30, 2004
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
This book covers thirteen years of Cynthia Moss' elephant research at Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Several of the elephant families which reside at Amboseli are featured in this book. Cynthia Moss learned to distinguish each individual elephant by such characteristics as the shape of their ears, ear markings or the size and shape of the tusks. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of elephant life like mating, draught etc. Together with fellow researcher Joyce Poole Cynthia Moss discovered that the bulls like their Asian cousins go into musth too (the period during which they are the most attractive for the cows). Thus a longstanding mystery was solved. But through it all shines Cynthia Moss' deep love for the elephants, she found with them so much to recommend. Learning from them. She certainly succeeds in sharing the joy of studying and living with elephants. I warmly recommend Ian and Oria Douglas-Hamilton's and Joyce Poole's books as well. Indeed Cynthia Moss has found new insights but this is still the book to read on elephants in the first place.
An fascinating glimpse of elephant society March 9, 2001
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is one of the best books on elephants I have ever read. In fact, it is perhaps one of the best books on the structure of animal society and the individuals that constitute that society.Detailed and scientific, yet well-written and touching, this book will keep you gripped as it recounts the fascinating story of the elephants of the Amboseli. All the elephants have distinct personalities and as we follow them through birth, life, death, joy, sadness and laughter, we come to realise that we are all far more similar than we think. A truly wonderful book.
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