Don Pinnock

The Last Elephants
Compiled by Don Pinnock and Colin Bell
Smithsonian
5.0 / 5.0

Such a majestic and beautiful animal, elephants have been one of the most misunderstood and mis-represented animals until the last decade. From environmental stress and disease, but mainly from man made stress and poaching, the elephant has struggled to not become extinct. This is an extensive and very detailed look at the ways in which humans and nature can work together to save a species, and wildlife. Each chapter is written by people with much experience working with elephants and their natural habitats, mostly in Africa. It explains the impact of elephants on vegetation; as well as Kruger National Parks culling, that killed 17, 000 elephants in less than 30 years, separating the young to sell for huge amounts of money. Africa is the only countryt where it is legal to own wildlife, by a private party.
This book chronicles the wonderful and heart warming work that is being done by so many organizations and people to help the sustainability for elephant populations in Botswana and other regions of Africa where some species are down to less than 50 still living. The pictures are stunning, glossy and well done, as always with Smithsonian books.
I recommend this to anyone interested in ecology, conservation psychology and people with the concern and love of an animal that is misunderstood and maligned by so many.
The elephant had been a victim of human ignorance, human indifference, human entitlement and human defeatism. I definitely learned how we, as humans, can either be proponents for change; how we can take small steps as individuals that could have a life- saving or prolonging effect for the world around us. It's up to us to work with nature to keep a sustainable world for all of us. The elephant is an animal that is truly beautiful and their lives are an example to us of how we need to change how we think and treat the world and all its creatures. We are truly stronger together.

The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price. That is the problem
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Short-listed for the 2009 European Union Literary Award, this simply written, yet beautifully told, tale of a young man’s spiritual journey from a gangster in the Cape Flats to a shaman in the Chameleon Mountains is a delight. Ky’s growth and mystical experiences resonate with both the discordance of the modern world and the mysticism and myths of the land that is the Cradle of Mankind. This is Africa’s heart – deep, mysterious and wonderful. The evocative images of the African bush and the San shaman’s trances, which transcend ordinary experience, contrasted with the confusion of a young boy caught up in the violence and emptiness of life in the worst parts of the Cape Flats had me alternatively laughing and crying. A wonderful read.… (plus d'informations)