Among The Elephants

Among the Elephants by Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton, published by Book Club Associates in 1975, is the story of life spent observing one of the largest, most intelligent and least conveniently portable animals on Earth.

The Douglas-Hamiltons became closely associated with pioneering field research into African elephants, and this book grew out of years spent watching them at remarkably close quarters. Not simply counting animals from a safe distance, but following families, identifying individuals, recording behaviour and gradually discovering that elephants possess complicated social lives which make many human neighbourhoods look straightforward.

The result is part wildlife study, part travel narrative and part account of scientific fieldwork conducted under conditions that generally did not include reliable Wi-Fi, air conditioning or a conveniently located coffee machine.

Elephants turn out to be extremely good subjects for a book. They form strong family groups, communicate in sophisticated ways, remember individuals and places, care for their young and appear capable of an impressive range of moods. They are also several tons in weight and perfectly capable of reminding an overconfident researcher that the observational relationship is not entirely equal.

The Douglas-Hamiltons write from direct experience, bringing the reader into the daily reality of studying wild elephants in East Africa: the long hours, the journeys, the patient watching and the slow accumulation of evidence that turns animals from anonymous shapes in the landscape into recognisable individuals with relationships, habits and histories.

This was an important period in elephant research. In the 1960s and 1970s, long-term field studies were beginning to transform the way scientists understood animal behaviour. Instead of treating wildlife as interchangeable examples of a species, researchers increasingly followed individuals over time and discovered just how complex their lives could be.

Naturally, there is also the unavoidable difficulty of conducting research on creatures capable of rearranging the landscape merely by deciding to have lunch. Anyone who has struggled to observe a garden bird through binoculars can perhaps appreciate that following elephants presents a slightly different logistical challenge.

Published in 1975, Among the Elephants also captures a particular moment in conservation history, before the scale of later poaching crises became fully apparent to the wider public. The book therefore has value not only as an engaging wildlife account but as a record of how elephant research and conservation thinking were developing at the time.

It should appeal to readers of natural history, African wildlife, conservation, animal behaviour and old-fashioned field research, particularly those who prefer their wildlife books written by people who actually spent years getting dusty rather than watching three minutes of footage before providing commentary from a studio.

There is something wonderfully satisfying about a book built on patient observation. No satellite tracking maps appearing instantly on a screen, no drone quietly hovering overhead and no database automatically identifying every animal. Just notebooks, vehicles, binoculars, memory and the occasional enormous grey research subject wandering off because it has other plans.

Condition: Good. A sound used copy with normal signs of age and handling. Published in 1975, it has survived rather well for a book about animals capable of sitting on a Land Rover.

No ISBN stated.

A fascinating mixture of wildlife observation, scientific discovery and African field experience, written at a time when getting close to nature generally meant actually going outside.

Sold by Crappy Old Books — where some books are heavy, but fortunately none of them weigh four tons.

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