The Elephant - everyone knows it; and everyone, it seems, knows it in a different way. Many collect it (made from wood, stone, glass, porcelain or plush); others marvel at it in the circus; some study it with tireless attention. Elsewhere, it is tamed andd used to fell trees. The elephant is honored, but also hunted. Since 1989 the elephant, the strongest and biggest animal on earth, has been listed as an endangered species.

This book, a comprehensive cultural and natural history, is dedicated to the endangered giant. Its ancestry dates back 50 million years and is a wonder of nature. Its anatomy still raises many questions among scientists; its social behaviour is fascinating. This book shows the elephant's habitat, the savannahs and the rainforests of Africa and Asia.

This rich illustrated volume also demonstrates the elephant in its "second life," as a metaphor, as an object of veneration and artistic interpretation by artists across centuries, cultures and artistic epochs.