A Field Guide to the Addo Elephants

Anna Whitehouse & Pat Irwin,
International Fund for Animal Welfare/Rhodes University Environmental Education Unit, Port Elizabeth. 2002.
Softcover, ISBN 0-86810-387-X, 145mm x 205mm, 64 pages
Copies available from: awhitehouse@ifaw.org or p.irwin@ru.ac.za

"... from experience we know that it is so much more rewarding to observe elephants when we understand something about them - and the more we learn about them, the more fascinating observing them becomes." So say Anna Whitehouse and Pat Irwin in their preface to this book. I couldn't agree more and Whitehouse - who has researched the Addo elephant population since 1996 - and Irwin - Professor of Education at Rhodes University - are perhaps perfectly suited to facilitating this learning and observational experience in readers of this book.

Their hope - through enabling readers to observe, understand, interpret and even identify individual elephants of the Addo population - is that the book "significantly enhances the enjoyment of their visit to Addo and their time with the elephants." In my opinion they certainly do achieve this and any visitor to the rapidly enlarging Addo National Park at the end of South Africa's ‘Garden Route' will certainly benefit from reading this book. The ‘Introduction' deals with this aforementioned expansion, as well as the history of the park, while the following chapters - ‘Physical characteristics', ‘Social organisation', ‘The cycle of life', and ‘Daily habits' - discuss elephant biology in general. Abundant additional information on facts specific to Addo, such as the tuskless nature of the cows, the growth rate of the population and its age and sex structure, is also given. Having dealt with biology, Whitehouse and Irwin move onto the nuances of ‘Observing elephant behaviour', ‘Distinguishing individuals' and ‘Identifying the Addo elephants'. This last chapter, in the tradition of such elephant luminaries such as Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Cynthia Moss, is perhaps the most interesting. The key adult cows in all six Addo elephant families, and eight adult bulls are discussed individually and their key physical characteristics illustrated. The family trees of all these families are also given and the reader and Addo visitor really gets a chance to understand some of the hidden dynamics of Addo's elephant community. The final chapter ‘Elephant conservation in Africa' contextualises the importance of elephant study and conservation. It is followed by two useful appendices providing introductions to taxonomic classification and evolution and also research on the Addo population.

In short the book is a gem for those visiting Addo and wanting to enhance their interpretive experience by looking beneath the surface of the pachyderms of the park.

-Chris Roche-

Posted: Mammals by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006