Sukumar, R. 2003. The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation. Oxford University Press, New York, 478 pp. ISBN 0-19-510778-0, price (hardbound), $74.50

Extract

Elephants are perhaps the most recognized of the charismatic megafauna, and studies of these animals have broad appeal to both scientists and the general public. In Living Elephants, Raman Sukumar sought to provide a broad synthesis of elephant biology within the framework of modern evolutionary theory. He succeeded admirably; this book is an excellent compilation of the latest data generated for both Asian and African elephants. Components of taxonomy, evolutionary ecology, behavior, and conservation are included in the book and synthesized in a very useful way.

Our understanding of the evolution and taxonomy of elephants has rapidly expanded with the discovery of new fossils as well as through DNA studies. In the 1st chapter, both paleontological and genetic data are employed to describe the evolutionary history of the order Proboscidea. Proboscideans 1st appeared in the fossils of the late Paleocene and included some 160 species ranging from giant forms to dwarf island populations. Details of the diversification and collapse of this group are presented along with an extensive discussion of the theories that have been proposed to explain the loss of many of these species during the mass extinctions of the late Pleistocene. Sukumar follows this with a discussion of recent molecular genetic results that infer genetic relationships between genera (Mammuthus, Loxodonta, and Elephas) as well as within and among the modern species.