They’re the largest, most magnificant beasts on land, but also some of the most persecuted.
Now one photographer, Eroll Fuller, has collated beautiful photographs of African and Asian elephants in his new book Elephant, taken by international photographers who travelled to the regions to capture the friendly giants in their natural habitat.
The literary work of photography not only documents elephants’ daily lives, but also gives a detailed account of their evolution and their place in the world’s culture and history.
The book includes adorable pictures of elephants playing with their calves, as well as many snaps of the giants bathing in muddy rivers.
A very rare white elephant is also featured, while the book discusses the persecution and poaching of the animals for their ivory.
There are about 450,000 to 700,000 African elephants in the wild, compared to a few millions at the turn of the 20th century. While there are between 35,000 and 40,000 wild Asian Elephants as well.
Here Femail reveals some of the book’s best images…
This picture shows a beautiful African elephant enjoying the sunshine and snacking on some twigs in a close shot by Irene Palmer
A herd of African elephants gather around a very small calf in the wild on a sunny day in a picture snapped by Granville Davies
A group of elephant frolicking in the mud in the Ewaso Nyiro River of northern Kenya, photographed by David Chancellor. Young calves can be seen in the middle of the heard while bigger elephants lead the way
A rare captive white elephant chained at the foot glares at the camera from the shade in Asia. The picture was supplied by Shutterstock for the book
A playful elephant enjoys a lazy bath, with its head resting midway through the water as it looks directly to the camera through its lashes
A happy elephant with a slight skin discolouration enjoys some play time in the water, its trunk hidden below water level (pictured)
This calf is so young it is still coveted in hair and can barely standing on its tiny legs, but it will soon be the size of its mother (pictured)
Two captive Asian elephants surround their very young calf with their trunks to protect it from harm. Photographed by Pat Morris
This elephant was found appealing for help by photographer David Chancellor soon after it had been shot by poachers who had rapidly left the scene. The animal was so badly injured that it was necessary to put it out of its pain soon after this photo was taken
A particularly friendly African elephant was spotted in the wild and snapped with this man by photographer David Chancellor
By: dailymail.co.uk