I've only read partway, but some of these stories of elephant behavior are very touching. It's clear that elephants have very rich social and emotional lives. G

I've only read partway, but some of these stories of elephant behavior are very touching. It's clear that elephants have very rich social and emotional lives. Given how similar elephants are to humans (long-lived, highly cooperative mammals capable of fine-motor manipulation), it makes you wonder how close elephants were to the kind of evolutionary breakthrough humans had (I'd offer the crude speculation that apes' vocalization-related anatomy was the edge that caused human cultural evolution to outpace that of elephants). The author seems to be setting up a lot of human-animal binaries (humans choose, animals act on instinct) in order to ultimately cast doubt on them. I'm sure I'm not alone in finding these binaries quite implausible to begin with, and therefore finding those parts of the piece a bit tedious. But I am moved by these vignettes illustrating just how relatable elephants and humans are to each other.