Meet Greg. He’s a stocky guy with an outsized swagger. He’s been the intimidating yet sociable don of his posse of friends—including Abe, Keith, Mike, Kevin, Torn Trunk, and Willie. But one arid summer the tide begins to shift and the third-ranking Kevin starts to get ambitious, seeking a higher position within this social club. But this is no ordinary tale of gangland betrayal—Greg and his entourage are bull elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia, where, for the last twenty-three years, Caitlin O’Connell has been a keen observer of their complicated friendships. In Elephant Don, O’Connell, one of the leading experts on elephant communication and social behavior, offers a rare inside look at the social world of African male elephants. Elephant Don tracks Greg and his group of bulls as O’Connell tries to understand the vicissitudes of male friendship, power struggles, and play. A frequently heart-wrenching portrayal of commitment, loyalty, and affection between individuals yearning for companionship, it vividly captures an incredible repertoire of elephant behavior and communication. Greg, O’Connell shows, is sometimes a tyrant and other times a benevolent dictator as he attempts to hold onto his position at the top. Though Elephant Don is Greg’s story, it is also the story of O’Connell and the challenges and triumphs of field research in environs more hospitable to lions and snakes than scientists. Readers will be drawn into dramatic tales of an elephant society at once exotic and surprisingly familiar, as O’Connell’s decades of close research reveal extraordinary discoveries about a male society not wholly unlike our own. Surely we’ve all known a Greg or two, and through this book we may come to know them in a whole new light.

Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse

Science & Math

O'Connell, Caitlin

Biological Sciences

University of Chicago Press

Meet Greg. He’s a stocky guy with an outsized swagger. He’s been the intimidating yet sociable don of his posse of friends—including Abe, Keith, Mike, Kevin, Torn Trunk, and Willie. But one arid summer the tide begins to shift and the third-ranking Kevin starts to get ambitious, seeking a higher position within this social club. But this is no ordinary tale of gangland betrayal—Greg and his entourage are bull elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia, where, for the last twenty-three years, Caitlin O’Connell has been a keen observer of their complicated friendships. In Elephant Don, O’Connell, one of the leading experts on elephant communication and social behavior, offers a rare inside look at the social world of African male elephants. Elephant Don tracks Greg and his group of bulls as O’Connell tries to understand the vicissitudes of male friendship, power struggles, and play. A frequently heart-wrenching portrayal of commitment, loyalty, and affection between individuals yearning for companionship, it vividly captures an incredible repertoire of elephant behavior and communication. Greg, O’Connell shows, is sometimes a tyrant and other times a benevolent dictator as he attempts to hold onto his position at the top. Though Elephant Don is Greg’s story, it is also the story of O’Connell and the challenges and triumphs of field research in environs more hospitable to lions and snakes than scientists. Readers will be drawn into dramatic tales of an elephant society at once exotic and surprisingly familiar, as O’Connell’s decades of close research reveal extraordinary discoveries about a male society not wholly unlike our own. Surely we’ve all known a Greg or two, and through this book we may come to know them in a whole new light.

While observing a family of elephants in the wild, Caitlin O’Connell noticed a peculiar listening behavior—the matriarch lifted her foot and scanned the horizon, causing the other elephants to follow suit, as if they could “hear” the ground. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is O’Connell’s account of her groundbreaking research into seismic listening and communication, chronicling the extraordinary social lives of elephants over the course of fourteen years in the Namibian wilderness. This compelling odyssey of scientific discovery is also a frank account of fieldwork in a poverty-stricken, war-ravaged country. In her attempts to study an elephant community, O’Connell encounters corrupt government bureaucrats, deadly lions and rhinos, poachers, farmers fighting for arable land, and profoundly ineffective approaches to wildlife conservation. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is ultimately a story of intellectual courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. “I was transported by the author’s superbly sensuous descriptions of her years spent studying the animals. . . . Conjures a high-class nature documentary film in prose.”—Steven Poole, Guardian “A ride as rough and astonishing as the roads of the African floodplain.”—Joan Keener, Entertainment Weekly “A successful combination of science and soulfulness, explaining her groundbreaking theory of how elephants use seismic communication. . . . O’Connell’s account is studded with sympathetic insights and well-turned phrases.”—Publishers Weekly “This fascinating book reads like a fast-paced detective story of a scientific discovery and adventure set in contemporary Africa. . . . By the end, O’Connell takes her rightful place among the leading biographers of the African elephant.”—Iain Douglas-Hamilton, author of Among the Elephants

The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa

Sports & Outdoors

Last summer, the Sibert Honor–winning duo Caitlin O'Connell and Timothy Rodwell witnessed the birth—and growth—of a baby elephant. In this intimate account for preschool through elementary readers, find answers to questions such as: What do newborn elephants look like? How big are they? What threatens them in the wild? Do they bully each other? Are they stalked by lions? What happens if they don't get enough food or water? Are they at risk of extinction? 
With irresistible photographs and a text that places the reader in the wonder of the savannah, this is a book to treasure for all animal lovers.

A Baby Elephant in the Wild

Children's Books

Animals

Clarion Books

Hear crisp sounds of the hornbill in the cool air. Listen to the morning symphony that greets you as you enter the front gate. Then, step onto a leafy path that leads to a secret world of animals, each of whom you won’t want to forget, here at Zoo Atlanta. Over five days we meet a menagerie of magnificent animals—pandas, elephants, gorillas, meerkats, flamingos and more—alongside the longtime animal lover, scientist, and researcher Caitlin O’Connell. With inside access to the guidance and knowledge of their beloved zoo caretakers and with stunning photographs, we are able to see the day-to-day marvels—and sometimes misfortunes—behind the animals’ enclosures that often go unseen by the everyday zoo visitor. In this example of narrative nonfiction at its best, O’Connell has created a bridge to wild, a rare chance to look beyond the zoo and to inspire guests to see for themselves just how special the animals we share our world with are.

Bridge to the Wild: Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

- 2012 Robert F.Sibert Informational Honor Book - 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book - ALA Notable Children's Book - NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science TradeBook - 2012 In the sprawling African scrubdesert of Etosha National Park, they call her "the mother of allelephants." Camouflaged and peering through binoculars, CaitlinO'Connell--the American scientist who traveled to Namibia to study Africanelephants in their natural habitat--could not believe what she was seeing. Asthe mighty matriarch scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit,stopping midstride and standing as still as statues. The observation would beone of many to guide O'Connell to a groundbreaking discovery.

The Elephant Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series)

Jackson, Donna M.

- 2012 Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book - 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book- ALA Notable Children's Book - NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book - 2012 In the sprawling African scrub desert of Etosha National Park, they call her "the mother of all elephants." Camouflaged and peering through binoculars, Caitlin O'Connell--the American scientist who traveled to Namibia to study African elephants in their natural habitat--could not believe what she was seeing. As the mighty matriarch scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, stopping midstride and standing as still as statues. The observation would be one of many to guide O'Connell to a groundbreaking discovery!

Describes the work and observations of American scientist Caitlin O'Connell during her studies of the African elephant in Etosha National Park in Nambia

The Elephant Scientist

Turtleback Books

A Stanford University field researcher documents her unexpected discoveries about elephant communication, describing her observations about how elephants engage in specific listening behaviors that reveal the complexity of their social relationships. 35,000 first printing.

Free Press

An Elephant’s Life provides a unique and fascinating immersion into the world of the African elephant, told by a leading field biologist who has been researching and photographing these animals in their natural habitat for nearly two decades. Here, for the first time, readers get a fuller picture of elephant society cast in a broader context, including the life of the male elephant in all its high drama.

Elephant's Life: An Intimate Portrait From Africa

LYONS PRESS+

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'Connell, Caitlin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by O'Connell, Caitlin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'Connell, Caitlin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse

Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse

The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa

A Baby Elephant in the Wild

Bridge to the Wild: Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

The Elephant Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series)

The Elephant Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series)

The Elephant Scientist

The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa

Elephant's Life: An Intimate Portrait From Africa