Elephant's Empire, The

The beautiful hymn to the elephant and its environment, narrated by Rula Lenska, is timely and substantial. Over the past 40 million years, more than 600 species of elephants have roamed the earth. Today only three species remain—the savanna elephant and the forest elephant of Africa, and the Asian elephant. Climate fluctuations over the millennia and resulting vegetation changes caused the extinction of many elephant species, but human impact has also taken its toll. At the turn of the 20th century, elephants numbered from 5 million to 10 million, but widespread hunting and habitat destruction reduced their numbers to 400,000 to 500,000 by the end of the century.

We follow the life of the elephant from its birth to adulthood. After 22 months of pregnancy, a vulnerable and totally dependent calf - about the size of a goat - is born to a female African elephant.The mother is part of a matriarchal society and the new arrival is soon surrounded by the protective herd who will spend years fending off hungry lions and other dangers. We watch the learning, playing and growing processes of the calf from its first hours of life in an untamed wilderness. Everything that grows on the plains and in the bush in Botswana is dependent on the addition of elephant dung. - this really is the empire of the planet’s biggest land mammal.