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Climate change is creating a new job for elephants - Quartz
Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, which means we need to figure out how to deal with severe tsunamis and storms when they become the norm. How can human lives be saved in places where the roads are washed out and driving is impossible? Is there some kind of technology that might help?
Geographer Jacob Shell has an idea that involves employing an old and wise friend of humanity. In his upcoming book Giants of the Monsoon Forest—an ode to elephant intelligence and a history of their working relations with people in Asia—Shell suggests that training these smart creatures to be rescue workers would not only save human lives, but also ensure that the threatened animal survives.
Asian elephants are the world’s second largest land species, surpassed in size only by their own kind in Africa. Although both continents are home to these giant creatures, the animals’ fate differs drastically from one place to another.
Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, which means we need to figure out how to deal with severe tsunamis and storms when they become the norm. How can human lives be saved in places where the roads are washed out and driving is impossible? Is there some kind of technology that might help?
Geographer Jacob Shell has an idea that involves employing an old and wise friend of humanity. In his upcoming book Giants of the Monsoon Forest—an ode to elephant intelligence and a history of their working relations with people in Asia—Shell suggests that training these smart creatures to be rescue workers would not only save human lives, but also ensure that the threatened animal survives.
Asian elephants are the world’s second largest land species, surpassed in size only by their own kind in Africa. Although both continents are home to these giant creatures, the animals’ fate differs drastically from one place to another.