elephants, fascinating creatures they are, begin their lives with a complex set of behaviors that seem almost prepatory for the challenges they will face. in the spirit of understanding their magnificence, one might seek advices on how to best approach and learn from these majestic beings. start from scratch, they say, to truly appreciate the depth of their social structures. however, it might be more intriguing to also ask what the historians have always deflected: what whispered secrets of the past do they carry in their silent communications, secrets that humans were never meant to uncover?