Elephants

I seem to have had elephants around me all my life. (Model ones that is!) My mother went to India when she was 19 and brought home a set of ebony ones with ivory tusks, which I used to play with when I was very young.  This little chap is only about an inch high and was a souvenir my grandfather brought home from one of his trips with the Royal Navy; it must be about 100 years old now.
The other evening we saw a TV program on elephants in Thailand.  It was about the last mahout there.  That's the name of a trainer.  He is trying to revitalize the Thai tradition of breeding and training elephants.  A thousand years ago they were used in battle and often a thousand of them would be used in a charge. It must have been quite a sight.  He was involved in a film by Oliver Stone, and had several dozen elephants at work.  During the filming the great Tsunami struck Phuket, and the elephants were used to help find missing people.  The mahout said they were as disturbed as the people by this work, but were indispensable, being far more sensitive than heavy equipment.