Thousands of elephants being used for entertainment across Asia are kept in cruel, abusive conditions fuelled by the growing tourism industry, World Animal Protection has found. Three out of four elephants surveyed in south-east Asia’s popular tourist destinations are living in harsh conditions where they are being used for rides, with mostly steel or wooden saddles, and tied in chains less than three metres long.

Hong Kong customs officials have announced their largest-ever seizure of ivory, a haul of “about 7,200 kilograms,” or 16,000 pounds. The shipment was hidden in a container labeled as fresh fish, but instead contained more than $9 million worth of ivory hidden under the seafood, the Hong Kong government reported.

Why elephants do not get cancer is a famous conundrum that was posed — in a different form — by epidemiologist Richard Peto of the University of Oxford, UK, in the 1970s3. Peto noted that, in general, there is little relationship between cancer rates and the body size or age of animals. That is surprising: the cells of large-bodied or older animals should have divided many more times than those of smaller or younger ones, so should possess more random mutations predisposing them to cancer.

Elephants have passed a test of intelligence which scientists say has “profound” implications for our understanding of their mental capabilities. They were found to be capable of performing a task that showed they have a level of self-understanding that is rare in the animal world and defeats humans until they are about two years old. Elephants have already shown they can recognise themselves in a mirror, something that is thought to be relatively rare among animals.

Maybe not just because they didn't know what elephants looked like.

… the world would be a brighter, smellier, noisier place – and you would be a better, wiser, kinder person. Charles Foster, the author of Being a Beast explains all.