Little Gentle Giants
Because elephants are pachyderms, a combination of two Greek roots meaning “thick skin,” one might think that nothing bothers them and that they lead quiet, safe lives. Nothing could be further from the truth: elephants have been hunted and killed for their ivory tusks since antiquity. And people often ignore the calves left behind, who must now live out their lives as traumatized and fearful orphans.
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya offers them a refuge and second chance at a life in the wild. Photographer Joachim Schmeisser made it his mission to document the story of these abandoned baby elephants.
He followed numerous elephants through the entire process and captured fascinating pictures from their arrival at the nursery all the way to their release back into the wild. The touching animal portraits also convey the devastating consequences of poaching, because for Joachim Schmeisser, it’s about “beauty, fragility, transience, mindfulness, and about dignity and the equal standing of each individual.”
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya offers them a refuge and second chance at a life in the wild. Photographer Joachim Schmeisser made it his mission to document the story of these abandoned baby elephants.
He followed numerous elephants through the entire process and captured fascinating pictures from their arrival at the nursery all the way to their release back into the wild. The touching animal portraits also convey the devastating consequences of poaching, because for Joachim Schmeisser, it’s about “beauty, fragility, transience, mindfulness, and about dignity and the equal standing of each individual.”
Kibo
Couple I
Suguta
Tenderly
Dust III
Mudbath II
Tsavo East I
Portrait of a young orphan
Scratching Orphan
Shukuro + Tano
Soulmates I
Earth I
Sabachi
Golden Giant III
Mudbath III
The magnificent Seven
