My life with giants

He is to elephants what Jane Goodall is to chimps and Dian Fossey to gorillas. But while their legacies have long been celebrated, less is known about Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

- MARC BAKER

Today, though, everyone will finally be able to learn about the Scot's extraordinary 60-year career when his work is celebrated in a new hour-long feature film, A Life Among Elephants.

It tells the story of his desperate bid to conserve a dying breed of 415,000 African gentle giants.

Iain, who founded Save the Elephants in 1993, still feels honoured to have lived side by side with the majestic animals.

The 82-year-old recalls: "For a while, I gave them all numbers but then I found that names were much easier to remember.

"I think anyone who studies elephants, and certainly it happened to me, becomes intensely aware that you are dealing with a sentient species, that it's a species where the individuals are thinking their own thoughts."

Indeed, Iain says he soon noticed the imposing creatures started to respond to the names he called them - and even called out to him in the wild.

His new friends included the memorable matriarch Boadicea and the gentle mother Virgo.

Iain says: "There's a mind there, behind that huge domed forehead.

"Getting to know them as individuals, I realised that their society was led by females, by matriarchs, and then the more I got into it, the more intricate I realised these relationships were.

"The thing about elephants is that they have a lot in common with human beings. They've got about the same lifespan, and they have a long childhood and they learn from their elders.