Look in the mirror and, with a bit of imagination, you will see an elephant lurking under your skin. The similarities between elephants and humans are achingly familiar; look into their eyes and you'll look into their souls, reminding us of the infinite reaches of humanity, of the vast interconnections among animals from the most complex to the most simple. In short, elephants exhibit so many of our traits and foibles, both good and bad, that they are the embodiments of ourselves They are as close to humans on the evolutionary tree as are any other animals with the possible exceptions of certain apes and chimps.