The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl,…

A university research team conducting a decade-long study on several group of Asian and African elephants revealed that, much like humans, elephants often manipulate and isolate distressed individuals by withholding common, everyday physical touches or pointedly refusing to vocalize. This is the first empirical evidence of calculated indifference in elephant society. The targeted elephant, often bewildered by its sudden (and often unjustified) abandonment, will roar, bellow, or emit a series of low-frequency growls in order…