The largest and oldest of land mammals, the elephant, is celebrated by Heathcote Williams in a poem written and broadcast on BBC radio. The ancients recognized and revered the elephant as the philosopher statesman of the animal kingdom, but modern man is careless of its mystery. Verse, pictures and prose bring fact and feeling to demolish the myths that keep us complaisant in the mammoth's slaughter. This study explores the elephant's grace, social sophistication, sensitivity and gentle power so that the reader may acknowledge the elephant as nature's great masterpiece. Sacred Elephant will also be the subject of a BBC television program like the production of William's Whale Nation.