science

When Elephants Were Young

When Elephants Were Young is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand When Elephants Were Young rather than just read about it. In short: When Elephants Were Young is a 2015 Canadian documentary film directed by World Elephant Day Co-founder Patricia Sims and narrated by William Shatner. It follows the story of Wok and his young elephant Nong Mai, as they street beg in Bangkok until the opportunity comes to release the elephant to the wild.

Key takeaways

When Elephants Were Young belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect When Elephants Were Young to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of When Elephants Were Young from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

When Elephants Were Young is a 2015 Canadian documentary film directed by World Elephant Day Co-founder Patricia Sims and narrated by William Shatner. It follows the story of Wok and his young elephant Nong Mai, as they street beg in Bangkok until the opportunity comes to release the elephant to the wild. The film premiered at the Whistler Film Festival on December 5, 2015.

Synopsis William Shatner narrates this story of a young man and his young elephant living together in Thailand. Twenty-six-year-old Wok has been caring for Nong Mai since she was three. Nong Mai is one of 35 captive elephants in Wok's village in north-eastern Thailand. The traditions of elephant keeping have been passed down from generation to generation, but they are quickly fading in the modern world. Wok is Nong Mai's mahout, her keeper. Their tender bond reveals a complex relationship - most elephants in Thailand live with humans, despite their wild and potentially dangerous nature. Although it's illegal to street beg with elephants in Thailand, Wok and his family need the money. Mired in debt, street begging with Nong Mai has become the family business. Leaving his village, Wok wanders the streets of Bangkok with Nong Mai, day after day, peddling sugar cane to people who want to feed the elephant. But only a few buy; many shun him. People increasingly believe that elephants do not belong in the city, in captivity, but should be in the wild, free. Some even scold him for dragging an elephant into the city, despite the poverty and lack of opportunity that cause the elephant business to persist. The film explores the central role that elephants play in Thai culture - elephants have been ingrained in traditions and spirituality for thousands of years. Yet today, Asian elephants are facing extinction: they are an endangered species, with fewer than 45,000 Asian elephants left on earth. Most elephants in Thailand are forced into the $40-billion-a-year tourism trade. The film explains that illegal tusks are smuggled into the country, making Thailand one of the biggest markets for the global ivory trade. It also describes how the growing human population continues to trespass into elephant habitats. A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants roamed freely in Thailand's lush forests. Today, only 4,000 remain - 2,800 of which are captive. The film shows how an organization in Thailand is fighting to change the fate of captive elephants: the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation releases them into vast, protected, wild forest habitats within Thailand that are off-limits to humans. This organization makes an offer to purchase Nong Mai and reintroduce her to the wild. Separating Nong Mai from Wok isn't easy - she is part of their family. Living without her will be like 'having no hands or feet,' according to Wok. But he can no longer make a living from street begging. The challenges of keeping Nong Mai in his rural village are too difficult. Wok must let her go. The opportunity for Nong Mai's survival demonstrates a successful conservation model that shows, despite imminent threats to the survival of Asian elephants, a happy ending for one may offer hope for all.

Development The film was shot in Thailand, over the course of five years, by director Patricia Sims and cinematographer Michael Clark. They followed Wok and Nong Mai street begging in Bangkok, and filmed Nong Mai in the Sublangka wildlife sanctuary after her release. The filmmakers were almost killed in a dramatic car accident in 2014, when their vehicle was struck and plunged over a mountainside - fortunately, all survived their injuries.

Release After its World Premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, the film had its Hometown Premiere at the Victoria Film Festival. The film had its U.S. and International Premiere at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in April 2016, where it won Best Documentary Feature, and will be theatrically released in August 2016.

Soundtrack The film's soundtrack includes songs by Kate Bush/Placebo, Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens, cellist Jami Sieber, Chris Caddell and the Wreckage, and Geoff Callaghan and The Schopenhauer Incident. The original music score is composed by Bruce Fowler. The album Acoustic for Elephants, released December 2015, features songs from the film's soundtrack and all proceeds go to the annual World Elephant Day campaign.

References

External links Official Website When Elephants Were Young at the Internet Movie Database

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with When Elephants Were Young

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what When Elephants Were Young claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to When Elephants Were Young before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about When Elephants Were Young ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of When Elephants Were Young

In research: When Elephants Were Young appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses When Elephants Were Young in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: When Elephants Were Young is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015 Canadian films, 2015 English-language films, 2015 films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for When Elephants Were Young outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study When Elephants Were Young in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what When Elephants Were Young means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain When Elephants Were Young out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is When Elephants Were Young in simple terms?

Why does When Elephants Were Young matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study When Elephants Were Young?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on When Elephants Were Young.