Jeheskel (Hezy) Shoshani

Hezy became interested in elephants after reading "Burma Boy" by Willis Lindquist. His primary research has been the evolutionary biology of elephants, their anatomy and physiology and how to apply this knowledge to our understanding of elephant behavior and ecology. He taught at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan USA, for approximately 25 years. In 1977 he established the Elephant Research Foundation (an international nonprofit organization) and is the editor of its publication, Elephant. Hezy has published about 200 scientific and some popular articles and was the editor of two books on elephants and their relatives: a popular book, "Elephants: Majestic Creatures of the Wild" (2000, Checkmark Books, New York) and a technical volume (with Pascal Tassy), "The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Their Relatives" (1996, Oxford University Press, England). As of the fall 1998 he has been teaching at the University of Asmara, Eritrea, and conducting research on mammals in general and elephants in particular, currently (2002-3) funded by the Born Free Foundation in the UK. In January 2003, on an expedition to search elephants, Hezy almost lost his life, by... one of his beloved research subjects who charged him, but miraculously he escaped with only minor injuries.

Hezy was and is the prime mover in creating the Elephant Research Foundation Library and in the decision to move that collection to the Wayne State University Libraries.


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