March 26, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET
- Elephants rule as the world’s largest land animal.
- An exhibit at the EcoTarium explores the history and vulnerability of elephants.
- Once wide-ranging, only three elephant species remain today.
To understand the future, you might first want to visit the past, and commune with the ancestors.
The exhibit, “The Secret World of Elephants,” on view through at the new, 6,400 square-foot Stoddard Exhibition Hall of the EcoTarium, provides one such path. It’s a path that begins with origins: the majestic and mysterious woolly mammoth, through elephant species living today — and the mostly manmade threats their existence.
The exhibit, which includes three-dimensional models and two-dimensional images, maps, photos, interactive activities and explanations in Spanish and English, also highlights related species, including the manatee, those gentle, basking beauties of the waterways.
Replicas of skeletons and teeth and a model acquaints the visitor with the wonders of an elephant’s inner workings, and what it takes to feed and sustain the world’s largest, extant land animal. But elephants truly give back: their nutrient-rich manure fertilizes forests and grasslands.
For many people, elephants immediately conjure an image of a graceful heard moving across an African savannah, with a flutter of their fan-like ears, and trunks swinging in a slow cadence. And this image is not incorrect, but it’s only a snapshot of the entire experience of being an elephant.
For ‘a global community’
The exhibit is on tour from the American Museum of Natural History, and the EcoTarium is only its second stop.
Noreen Johnson Smith, president and chief executive officer of the EcoTarium, took a behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibit at the museum last year. “It represents not just African elephants of the Savannah, but all African elephants, and from Southern Asia and Southeast Asia,” Smith said. “It has a little something for every community who might find this of interest.”
Smith said, “We’re a very global community, so, what we like about this exhibit is bringing in elements from different parts of the world. It reminds us that Worcester is a global community.”
In addition to the biology and behavior of elephants, the exhibit shines a light on the relationship between elephants and humans in many cultures. The social behavior of elephants, along with their beauty and strength, virtually guarantees it a role in history, storytelling and spirituality. A model of the Hindu deity Ganesh, son of Shiva and Parvati, underscores its sacred meaning in our struggle to understand the cosmos, and where we are in it as one species among many.
But as much as elephants are revered, the exhibit highlights their vulnerability. If you’re big, gloriously beautiful, can carry heavy loads and sport those gorgeous tusks, there are people who will see you only as a resource, perhaps as beasts of burden, agents of entertainment such as in circuses, and a commodity.
No less real factors are putting elephants in peril, including the loss of habitat, and climate change. Rising to the challenge are activists everywhere, from seasoned scientists to school children. Elephants once trod across nearly every contintent, but no more, and only three species remain.
Smith has seen elephants in their natural element while serving in the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic, Kenya and Tanzania. Smith said the exhibit “does real justice to the work done every day by park rangers on the frontline, protecting this species that is threatened, hunted and poached.”
In addition to protecting elephants from poachers who among other things, prize the elephants’ very marketable tusks, Smith said park rangers are part of an effort to raise and rehabilitate orphaned elephants.
‘Long-living, caring social animals’
An exhibit dedicated to elephants is certain to draw families with children, because for many of us, a love of and fascination with elephants begins young. Among the recent visitors were Corey Kintzi of Worcester and his 20-month-old son, Phoenix. Kintzi said the exhibit made for a great father-son outing.
Among the secrets of elephants to uncover: the fate of the dwarf elephant, whose extinction coincides with and is bound up with the arrival of human hunters. Katie Chappell, the EcoTarium’s deputy director of museum operations, is especially glad that the exhibit takes stock of this lesser-known member of the elephant’s far-flung family tree.
If you saw one today, you might mistake it for a baby elephant, and it’s possible that its size made it a lot easier and less dangerous to catch than, say, those massive mammoths.
But, their exinction comes down in part to hunting as well, Smith noted; and, if you want a stark descriptor of how megafauna and people don’t mix well, read the late biologist Edward O. Wilson’s “The Future of Life.”
Along with answers, a visitor to the exhibit is likely to leave with a lot of questions, both for adults, and for children beginning to learn about glory and fragility of living on the Earth.
“Elephants are long-living, caring, social animals that I think humans find easy to connect with,” said Smith. “The more you learn, the more you appreciate the species, and hopefully develop empathy and compassion to support conservation efforts.”
‘The Secret World of Elephants’
Where: EcoTarium, 222 Harrington Way
When: through Sept. 7
How much: Included with admission Tuesday through Friday. $7 additional admission to the exhibit Saturdays and Sundays. Admission $18-24. Admission to the exhibit is time-ticketed. Admission is always free to members. ecotarium.org.