Huge Herd of Unusual Elephants Lumbers Into Manhattan En Route to Los Angeles

Sep 27

Sep 27 Huge Herd of Unusual Elephants Lumbers Into Manhattan En Route to Los Angeles

A herd of elephants has come to New York City’s Meatpacking District. The Great Elephant Migration is a traveling art installation and fundraiser centered on 100 life-sized elephant sculptures.

The organizers of the Great Elephant Migration describe their project as “a collaboration between indigenous artisans, contemporary artists and cultural institutions, it will raise millions of dollars to power human-wildlife coexistence projects and protect migratory animals making spectacular journeys across land, rivers, skies and oceans.”

The sculptures were created by The Coexistence Collective, a community of 200 indigenous artisans in the Nilgiri Hills of South India. All the sculptures are plant-based, made from lantana camara, an invasive species that has taken over 40 percent of forests in India. The toxic shrub chokes out native plants and erases food sources for animals. One of the goals of the great elephant project is to support a large-scale lantana removal project aimed at restoring vast tracts of forest.

Each sculpture is modeled after an actual elephant, almost all of them from India, although two represent Africa – Edie and Chaimu, real orphans rescued by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. All of the elephants are available for purchase, ranging in price from $8000 for a baby to $22,000 for an adult with tusks.

The installation began its North American tour in Newport, Rhode island for a brief stint among the mansions near Cliff Walk. The elephants will graze through New York until mid-October, then it’s on to Miami Beach, followed by a visit to the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, and winding up in Los Angeles in July 2025.

Aside from buying one of the elephants, there are many other ways to support the art project-cum-conservation drive. One can purchase other eco-friendly merch, volunteer to watch over the herd near you, or even help with the migration across America. Learn all about it here.