Dr. Doolittle may have been able to talk to the animals, but Professor Jeheskel "Hezy" Shoshani speaks for the elephants.

Shoshani, a Wayne State University biology professor and noted elephant expert, wants to inform the world about Eritrea and raise awareness about the plight of elephants in the new African nation. Eritrea, which recently gained its independence from Ethiopia, is facing a challenge with the resettlement of its country that is resulting in the elimination elephant territories.

Shoshani has spent the past four years teaching biology at the University of Asmara in Eritrea and doing research funded in part by a grant from the United Kingdom's Born Free Foundation.

Some of those experiences included observing a herd of 28 elephants roaming through a dry riverbed of the Gash River in Eritrea last Christmas. The significance of this observation was that it had been 46 years since such a large herd roamed through Eritrea.

Shoshani, with the help of the United Nations and Irish peacekeeping troops, was able to recover the skeleton of an elephant near the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The remains are slated to be housed in the National Museum in Asmara.

Shoshani, who is respected both locally and internationally, has also excavated remains of mastodons and other Pleistocene epoch era animals in Michigan. Two of his findings have permanent homes in two metro Detroit institutions. Shoshani has a mounted elephant skeleton of a famous circus elephant here at Wayne State University. He also has contributed a mounted skeleton of a mastodon to Oakland Community College.

A videotape and digital images from Shoshani's research in Eritrea are available as well as the opportunity to interview some of the Irish troops that accompanied Shoshani on his expedition.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 14 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.