Thirty life-size elephant sculptures are standing in downtown Livermore through Dec. 6, the only West Coast stop this year for a traveling outdoor exhibition that has never before come to the Bay Area.
"The Great Elephant Migration: A Family Gathering" opened Saturday, Oct. 10, with the herd split between Stockmen's Park and Bankhead Plaza, the Pleasanton Weekly reported. The full project has 100 elephants; Livermore is hosting what organizers call a mini-migration of 30. The touring show began in 2024.
Made from an invasive weed
Each sculpture is modeled on a particular wild elephant from the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. Indigenous craftspeople of the Real Elephant Collective, who come from the Bettakurumba, Paniya, Kattunayakan and Soliga communities in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, built them using lantana camara, a flowering plant that the project's website calls one of the world's most invasive weeds.
Clearing it for the sculptures is meant to aid forest restoration in India, where the plant has spread over 40% of forests, according to the project.
Money raised by the exhibition supports Indigenous-led and community conservation, livelihood and habitat projects. The Great Elephant Migration says it has given out over $1.4 million for that work since 2024.
