The 2009 Pirelli Calendar has been launched in Germany and according to the company, is its best yet.

Shot in Botswana by American photographer Peter Beard, the calendar was unveiled to the public at a gala dinner in Berlin.

It features seven models from Brazil, Poland, Canada, the Netherlands and Italy who have been snapped in the Okavango River delta and the Kalahari Desert.

The 70-year-old photographer utilised one of his favourite subjects, elephants, with the girls cavorting with them as they bathe and even hanging from their tusks.

The time-honoured Pirelli calendar was first launched by the Italian tyre manufacturer in 1964.

Although the first edition was a flop, within a few years it became a fixture, featuring glamorous scantily clad women against exotic backdrops.

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