African Elephants live like those of India, in troops more or less numerous; yet they are sometimes found alone—these are called rovers or prowlers.
To these should be added the extinct species of the Elephant family, the famous Mammoth of the far north—a carcass of which was found under the ice in Siberia in 1799, and the wonderful Mastodon of Ohio. The bony remains of the Mastodon are found in America and in Central Europe. The tusks of the Mastodon have been found to be almost straight, while those of the Mammoth are curved round until they nearly form a circle.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
HIPPOPOTAMUS.
The Hippopotamus is an enormous animal. After the Elephant and the Rhinoceros, it is the largest of terrestrial Mammalia. Its head is very bulky and its mouth extends very nearly from eye to eye. All who have seen in the menagaries this monstrous mouth opening for a little piece of bread, have been surprised at the frightful appearance of this living gulf, armed with enormous teeth. When it is shut, the upper lip descends in front and on the sides, like an enormous blobber lip which covers the extremity of the lower jaw, and partly hides the underlip; but on the sides it is the lower lip which stands up. The nostrils, which are in front of the muzzle, are surrounded by a muscular apparatus, which closes them hermetically when the animal is under water.
The Hippopotamus inhabits Southern and Eastern Africa; but everything announces that it will not be long in disappearing before civilization, that is to say, the sportsman’s gun.
These animals live in troops on the banks of rivers and in their waters. On land, their gait is clumsy and heavy, for their own enormous weight tires them; but they are very quick and active in water, where they lose, by the pressure of the water, a great portion of their weight. And so they pass all day in the water, in which they swim and dive with great facility. When swimming they only let the upper surface of their heads be seen, from the ears to the surface of the nostrils, which allows them to breathe, to see all round them, and to hear the slightest noises. In breathing, they spout out noisily, in the form of irregular jets, such water as has become introduced into their nostrils. This spouting announces to the hunter the presence of the Hippopotamus.
The Hippopotamus feeds on young stalks of reeds, little boughs, small shrubs and water plants, also on roots and succulent bulbs.
Its cry is hoarse, but of incredible depth, power and volume. The habits of this animal are peaceable; its disposition is, in general, mild and inoffensive; it only turns vicious when it is attacked.