Endless other stories are told of the sagacity of this noble animal, some of them, however, probably not ungarnished with considerable exaggeration. However, this creature does undoubtedly possess a most wonderful amount of intelligence, and it is believed that the Indian species, both in sagacity and docility, surpasses the African.
The White Elephants, held in reverence in Siam, and extremely rare, are not distinct from the rest; they are merely albinoes, or white varieties, and are to be viewed in the same light as white Blackbirds or white Sparrows.
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT[259] is distinguished at once from the Indian species by the great size of its ears, its larger eye, convex forehead, darker colour of its skin, and by possessing only three instead of four nails or hoofs in the hind foot. It is indigenous to Africa, being found south of the Sahara as far as Cape Colony, and from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. It formerly lived north of the Sahara, and in the Pleistocene age of geologists was found in Europe, in Italy, and in Spain, to which points it probably crossed at the time when the submerged barriers between Sicily and Africa, and Gibraltar and Africa, were above the level of the water.
Unlike the Indian species, both the males and the females are provided with tusks. The African differs also considerably in his habits, for while the Indian enjoys coolness and shade, the African is more or less exposed to the burning sun.
According to Sir Samuel Baker, “in Africa the country being generally more open than in Ceylon, the Elephant remains throughout the day either beneath a solitary tree, or exposed to the sun in the vast prairies, where the thick grass attains a height of from nine to twelve feet. The general food of the African Elephant consists of the foliage of trees, especially of mimosas. Many of the mimosas are flat-headed, about thirty feet high, and the richer portion of the foliage confined to the crown. Thus, the Elephant, not being able to reach to so great a height, must overturn the tree to procure the coveted food. The destruction caused by a herd of Elephants in a mimosa forest is extraordinary, and I have seen trees uprooted of so large a size that I am convinced no single Elephant could have overturned them. I have measured trees four feet six inches in circumference, and about thirty feet high, uprooted by Elephants. The natives have assured me that they mutually assist each other, and that several engage together in the work of overturning a large tree. None of the mimosas have tap roots; thus the powerful tusks of the Elephants applied as crowbars at the roots, while others pull at the branches with their trunks, will effect the destruction of a tree so large as to appear invulnerable.”
The following account by Gordon Cumming, which, on some points as to the habits and haunts of the African Elephant does not agree with that of Sir Samuel Baker, may be explained by the different nature of the country hunted by him:—“The Elephant is widely diffused through the vast forests, and is met with in herds of various numbers. The male is much larger than the female. He is provided with two enormous tusks. These are long, tapering, and beautifully arched; their length averages from six to eight feet, and they weigh from sixty to a hundred pounds each. In the vicinity of the Equator the Elephants attain to a larger size than to the southward; and I am in possession of a pair of tusks of the African bull Elephant, the larger of which measures ten feet nine inches in length, and weighs one hundred and seventy-three pounds.
“Old bull Elephants are found singly or in pairs, or consorting together in small herds, varying from six to twenty individuals. The younger bulls remain for many years in the company of their mothers, and these are met together in large herds of from twenty to a hundred individuals. The food of the Elephant consists of the branches, leaves, and roots of the trees, and also of a variety of bulbs, of the situation of which he is advised by his exquisite sense of smell. To obtain these he turns up the ground with his tusks, and whole acres may be seen thus ploughed up. Elephants consume an immense quantity of food, and pass the greater part of the day and night in feeding. Like the Whale in the ocean, the Elephant on land is acquainted with, and roams over, wide and extensive tracts. He is extremely particular in always frequenting the freshest and most verdant districts of the forests, and when one district is parched and barren, he will forsake it for years and wander to great distances in quest of better pasture.”
AFRICAN ELEPHANT.