BABY ELEPHANTS.
The adult elephant attracts attention because of its great size and
massive proportions; but the baby elephant is sure of the undisguised
admiration of the young folk, for an exactly opposite reason; and perhaps
no animal excites quite so much interest among all classes.
At least two Asiatic elephants claim America as their birthplace. The
first one was born in Philadelphia in 1880, where, with its mother, it
attracted great attention, people going from far and near to visit it.
The second baby elephant was born in Bridgeport in 1882, its mother being
Mr. Barnum’s Asiatic elephant Hebe. This infant proboscidian was named
after the city of its birth and has probably been watched, fed, and
petted by hundreds of thousands of children in the United States.
It is rare that elephants display any great affection for their young.
Sir Emerson Tennent quotes Knox as saying that “the she’s are alike
tender of any one’s young ones, as of their own.” Mr. Sanderson, in
charge of the government elephants in India, contradicts this, and
states that “much exclusiveness is shown by elephants in the detailed
arrangements amongst themselves in a herd; and if the mothers and young
ones be closely watched, it will be seen that the latter are very rarely
allowed familiarities by other females, nor, indeed do they seek them. I
have seen,” he says, “many cases in the Kheddahs where young elephants,
after losing their mothers by death or other causes, have been refused
assistance by the other females and have been buffetted as outcasts. I
have only known one instance of a very gentle, motherly elephant, in
captivity, allowing a motherless calf to nurse along with her young one.”
The baby Bridgeport weighed at birth two hundred and forty-five pounds,
and commenced nursing an hour and forty minutes later,—not with its
trunk, as was supposed in the days of Buffon, but with its mouth, like
all other mammals. The young elephants are nourished upon milk until they
are six months old, when they eat a small quantity of tender grass; but
for several months they depend principally upon milk. A single elephant
is usually born at a time, though occasionally twins are seen among wild
elephants. Sometimes three small elephants are observed about the mother;
but they are generally of different ages, or are twins and a brother or
sister two years and a half older.
The new baby Bridgeport, when I first saw it, was one of the most
interesting creatures possible to imagine. Its diminutive stature, just
about the size of the adult pygmies, described in Chap. IV.; its short
trunk and tail; its pinkish skin, and small, solemn eyes, made it the
most grotesque and comical little fellow in the world. Like all young
animals, it was quite playful, and its attempts at frisking about were
very amusing. It would seize its mother’s tail or her trunk, or dart
between her colossal legs in a veritable game of hide and seek, while
she looked on with evident pride, displaying not the slightest alarm
when the keeper lifted the baby in a variety of positions so that Mr.
James C. Beard could sketch it. This is a peculiarity that few mothers in
the lower animal kingdom have; and even the partly wild elephants seem
to have perfect faith in man, trusting their young with them, and not
resenting any familiarity that does not harm them.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.
HEBE AND BABY BRIDGEPORT. (ASIATIC FEMALE ELEPHANT AND YOUNG.)
_Page 179._]
Among many animals, especially sea-lions, the mortality of the young,
resulting from carelessness or clumsiness on the part of the parent,
is very great; but it is very rarely, if ever, that a baby elephant
is killed or injured. This is true in the great herds when they are
stampeded by various enemies. When on the march, the mothers and young go
in advance; but when the note of alarm is sounded, they immediately fall
back, the tuskers, or males, going to the front; and an observer at this
time would be astonished at the sudden disappearance of the young. At the
first alarm, they run to their mother, and place themselves beneath her,
shuffling along in this way; yet so careful are these enormous parents,
that even in travelling at a rapid rate, and crowded by one another, the
babies are never harmed. To this great care on the part of elephants is,
undoubtedly, due the safety of men who handle these animals; the great
brutes being instinctively careful of all smaller attendants.
In wild Asiatic elephants, the greatest number of births are during
September, October, and November. When a baby elephant is added to the
herd, they remain about the mother for two or three days, to give the
little one an opportunity to gain strength. The greatest care is given
the youngsters by the mothers. They are assisted over rough places,
pushed up hills, and are never an encumbrance to the movements of the
body.
Perhaps the most amusing sight is witnessed when a herd with young have
to swim deep streams. When the mothers are once off bottom, very little
of their great bodies shows above the surface; and they often swim or
walk with only the tip of the trunk showing. If the infant is very young,
or there is danger of its taking cold, the old one takes it in her trunk,
and holds it above the water as she swims: others are supported at the
surface. Older babies scramble upon the mother’s back, and ride along
with only the curious cushions of their feet in the water; while some sit
astride the old one’s back, holding on with their legs.
The baby elephant does not lack courage. Sir Emerson Tennent states that
once when a herd of elephants was captured, two tiny elephants were
entrapped with them,—one about ten months old, whose head was covered
with brown curly hair, and the other a little older. They both kept with
the herd, trotting in and out between the legs of their elders, being
caressed by all. According to the same writer, when the mother of the
youngest was singled out by the noosers, and was dragged along, the
little one followed, showing great indignation at the proceedings, and
prevented them from putting a second noose over the mother; running in
between her and the natives, trying to seize the rope, and pushing and
striking them with its diminutive trunk, until it became so annoying
that it had to be captured and carried away by main force. Even then it
resisted, shrieking loudly, stopping to look back at every step; but
finally it attached itself to a large female, and stood by her fore-legs,
and moaned continually. After a while, however, it made its escape, and
returned to its dam; and when recovered, both babies shrieked lustily,
struck at the men with their trunks, and twisted their little bodies
into many curious contortions.
Perhaps the most laughable part of this scene was, that the babies would
eagerly seize any article of food that was thrown them, and still keep on
screaming all the while they were eating.
These interesting infants were afterwards sent down to Colombo, to the
house of Sir Emerson Tennent, and became great pets. “One,” he says,
“attached himself especially to the coachman, who had a little shed
erected for him near his own quarters at the stables. But his favorite
resort was the kitchen, where he received a daily allowance of milk
and plantains, and picked up several little delicacies besides. He was
innocent and playful in the extreme; and, when walking in the grounds,
he would trot up to me, twine his little trunk around my arm, and coax
me to take him to the fruit-trees. In the evening the grass-cutters, now
and then, indulged him by permitting him to carry home a load of fodder
for the horses, on which occasions he assumed an air of great gravity
that was highly amusing, showing that he was deeply impressed with the
importance and responsibility of the service intrusted to him. Being
sometimes permitted to enter the dining-room, and helped to fruit at
dessert, he at last learned his way to the sideboard; and on more than
one occasion, having stolen in during the absence of the servants, he
made a clean sweep of the wineglasses and china, in his endeavors to
reach a basket of oranges. For these and other pranks, we were at last
obliged to put him away.”