[Illustration: ELEPHANT.]
The Elephants are the largest animals that live on the earth, as the
Whales are the largest that live in the water. And it is said that if
size and strength conferred the right of dominion, these two creatures
would be able to divide between them the empire of the world.
The proportions of the Elephant are clumsy, its body is thick and bulky,
its gait heavy and awkward, but its general appearance is imposing and
noble. These giants of creation have three especially remarkable
features, their enormous development of skull; their curious trunk,
which is in reality a marvellous nasal organ which performs the duties
of arm and hand; and their great tusks, which are nothing but their
incisive teeth wonderfully elongated.
These tusks protect the trunk, which curls up between them when the
animal traverses woods in which there are many thorns, prickles and
thick underbrush. The Elephant also uses them for putting aside and
holding down branches, when, with its trunk it plucks off the tops of
leafy boughs. The ivory obtained from the tusks of the Elephant is
remarkable for the fineness of its grain, whiteness, hardness, and the
beautiful polish that can be given to it.
Under the feet is a sort of callous sole, thick enough to prevent the
hoofs from touching the ground, and the toes remain encrusted and hidden
under thick skin.
The Elephants live in the hottest parts of Africa and Asia, spending the
greater part of their time in the swamps and forests. Their food
consists mainly of herbs, fruit and grains.
For a long time it was asserted that Elephants could not lie down, and
that they always slept standing. It is true that among Elephants as
among Horses, are found some that can sleep standing, and only rarely
lie down; but generally they sleep lying on their side, like the
majority of quadrupeds.
The African Elephant has a head much rounder and less broad than the
Asiatic Elephant. Its ears are very much longer and its tusks are
generally stronger.
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.