[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT, IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, REGENT'S PARK.]
The annexed Engraving will probably afford the reader a better idea of
the Zoological Gardens, than did either of our previous Illustrations.
It is indeed a fair specimen of the luxurious accommodation afforded by
the Society for their animals; while it enables us to watch the habits
of the stupendous tenants in a state of nature, or at least, free from
unnecessary restriction or confinement. It is an opportunity hitherto
but rarely enjoyed in this country; the Elephants exhibited in our
menageries being caged up, and only allowed to protrude the head outside
the bars. The Duke of Devonshire, as our readers may recollect,
possessed an Elephant which died in the year 1829: she was allowed the
range of a spacious paddock at Chiswick, but her docility, intelligence,
and affection, which were extraordinary, were only witnessed by a few
visiters. In the _Jardin du Roi_, at Paris, the Elephant has long
enjoyed advantages proportionate to his importance in the scale of
creation. Six years since we remember seeing a fine young specimen in
the enjoyment of an ample enclosure of greensward, and a spacious bath
has since been added to the accommodations. This example has been
rightly followed in our Zoologicai Gardens.
The Elephant Stable is at the extremity of the northern garden in the
Regent's Park. It is of capacious dimensions, but is built in a style of
unappropriate rusticity. Adjoining the stable is a small enclosure,
which the Elephant may measure in two or three turns. Opposite is an
enclosure of much greater extent, so as to be almost worthy of the name
of a little park or paddock. The fence is of iron, and light but
substantial. Within the area are a few lime-trees, the lower branches of
which are thinned by the Elephant repeatedly twisting off their foliage
with his trunk, as adroitly as a gardener would gather fruit. His main
luxury is, however, in his bath, which is a large pool or tank of water,
of depth nearly equal to his height. In hot weather he enjoys his
ablutions here with great gusto, exhibiting the liveliest tokens of
satisfaction and delight. Our artist has endeavoured to represent the
noble creature in his bath, though the pencil can afford but an
imperfect idea of the extasy of the animal on this occasion. His
evolutions are extraordinary for a creature of such stupendous size. His
keeper had at first some difficulty in inducing him to enter the pond,
but he now willingly takes to the water, and thereby exhibits himself in
a point of view in which we have not hitherto been accustomed to view an
Elephant in this country. The fondness of Elephants for bathing is very
remarkable. When in the water they often produce a singular noise with
their trunks. Bishop Heber describes this habit as he witnessed it near
Dacca:--"A sound struck my ear, as if from the water itself on which we
were riding, the most solemn and singular I can conceive. It was long,
loud, deep, and tremulous, somewhat between the bellowing of a bull and
the blowing of a whale, or perhaps most like those roaring buoys which
are placed at the mouths of some English harbours, in which the winds
make a noise to warn ships off them. 'Oh,' said Abdallah, 'there are
Elephants bathing: Dacca much place for Elephant.' I looked immediately,
and saw about twenty of these fine animals, with their heads and trunks
just appearing above the water. Their bellowing it was which I had
heard, and which the water conveyed to us with a finer effect than if we
had been on shore." The Elephant can also eject from his trunk water and
dust, and his own saliva, over every part of his body, to cool its
heated surface; and he is said to grub up dust, and blow it over his
back and sides, to keep off the flies.
There are two Elephants in the Zoological Gardens. Both are of the
Asiatic species. The larger animal was purchased by the Society about
fifteen months since. It is probably about eleven years old, and is
still growing; and a register of its bulk at various periods has been
commenced. The smaller Elephant was presented to the Society by Sir
Edward Barnes, late governor of Ceylon. It has been stated to be a dwarf
variety, and that its age is not far short of that of the larger
individual; but this assertion is questionable. It is much more
consistent with our knowledge of the species to regard it, in the
absence of all previous knowledge of the history of the individual, as a
young one not exceeding four years old. This specimen will be seen in
the distance of the Engraving.[1]
[1] The new-born Elephant is about three feet long. Between
fifteen and twenty years of age, Elephants may be said to be
adult. In India it is thought that they live three centuries.
The natural history of the Elephant would occupy many pages. A few
points, however, are peculiarly interesting in connexion with the
individuals from India, in the Zoological Gardens. The Indian Elephant
appears, when fully grown, to attain a larger size than the African, the
females commonly measuring from seven to eight, and the males from eight
to ten, feet in height; though we find in old accounts the height of the
Asiatic Elephant stated at fifteen or sixteen feet. The head of the
Indian is more oblong than that of the African Elephant; and the
forehead of the former has a deep concavity, while the head of the
African is round and convex in all its parts. The teeth of the Indian
species consist of narrow transverse bands of equal size, while those of
the African are larger in the middle than at the ends, and are lozenge
shaped. The ears of the Asiatic are smaller, and descend only to his
neck, while in the African species the ears cover the shoulders. The
former has four distinct toes, and the latter but three, on his hind
feet. The Elephants of Ceylon are much prized for size, beauty, and
hardihood. If the small Elephant in the Gardens be a native of Ceylon,
it is by no means a beautiful specimen of the variety.
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