ELEPHANT! 1\E 



425 



Listed. The appearance of the Asiatic Elephant is familiar to all. 

 Though rarely breeding in captivity, it has been domesticated from 

 the most remote antiquity, and is still extensively used in the East 

 as a beast of burden. In the wild state it is gregarious, associating 

 in herds of ten, twenty, or more individuals, and though it may, 

 under certain circumstances, become dangerous, it is generally 

 inoffensive and even timid, fond of shade and solitude and the 

 neighbourhood of water. The height of the male at the shoulder 

 when full grown is usually from 8 to 10 feet, but occasionally as 

 much as 11. The female is somewhat smaller. 



In the African Elephant (E. africarmi) the molars (Fig. 182) are 

 of coarse construction, with fewer and larger plates and thicker 

 enamel. Ridge - formula : 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10. The plates not 

 flattened, but thicker in the middle than at the edges, so that their 

 worn grinding surfaces are lozenge-shaped. Ears very large. The 



Fin. 182. — Grinding surface of a partially worn right upper molar of the African Elephant 

 (Elepkas africanus). Letters as in the preceding figure. The left side of the figure is the front 

 of the tooth, and the lower side the outer border. (From Owen.) 



upper and lower margins of the end of the trunk forming two 

 nearly equal prehensile lips. But three hoofs on the hind foot. 

 This species now inhabits the wooded districts of the whole of 

 Africa south of the Sahara, except where it has been driven away 

 by human settlements. Fossil remains of Pleistocene age, undis- 

 tinguishable specifically, have been found in Algeria, Spain, and 

 Sicily. It was trained for war and show by the ancient Cartha- 

 ginians and Romans, and recent experience of the species in captivity 

 in England shows that it is as intelligent as its Asiatic relative, if 

 not more so, while surpassing it in courage, activity, and obstinacy. 

 Nevertheless, in modern times, no people in Africa have been 

 sufficiently civilised or enterprising to care to train it for domestic 

 purposes. It is hunted chiefly for the sake of the ivory of its 

 immense tusks, of which it yields the principal source of supply to. 

 the European market, and the desire to obtain which is rapidly 

 leading to the extermination of the species. In size the male 

 African elephant often surpasses that of Asia, but the female is 

 usually smaller. The circumference of the fore foot is half the 



