720 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



Africa the Roosevelt safari visited the elephants practically 

 never lie down at all; that is, the cases where they do are so 

 wholly exceptional that they can be disregarded. We heard 

 of such instances from the 'Ndorobo or Wakamba hunters, 

 or from old white elephant hunters, but always as some- 

 thing curious and unusual. In carefully following various 

 herds and individuals, carefully examining the trails they 

 had made during the preceding twenty-four or even forty- 

 eight hours, we never came across an instance where any 

 elephant had lain down. They slept and rested standing. 

 But in the desert, north of the Northern Guaso Nyiro, 

 Heller found them lying down. Whether the cows ever 

 calve without leaving the herd we cannot say; in the only 

 case brought to our attention of the site of a calf's birth 

 being found, the cow had retired to an isolated place, 

 where she had evidently spent the first two or three days 

 after the calf was born before rejoining the herd. 



By the time the calf is a week old, the mother has joined 

 the herd, usually composed of other nursing or expectant 

 mothers and of half-grown animals of both sexes. The cow 

 takes the utmost care of the calf; if it is drinking at a pool 

 she will chase away any other member of the herd which she 

 thinks may interfere with it. The cows guard the calves 

 against the attacks of wild beasts. In extremely rare cases 

 three-parts grown elephant cows or half-grown bulls have 

 been attacked by parties of hungry lions; but, as a rule, an 

 animal is safe after it is three or four years old. Young 

 calves, however, are eagerly sought after by lions and even 

 by leopards and hyenas. The cows are always on the alert 

 against such foes, and drive them away in a twinkling if 

 they are discovered, uniting in the rush against them, just 



