NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



ears arc not so likely to attract attention, and cases 

 are on record of men actually walking up to within 

 a yard or two of an Elephant before seeing it. 

 Elephants feed during the night and early morning. 

 In the summer season they drink nightly, but not 

 so frequently when the weather is cooler. They 

 love to wallow and squirt water over themselves. 



Their diet consists of wild fruits, berries, twigs, 

 leaves, various kinds of succulent plants, roots, 

 bark, etc. They seldom eat grass. The Elephant 

 is equally at home in flat forest country, or in broken 

 hilly "parts. They go up-hill at a slow, deliberate 

 pace, but come down with a rush when disturbed, 

 often sliding on their haunches with their hind-legs 

 doubled under them. 



They are excellent swimmers, and swim with the 

 trunk held high up, and very little of the body 

 showing. 



When feeding they spread out over a considerable 

 area, and in districts where they are persecuted they 

 are almost constantly on the move. When alarmed 

 the pace is a shuffling trot, swift enough to over- 

 take a man on foot, after a short run. When hard 

 pressed by a hunter they soon get exhausted, and 

 frequently draw water from their stomachs with 

 their trunks, and squirt it over their heads to cool 

 and revive themselves. 



The period of gestation of the African Elephant 

 is not known, but it is assumed it is the same as the 

 Indian species, which is about twenty-one months. 



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