14 AFRICAN ELEPHANT 



that approaches with superb fearlessness, raising their ears and scream- 

 ing lustily the while. On one occasion I saw a calf so small that, 

 when it charged, I seized it by the trunk with one hand, and catching 

 hold of one of its fore-legs with the other, was able to throw it on 

 its back. 



" In districts where food is abundant, and where they feel themselves 

 secure from molestation, elephants lead a lazy life and do little 

 travelling. They feed at nights and in the early mornings, after 

 which they will stand sleeping till late in the afternoon, sometimes in 

 the shade of trees, but more often in jungle not high enough to com- 

 pletely cover them, when their backs and the tops of their heads are 

 exposed to the full heat of the sun. As they stand sleeping or dozing, 

 they keep continually moving their great ears, twitching them slightly 

 forwards from the neck at frequent and regular intervals. This 

 constant movement of the ears may be intended to keep flies off their 

 necks, over which they often blow fine sand, possibly with the same 

 purpose. Where food is scarce and scattered, or where they are much 

 hunted, elephants travel enormous distances, resting only during the 

 hottest hours of the day. In the forests on the northern slope of 

 Mashonaland, where some years ago there were still many herds, and 

 where the sun was not intensely hot at any time of day in winter, it 

 appeared to me that the elephants scarcely took any rest. At any rate, I 

 have known them travel all day without resting, feeding as they went. 

 In hot weather elephants drink every night, if possible, but on the Chobi 

 river I think that during the cold season they only drank on alternate 

 nights. Although I have often seen places where they have rolled, or 

 rubbed themselves on the side of ant-heaps, I have never either seen 

 elephants actually lying down to rest, or found marks on the ground 

 where they had been lying ; and I conclude that, except when rolling 

 in mud and water, the African elephant never lies down during its 

 whole life. Neither the period of gestation nor the age attained by 

 the African elephant has been ascertained with accuracy. 



" There is probably no animal possessed of keener smell than the 

 African elephant. The sense of hearing, although by no means 

 remarkably acute, is also fairly well developed ; but in the matter of 

 eyesight the species is decidedly deficient, as it cannot distinguish a 

 human being from a tree-stump, even when the former is standing in 

 full view within fifty yards. Any movement will, however, be at once 

 noticed. In one respect the South African elephant is extremely 

 timid, and it will do everything in its power to avoid meeting a human 

 being. When actually attacked, elephants are often very savage, and 



