294 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1&23 



marked pole which shows graphically the great height of that enor- 

 mous elephant — nearly 11 feet at the shoulder. There are, however, 

 authentic records of wild African elephants of greater size than 

 Jumbo; the highest reliable record is of one which measured 11 

 feet Qy 2 inches. 



The tusks of elephants are the incisor teeth and are the chief 

 source of commercial ivory. Some of the extinct elephants, as 

 the mastodon, had tusks in the lower as well as the upper jaws. 

 A single tusk of an East African bull elephant has been known to 

 weigh 235 pounds, but this, of course, is far in excess of the normal 

 weight even for a large animal. Heller says the average tusk 

 weight to-day for old wild bull elephants is not more than 40 pounds 

 for each tusk; but before the biggest males were shot off by the 

 professional ivory hunters the average was probably about 80 pounds. 

 Tusks of female elephants are much smaller and more slender than 

 those of males, but sometimes grow to a great length. 



THE TAPIRS 



The Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) has been most success- 

 fully kept in the Zoological Park and no less than nine young have 

 been reared from a single pair that lived here for many years. 

 Strange to say, this tapir lives equally as well in outdoor yards 

 with warm but unheated quarters as in heated buildings. One 

 fine specimen has withstood the winter weather of Washington since 

 1911, appears quite unmindful of the cold, and is in perfect condi- 

 tion. It is not at all unusual in winter to see him out enjoying him- 

 self in the snow when other animals, even those from temperate or 

 colder climates, have retired to their shelters. 



The Malay, or saddle-backed tapir (Tapirus indicus) is a strik- 

 ingly marked species native to the Malay Peninsula, Java, and 

 Sumatra. The back and sides are whitish, sharply set off from the 

 otherwise blackish body. This apparently conspicuous marking is 

 said to have great protective value, since the animal inhabits gray- 

 boulder-strewn wooded regions where the tiger is often its most 

 persistent foe. When lying quietly it is easily overlooked among the 

 boulders. 



Young tapirs are pretty little creatures with stripes and spots of 

 yellowish white which gradually disappear during the first eight 

 months after birth. 



Other species of tapir are found in the forests of western South 

 America and in Central America north to southern Mexico. The 

 Brazilian species is especially fond of water and spends much of its 

 time in marshy places. 



