Game Animals of India, etc. 



So many excellent accounts of the mode of life of 

 the wild Indian elephant are extant (those by Sir J. E. 

 Emerson Tennent, Sir S. Baker, and Mr. G. P. 

 Sanderson being among the best), that a short notice 

 will here suffice. The structure of the teeth is 

 sufficient to indicate that the food consists chiefly of 

 grass, leaves, succulent shoots, and fruits ; and this has 

 been found by observation to be actually the case. In 

 this respect the Asiatic species differs widely from its 

 African relative, whose nutriment is largely composed 

 of boughs and roots. Another difference between the 

 two is to be found in the intolerance of the direct rays 

 of the sun displayed by the Asiatic species, which never 

 voluntarily exposes itself to their influence. Conse- 

 quently, during the hot season in Upper India, and at 

 all times except during the rains in the more southern 

 districts, elephants keep much to the denser parts of 

 the forests. In Southern India they delight in hill- 

 forest, where the undergrowth is largely formed of 

 bamboo, the shoots of which form a favourite delicacy ; 

 but during the rains they venture out to feed on the 

 open grass-tracts. Water is essential to their well- 

 being ; and no animals delight more in a bath. Nor 

 are they afraid to venture out of their depth, being 

 excellent swimmers, and able, by means of their trunks, 

 to breathe without difficulty when the body is sub- 

 merged. The herds, which are led by females, appear 

 in general to be family parties ; and although commonly 

 restricted to from thirty to fifty, may include as many 

 as one hundred head. The oki bulls are generally 

 solitary for a considerable portion of the year, but 

 return to the herds during the pairing season. Some 

 "rogue" elephants — gunda of the natives — remain, 

 however, permanently separated from the rest of their 

 kind. All such solitary bulls, as their colloquial name 

 indicates, are of a spiteful disposition ; and it appears 

 that with the majority the inducement to live apart is 

 due to their partiality for cultivated crops, into which 



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