THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 



1117 



instruction, an elephant undoubtedly appears to have a very retentive memory, both 

 for acts of kindness and of cruelty; and this has doubtless partly contributed to its 

 character for general intelligence. 



In this connection it may be observed that the Indian species, at any rate, differs 

 from all other Mammals in the readiness with which it may be tamed and domesti- 

 cated when fully adult; nearly all of those which are captured in India being fully 

 mature. 



A curious circumstance in connection with these animals is, that the 

 bones of those which have died a natural death are scarcely ever found 

 in the forests of India, and we believe that the same is true with re- 

 gard to Africa. It has accordingly been suggested that elephants are in the habit 

 of resorting to particular spots when about to die, as is known to be the case with the 

 guanaco in South America (see p. 1002), but as no such mortuaries have ever been 

 discovered in India, this seems scarcely tenable, and the subject accordingly still re- 

 mains a complete mystery. 



Uever Found 

 Dead 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT (Elephas indicus) 



The Indian, or, as it might be better termed, the Asiatic elephant, is the more 

 specialized of the two living species, and at the same time the one most familiarly 



A RIGHT UPPER MOI.AR TOOTH O* 1 AN ELEPHANT. 



Allied to the existing Indian species. 



(Three-fourths natural size.) 



Icnown. It is characterized by its comparatively-flat forehead, and relatively-small 

 ears; as well as by the nearly naked skin being smooth, and the tail having a row 

 of long, bristly hairs at the tip, and a few inches upward, before and behind only. 

 The fore-feet have each, as a rule, five nails, and the hinder ones four. Generally 

 the males only have large tusks, those of the females being small and scarcely pro- 

 truding beyond the jaws. In some males known in India as mackua, the tusks 

 are, however, not longer than those of females. The back of the Indian ele- 

 phant is regularly convex, its middle point being higher than tho withers. 



