1 120 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



The tusks of the male vary greatly in length and weight. A pair obtained by 

 Mr. Sanderson measured five feet along the curve, with a girth of sixteen inches at 

 the point of emergence from the jaw, their weight being seventy- four and one-half 

 pounds. The single perfect tusk of the elephant referred to above as having been 

 killed by Sir V. Brooke measured eight feet in length, and nearly seventeen inches 

 in circumference, and weighed ninety pounds. This weight is, however, exceeded by 

 a shorter tusk of about six feet in length, which reached one hundred pounds; and 

 specimens obtained from the Garo hills are reported to have respectively weighed 

 one hundred and fifty-five and one hundred and fifty-seven pounds. 



It is of course impossible to obtain any accurate data as to the age 



which the Indian elephant may attain in its wild state, and we can 

 only, therefore, suggest an approximation to what this may be from captive speci- 

 mens. Although full grown at the age of twenty-five, an elephant, as determined 

 by the condition of its teeth, is not then mature. A female captured in Coorg in 

 1805, when about three years of age, did not appear to be particularly old-looking 

 in 1878, although she had then passed her prime. Other individuals have been 

 known to live in captivity for over a century; and since it is obvious that the arti- 

 ficial mode of life which prevails in this state cannot be one tending to promote 

 longevity, it is probable that the estimate of a century and a half as the duration of 

 life in the wild state is not excessive. 



At the present day the Indian elephant inhabits the forest regions 



of India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma, Siam, Cochin-China, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo; although Mr. Blanford is of opinion that its occurrence in the island last 

 named may be due to human agency. According to the same writer, in India ele- 

 phants ' ' are still found wild along the base of the Himalayas as far west as Dehra 

 Dun; also in places in the great forest country between the Ganges and Kistna as 

 far west as Bilaspur and Mundlah, in the Western Ghats as far north as 17 or 18, 

 and in some of the forest-clad ranges of Nagpoor and farther south. They do not 

 appear to ascend the Himalayas to any elevation, but are sometimes found at con- 

 siderable elevations above the sea in Southern India, and in Ceylon they range near 

 Newera Ellia, over seven thousand feet." In former times their distributional area 

 in India was still more extensive. 



For full accounts of the habits of the Indian elephant, both in the 

 Habits .,, , , 



wild and domestic state, we are largely indebted to the writings of Sir 



Emerson Tennent, Mr. G. P. Sanderson, and Sir Samuel Baker. The accounts of 

 the former were, however, largely drawn from native sources, and are, therefore, in 

 some respects, less reliable than those of the other two. It is, accordingly, mainly 

 from the latter that the following summary is compiled. 



Elephants chiefly frequent districts covered with tall forests, where the ground 

 is undulating or hilly, and where bamboos grow in profusion. During the hot 

 months, in the early part of the year, they keep chiefly to the densest portions of 

 the forest, in the neighborhood of water; but with the commencement of the rains 

 they venture out into the open glades to feed upon the young succulent grass, and 

 in the late summer in the Madras districts descend at times to the lower jungles. 

 Contrary to general opinion, the Indian elephant is exceedingly intolerant of the 



