1 1 34 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



well-developed tusks, which attain larger dimensions than those of the Indian 

 elephant; but Mr. Blanford states that in Eastern and Northern Abyssinia all the 

 elephants appear to be almost tuskless, or to have very small and short tusks. The 

 molar teeth are distinguished by the smaller number and greater thickness of their 

 plates; each of these plates expanding in the middle in an angulated form, so that 

 when worn (as shown in the illustration on p. 1133) each plate presents a lozenge- 

 shaped area of ivory bordered with enamel. Moreover, the enamel is not puckered in 

 the manner characterizing the molars of the Indian species. The number of plates 

 in the first molar is usually three, in the second six, in the third and fourth seven, 

 in the fifth eight, and in the last ten. 



That the African elephant frequently attains a height of ten feet 

 Dimensions ^^ Qver a ^ ^ g^^ers is well ascertained, but we have no records 

 of its maximum dimensions in the wild state. A male killed in South Africa by 

 H. R. H. the Duke of Coburg, which stood ten feet at the withers, had a length of 

 twenty-three feet five inches from the tip of the trunk to the end of the tail, with a 

 maximum girth of sixteen and one-half feet; its weight being eight thousand eight 

 hundred pounds. In one killed near Lake Nyassa by Sir John Kirk, the height at 

 the withers was ten feet three inches, the total length twenty-five feet two inches, 

 and the maximum girth eighteen feet. These dimensions are, however, largely ex- 

 ceeded by those of the well-known " Jumbo, " formerly in the London Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, whose height at the withers was eleven feet, and his weight 

 thirteen thousand pounds. As this animal was brought up in captivity, there 

 can be no doubt but that wild individuals must attain considerably larger 

 dimensions, and Sir Samuel Baker states that he has seen very much larger ani- 

 mals than " Jumbo." 



In regard to the dimensions of the tusks, Sir Samuel Baker gives about one 

 hundred and forty pounds for the average weight of a pair in a full-grown male; 

 but owing to the exclusive use of one tusk for digging, the two would not be of 

 equal weight. The same writer states that a single tusk sold in London in 1874 

 weighed one hundred and eighty -eight pounds; and one in the possession of Sir E. G. 

 Loder weighs one hundred and eighty-four pounds, with a length of nine feet five 

 inches, and a girth of twenty-two and one-half inches. Another mentioned by Sir 

 Samuel Baker weighed one hundred and seventy-two pounds; while one recorded 

 by Sir J. Kirk had a weight of one hundred and sixty pounds, a length of nine 

 feet four inches, and a girth of twenty and one-half inches. A fine specimen in the 

 collection of Mr. Rowland Ward has the same length as the last, but its weight is 

 one hundred and ten pounds, and its girth eighteen inches. The longest on record 

 appears, however, to be one mentioned by Gordon Gumming, of which the length is 

 given as twenty feet nine inches, and the weight one hundred and seventy-three 

 pounds. 



Distribution A1 though its fossilized remains have been found in the superficial 

 deposits of Spain, Sicily, and Algeria, this species is now confined to 

 Africa south of the Sahara, where it was formerly spread over the whole of the 

 wooded districts. Owing, however, to constant persecution for the sake of its tusks, 

 the African elephant has been greatly reduced in numbers, and is now practically 



