86 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



of a male. A baby elephant, as I have already 

 written, weighs approximately two hundred pounds 

 at birth and stands thirty-six inches high. It suckles 

 from six to nine months. The breasts of the female 

 are located just back of the fore legs, and the baby 

 runs its trunk up along its mother's side while nurs- 

 ing. Its next food is fruit and the tenderest bam- 

 boo shoots. It is very fond of sugar. It grows at 

 the rate of one inch a month up to its third year 

 and attains its full growth, but not maturity, at 

 about twenty-five. The age of an elephant is told 

 largely by the ears ; an old animal has ragged ears 

 and sunken cheeks. The height of an elephant is 

 almost exactly twice the distance around its foot. 



A herd of elephants is invariably led by the fe- 

 males, perhaps because they are the more alert to 

 catch the least sign of danger. If the herd is put 

 to flight, the males take the lead, breaking through 

 the jungle and making a trail for the females and 

 young. An elephant never goes around things ; he 

 either pushes them to one side or goes straight 

 through. He is very sure-footed and, on anything 

 that looks doubtful, he will never step without first 

 putting out a foot and trying it. For that reason, 

 it requires some skill to build a pit-trap that will 

 not attract attention. A pit-trap is practically use- 

 less, however, because the elephant is invariably 

 injured in the fall ; it allows the capture of the baby, 

 in the case of females, but at the cost of the good, 

 full-grown animal. Wild elephants, grazing in a 



