316 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



mitting their proposal for requesting the Indian Government to include in 

 the reserve certain lowland swampy areas. This has not been done at present ; 

 but the Committee intends calling the Government's special attention to the 

 new information received which further supports their claim. The protection 

 of the elephants remains, moreover, a separate problem. Even after re- 

 serves are established, and, of course, after the Decree on Hunting becomes 

 effective in Sumatra, the careful listing of existing herds will be imperative. 

 The continued gathering of data regarding each herd, in order to determine 

 which way they travel, their increase or decrease, and what damage they do, 

 will furnish the foundation for their protection and for the preservation 

 of the remaining herds. . . . May complete cooperation by the Department 

 of the Interior facilitate this task of the Netherlands Committee. 



South African Bush Elephant 



LOXODONTA AFRICANA AFRICAN A (Blumenbach) 



Elephas ajricanus Blumenbach, Handbuch der Naturg., ed. 5, p. 125, atlas, 

 pi. 19, fig. C, 1797. (Selected as Orange River, South Africa.) 



SYNONYMS: Elephas capensis F. Cuvier, Tableau Elem. de PHist. Nat. des 

 Anim., p. 149, 1798 (Orange River region, South Africa) ; Elephas ajri- 

 canus toxotis Lydekker, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1907, pp. 385, 388, Aug. 1, 

 1907 (Addo Bush, South Africa) ; Loxodonta africana zukowskyi Strand, 

 Arch, fur Naturg., vol. 90, sect. A, pt. 1, p. 68, footnote, July 1924 (Kaoko- 

 veld, South-West Africa). 



FIGS.: (Of the Tanganyika animal) M. Maxwell, 1930, 11 plates from 

 photographs. 



Because of its great size, its strength, its tusks of ivory, its 

 remarkable trunk, or proboscis, and its intelligence, the African 

 Elephant is one of the most interesting of mammals. At first con- 

 fused by early naturalists with the Indian Elephant, it is, however, 

 so different that the two are now placed in separate genera. The 

 African Elephants (Loxodonta) differ in many points, such as the 

 structure of the tip of the proboscis, with its two instead of single 

 fingerlike tips, the huge ears extending back to cover the sides of the 

 neck as far as the shoulder blade, the forehead, which is less globular 

 than in the Indian species, the cheek teeth having fewer of the high 

 enamel prisms which form their essential grinding structure, the six 

 successive teeth with usually 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, and 10 prisms, respectively, 

 against 4, 8, 12, 12, 16, 24 in the Indian Elephant ( W. L. Sclater) . 

 The African Elephant is slightly the larger, but seldom exceeds 

 11 feet in height at the shoulder, a distance not easily measured with 

 accuracy even when the animal lies dead. The weight of the famous 

 "Jumbo" was about 6.5 tons. In color the skin is slaty gray but may 

 appear in life of different tints, according to the light, the dryness 

 of the skin, and the amount of earth clinging to it if animals have 

 been dusting or wallowing. A sparse coat of short stiff hairs is 

 insufficient to obscure the hide, but near the tip of the tail these 

 hairs become stout coarse bristles growing from the edges of the 



