20 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CIIAV. 



food is different. The African feeds upon foliage and the succulent 

 roots of the mimosa and other trees, which it digs up with its 

 ]K)werful tusks ; the forests arc generally evergreen, and being full 

 of sap, the bark is easier to masticate than the skeleton trees of 

 India during the hottest season. Both the Indian and African 

 varieties have only four teeth, composed of Iamina3 of intensely 

 hard enamel, divided by a softer substance which prevents the 

 surface from becoming smooth with age ; the two unequal materials 

 retain their inequality in wear, therefore the rough grinding surface 

 is maintained notwithstanding the work of many years. A gland 

 at the posterior of the jaw supplies a tooth-forming matter, and 

 the growth of fresh laminae is continuous throughout life ; the 

 younger laminae form into line, and inarch forward until incor- 

 porated and solidified in the tooth. 



It is impossible to define exactly the limit of old age, as there 

 can be little doubt that captivity shortens the duration of life to a 

 great degree. We can only form an opinion from the basis of 

 growth when young. As an elephant cannot be fully developed 

 in the perfection of ivory until the age of forty, I should accept 

 that age in a wild animal as the period of a starting-point in life, 

 and I should imagine that the term of existence would be about a 

 hundred and fifty years. 



The life of an elephant in captivity is exactly opposed to its 

 natural habits. A wild Indian elephant dreads the sun, and is 

 seldom to be found exposed in the open after dawn of day. It 

 roams over the country in all directions during night, and seeks 

 the shelter of a forest about an hour before the sun rises. It 

 feeds heartily, but wastefully, tearing down branches, half of 

 which it leaves untouched ; it strips the bark off those trees which 

 it selects as tasteful, but throws wilfully away a considerable 

 portion. Throughout the entire night the elephant is feeding, and 

 it is curious to observe how particular this animal is in the choice 

 of food. Most wild animals possess a certain amount of botanical 

 knowledge which guides them in their grazing ; the only exception 

 is the camel, who would poison himself through sheer ignorance 

 and depraved appetite, but the elephant is most careful in its 

 selection of all that is suitable to its requirements. It is astonish- 

 ing how few of the forest trees are attractive to this animal. 

 Some are tempting from their foliage, others from their bark (vide 

 the powerfully astringent Catechu), some from the succulent roots, 

 and several varieties from the wood, which is eaten like the sugar- 

 cane. There is one kind of tree the wood of which alone is eaten 

 after the rind has been carefully stripped off. 



