278 THE ELEPHANT. 



her body every time she gives it milk. The young 

 elephant, whilst sucking, always grasps the nipple, 

 which projects horizontally from the breast, with 

 the side of the mouth, which enables it to suck as it 

 runs along by the side of the mother, or even under 

 her belly. 



The young are suckled for two years ; and in a 

 wild state it is said they run for suck to any female 

 near at hand, without regard to the mother. Hence 

 a cry of distress from any one of the young gene- 

 rally arouses the whole herd. 



The young animal grows rapidly at first, but after- 

 wards more slowly, until it has reached its twentieth, 

 or, as some will have it, its twenty-second year. 



Mr. Stephen Harris gives us some curious in- 

 formation in regard to the growth of the elephant. 

 Speaking of a young male that came under his 

 observation, he says : " At its birth it measured 

 thirty-five inches in height. During the seven 

 following years it attained a height of six feet four 

 inches. With the exception of its fourth and fifth 

 year, the decrease of growth had been gradual and 

 proportionate." 



Again : " In a female, which at the supposed age 

 of eleven years measured six feet nine inches, the 

 growth seems to have been much less regular. Thus, 

 during the next five years, she only added six inches 

 to her height, whilst, having become pregnant, she 

 grew no less than five inches in the short space of 

 twenty-one months. In the following seventeen 

 months, though again pregnant, she grew only half 

 an inch." 



