266 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



importance as a source of ivory, and the huge tusks that may be useful 

 to him in his natural environment are the cause of his destruction, in 

 enormous numbers, by man, 9000 to 12,000 being killed annually for 

 the ivory trade. A medium-sized tusk weighs 60 pounds; the largest 

 size 200 pounds. 



The flesh of the elephant is used as food in some regions, the trunk 

 and feet being considered the best. The feet are said to be cooked by 

 burying them in the earth and building a large fire on top of the ground. 



FIG. 173. African elephant, Loxodonta africanus. 



Zoology, after Beddard, from Baker.) 



(From Hegner, College 



Camel. Two main species of the genus Camelus are found in the 

 Orient; the two-humped Bactrian camel of the Asiatic plateaus, 

 and the one-humped Arabian camel or dromedary. The former is 

 thickly haired and is adapted to the cold of high altitudes; both 

 are adapted to life in desert places by the possession of wide 

 soft feet; tightly closing nostrils (as a protection during sand storms); 

 a mass of stored food in the hump or humps; and particularly, by the 

 possession of tightly closing water cells in the walls of the rumen and 

 reticulum of the stomach, in which 15 or 20 quarts of water may be 

 stored, upon which, it is said, the animal may live for nearly a week. 

 It is even reported that hard-pressed travelers have been saved from 



