-> The African Elephant 



Once I found two elephants keeping company with an 

 old male giraffe. For about eight days I was able to watch 

 the three friends together. The services they rendered 

 one another for their mutual safety were quite patent, and 

 proved completely the theory that the elephant depends 

 for safety on his sense of smell and the giraffe on his 

 hearing. As far as I know, this is the first cited case of 

 the elephant and giraffe making friends, whilst the English 

 hunter, A. H. Neumann, found elephants and Grevy's 

 zebras and Grant's gazelles together, as he tells us in his 

 admirable book Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial 

 Africa. I do not consider it merely a matter of chance 

 that the elephant prefers to stay in the mountainous districts, 

 for the direction of the wind varies according to the sun's 

 altitude, and he is dependent for his safety on his sense of 

 smell. When the elephant thinks himself secure, or by 

 night, his movements are quite free and easy, but during 

 the day, and in places where danger lurks, he is very shy 

 and careful. Moving noiselessly, remaining the whole day 

 in a small space, standing for hours under the shadow of 

 the trees, he makes no sound except the unavoidable noises 

 of digestion. Should an elephant utter a cry it would be a 

 sure sign of approaching danger. But he cannot avoid the 

 noises made by his digestive organs, for, of course, the 

 enormous quantities of branches and leaves which are required 

 to sustain such an immense body can hardly be expected 

 to work noiselessly in that mighty laboratory his stomach !' 

 This fact is valuable to the hunter, tor it enables him 

 to discover the whereabouts of single elephants. 



Another reason which influences the elephant in his 



159 



