THE MAMMOTH. 215 



With regard to the tusks of the Mammoth, which are consider- 

 ably larger than those of either the African or Indian elephant, it 

 is evident that they must have been of some service, for Nature 

 would never have endowed the animal with such great and 

 ponderous instruments to support which the skull is greatly 

 modified in both the Mammoth and elephant without some 

 definite purpose. We have often been asked how the Mammoth 

 used his tusks ; now, this question can best be answered by 

 reference to the habits of living elephants. The elephant of to-day 

 is a fairly peaceable creature, but, if attacked, can despatch the 

 aggressor in various ways. Some enemies he can crush under 

 his feet ; a man he can pick up with his trunk and hurl to a con- 

 siderable distance, probably with fatal results. But the tusks do 

 not appear to be used as weapons of offence or defence. We 

 must consider how the animal feeds. The general food of 

 the elephant consists of the foliage of trees. In Africa it feeds 

 largely on mimosas. Now, it is clear that, in spite of having a 

 long trunk, an elephant cannot obtain all the leaves of a tall tree 

 while the tree remains standing ; mimosa trees, for instance, are 

 often thirty feet high, and have richer foliage at the crown. So 

 it appears that they actually overturn them. On this point we 

 have the testimony of Sir Samuel Baker, who says, "The 

 destruction caused by a herd of elephants in a mimosa forest is 

 extraordinary, and I have seen trees uprooted of so large a size 

 that I am convinced no single elephant could have overturned 

 them. I have measured trees four feet six inches in circumfer- 

 ence, and about thirty feet high, uprooted by elephants. The 

 natives assured me that the elephants mutually assist each other, 

 and that several engage together in the work of overturning a 

 large tree. None of the mimosas have tap-roots ; thus the 

 powerful tusks of the elephants applied as crowbars at the roots, 

 while others pull at the branches with their trunks, will effect the 

 destruction of a tree so large as to appear invulnerable." Anothtr 

 writer says the elephant also feeds on a variety of bulbs, the 



