The Elephant 



aggravated by age. Apart from what may be exceptional 

 in cases of this kind, the biological law is that the charac- 

 teristic features of species, whether physical or mental, 

 are not developed until maturity. Most of those who 

 know these animals personally agree in the opinion that 

 solitary males are commonly dangerous ; and although the 

 existence of "rogue elephants," who always belong to 

 this class, has been denied, confirmatory evidence is too 

 strong to be rejected. When some member of a group 

 becomes separated from its relations and is lost, when a 

 young bull is driven off for precocity, or an old tusker 

 retires to solitude because he has been worsted in combat 

 with a rival, the change of state cannot fail to be distress- 

 ing, and the individual to deteriorate. At certain seasons 

 male elephants often voluntarily abandon the society of 

 females, but not usually of each other. When they grow 

 old, there is more or less tendency towards seclusion in 

 all bulls. Retirement, however, when prompted by age, 

 apathy, or loss of the incitements towards association, 

 is not at all like exile while physical powers and feelings 

 are in force. 



Ferocity is much more frequently met with in elephants 

 than most people suppose ; and as it is with these ani- 

 mals in a wild state, so is it also among those in cap- 

 tivity. There is no reason why a captured savage should 

 spontaneously evolve adornments to his moral character 

 because he is under restraint. A vicious brute is only 

 restrained by fear, and this coercive influence continues 

 just so long as apprehension is not overbalanced by 

 passion. 



