Appendix 283 



This rule cannot be applied to the African elephant. I 

 have never found such a rule to apply ; nor has Sir Samuel 

 Baker. 1 Generally, the circumference of the foot is shorter 

 than half the withers, which w r ould lead one to suppose 

 that the African elephant's foot is relatively smaller than 

 that of its Asiatic congener. 



The sole of the fore-foot of the male and that of the 

 female differ considerably, first of all in size and next in 

 shape. It being slightly oval in the case of the male, and 

 quite round in the case of the female, the hunter can 

 distinguish the spoor of a small male from that of a large 

 female. The hind-feet of both sexes are elongated ovals. 

 The hair is also more developed in the male ; the lip, the 

 interior of the ears, the tuft at the end of the tail are 

 thicker ; there is also between them, as in the case of all 

 animals, difference in thickness of neck, chest, legs, etc. 



If one lived for fifty years in an elephant country it 

 would be impossible to get to know exactly how these 

 animals reproduce. But I borrow from Mr. Sanderson, who, 

 having been commissioned by the British Government 

 during a period of thirteen years to capture elephants 

 and to train them for work, is an incontestable authority, 

 the following particulars, which, though they apply to 

 Indian elephants, may also be applied to the African 

 species : 2 



" Females," he says, writing of the elephant in its wild 

 state, for it does not breed in captivity, 3 " usually give birth 

 to their first calf at sixteen years of age. The period of 

 gestation in the elephant is said by experienced natives to 

 be twenty-two months in the case of the male and eighteen 

 for a female. Many wild female elephants are accompanied 



1 Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 199, small edition. 



2 Thirteen Years amongst the Wild Beasts of India, by G. P. Sander- 

 son, pp. 59, 61-67. 



3 Cases are reported of females which have bred in captivity, but it 

 is proved that they were with young at the time of their capture. 



