Ii8 SAFARI 



been but a few days old. The little one was suffering 

 pitifully from the heat. It whined and wobbled 

 and persistently refused to keep pace with the older 

 animals. Finally the mother lost all patience with it. 

 She knew just what to do. Pausing at a nearby 

 waterhole she proceeded to give her toto regular jungle 

 heat treatment. First she butted the little fellow off 

 his balance and held him down with her big forefoot 

 while he lay squawking. Then she sucked up a 

 trunkful of mud and squirted it all over the suffering 

 infant's body. Despite his protests she repeated 

 this performance again and again until her baby 

 must have been greatly recovered. 



Surely elephant parents are the most tolerant in 

 the world. I have seen them submit to all kinds of 

 inconvenience on the trail from skylarking young- 

 sters. But when the adult's patience becomes 

 exhausted, chastisement with trunk or butting head 

 is always sure to follow. 



A young elephant holds to its mother's tail with its 

 trunk when passing through long grass just as a child 

 holds its mother's hand. When she pauses in the 

 shade of a tree it goes to nursing just like any calf. 

 Strange to say, an elephant's udder is at the front 

 end of her body. 



One day about noon we were almost on the edge of 

 the desert we came upon three full-grown females, one 

 half -grown male, and one little toto, the smallest 



