THE ELEPHANTS 



(PROBOSCIDEA). 



l^irge animals whose nose is prolonged into a proboscis, which serves as a prehensile and tactile organ, with 

 column-like legs, and feet with five toes united into a mass and covered with flattened hoofs; the upper incisors 

 mostly in the form of tusks, no canines, compound molars ; placenta zonary. 



This order, much more abundantly de- 

 veloped in former geological periods, is re- 

 presented at the present day only by the 

 elephants inhabiting the tropics of the Old 

 World. There are now, in fact, only two 

 species, one of which is confined to Africa, 

 and the other to Southern Asia and the Sunda 

 Islands. They are sufficiently different from 

 one another for us to be able to regard them, 

 along with the fossil species, as types of 

 different sub-genera. 



The elephants are the most gigantic of 

 land animals, and as such are held in becom- 

 ing respect by all other creatures except man. 

 These peaceable colossi, which live in bands, 

 often very numerous, and tenderly protect 

 their young up to the age at which they are 

 able to defend themselves, would be able to 

 pass their life unmolested even in the com- 

 pany of tigers and lions if it were not that 

 man attacks them, and even succeeds in 

 taming them. 



The external characters are easily seized. 

 The head seems enormous, high and short; 

 the neck short; the huge body raised very 

 high on the massive, straight, columnar legs. 

 The skin is very thick, and has clumsy- 

 looking folds, and is sparsely covered with 

 hairs. These form a tuft at the end of the 



tail, which scarcely reaches to the " heel," 

 that is, it must be remembered, to the joint 

 of the hind-legs. The head is striking on 

 account of the unusual development of the 

 brow, the relatively small size of the eyes 

 situated at the sides, the large size of the 

 fan -shaped external ears, and lastly, on 

 account of the trunk, which is always long 

 enough to touch the ground when the animal 

 stands erect. This trunk is formed through- 

 out its whole length of two tubes separated 

 by a middle partition, and consisting of a 

 fibrous continuation of the cartilaginous nose, 

 surrounded by very thick masses of muscle, 

 the fibrous bundles in which intercross in 

 various directions and thus impart an extra- 

 ordinary degree of mobility to this organ. At 

 the end of the trunk the partition forms a 

 finger-like process, which, like the entrance to 

 the nasal cavities, is covered with a delicate 

 skin. This fleshy, very mobile finger serves 

 chiefly as an organ of touch and prehension, 

 and the elephant makes use of it with wonder- 

 ful dexterity to pick up even the smallest 

 objects.^ Under the trunk is seen the trian- 



' This dexterity, nevertheless, seems often to have been ex- 

 aggerated. Mr. R. A. Sterndale, author of the Mammalia of India 

 and Ceylon, speaks of the difiiculty with which an elephant "scrapes 

 up" a coin; and l)oth he and Mr. G. P. Sanderson are incredulous 

 as to the stories of elephants picking up needles. — Tr. 



