ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1187 



seven feet three inches in lieigiit. and weighs 

 over -iSOO pounds. 



While Kartoum is ever restless and very de- 

 structive, he is not savage, although at matur- 

 itv African elephants usually become erratic 

 and dangerous. His huge, tlapp}' ears, narrow 

 head, corrugated trunk and swinging gait make 

 of him the most spectacular of our elephants, 

 although this point might be disputed b_v the 

 mighty Gunda, with his nine-thousand pounds 

 of bulk towering aloft in the adjoining stall. 



Kartoum's favorite sport is to employ his 

 head as a battering ram in an endeavor to 

 loosen masonry, doors and cagework. In these 

 attempts he is untiring and the Elephant House 

 frequently thunders and vibrates under his 

 destructive industry. It has been found neces- 

 sary to protect the doors and other vulnerable 

 places with bristling armaments of siiarp spikes. 

 Trees, fence posts and corners of the buildings 

 have been tirelessly butted by Kartoum, and 

 the animal's tusks, once promising and well- 

 grown, have been worn down deep into his 

 leathery lips. 



Kartoum's minor sports consist of wild 

 rushes and whirls, like frantic dances. Nothing 

 movable is for a moment permitted in his stall, 

 because he can and will raise objects of con- 

 siderable weight and toss them at his visitors. 

 His antics are clownish, but his colossal strength 

 makes it necessary to confine his manoeuvres 

 within solidly-bounded limits. 



Gunda, the great male Indian elephant, al- 

 wavs is of great interest to visitors, owing to 

 his impressive bulk and his reputation for vig- 

 orous temper. Gunda is a creature of the sea- 

 sons. To say that he suffers from captivity 

 is to quite misunderstand the situation. There 

 are good and bad elephants. Some become so 

 utterly bad as to require chains for life. We 

 do not believe Gunda ever will need to be class- 

 ified among the rogue pachyderms. He is of 

 iiigli caste, a patrician among elepiiants, and 

 is wilful and desperate only at specific times. 

 There is a period each year when most adult 

 male elephants are more or less disturbed. This 

 occurs in the spring, and the breeding period is 

 designated as "musth." The maturing Gunda 

 indicated this condition in the spring of 1913. 

 He had been daily becoming more surly and one 

 morning when Keeper Thuman was leading him 

 out of the stall where the animal had been at 

 liberty, Gunda charged, hurled Thuman to the 

 rioor and badly gored him with one of his tusks. 

 Thuman was dragged out by Keeper Richards, 

 who bravely entered and drove Gunda out into 

 tiie vard. 



\\'hen Thuman returned to the Park, after 

 three months painful absence, it was with un- 

 conquerable feelings of friendliness for the big 

 elephant. He had begged that Gunda be given 

 "one more chance." Gunda was chained in his 

 stall for the greater part of the time, but finally 

 given liberty in his yard as he again became 

 tractable the following fall. During the spring 

 of 191 i, Gunda again broke out. He became 

 so dangerous that Director Hornaday ordered 

 him chained fore and aft. W'ithout so doing 

 it was impossible to enter and clean his stall. 

 The chains were attached or shifted with great 

 difficulty, because Gunda was bent on mischief. 

 A number of visitors who were not versed in 

 the ways of elephants were much moved to pity 

 at the sight of the chains, and assumed that the 

 animal was suffering tortures. There have been 

 instances of bad elephants in this country that 

 were permanently chained under far more 

 strenuous and uncomfortable conditions than 

 Gunda, without any public outbreaks regarding 

 them. At the same time our feeling for the 

 great beast was that of sympathetic interest, 

 not revenge. 



Despite Gunda's lunges, charges and blows. 

 Keeper Thuman remained uniformly friendly. 

 Nothing was more remote from Thumau's mind 

 than punishing the elephant. As Gunda re- 

 covered from his period of "musth," Dr. Horn- 

 aday had a heavy wire cable stretched from 

 the front of his cage across the outside yard, 

 close to the ground, and to this Gunda was at- 

 tached by a single chain with a sliding ring. 

 He was practically at liberty, and restrained 

 only from a direct charge to any considerable 

 distance. This arrangement, which was made 

 as soon as it became safe to make the change, 

 was accepted as satisfactory. 



The sympathetic reader will imagine that 

 Gunda exhibited exuberant joy at his release 

 from the chains in his stall. Was that the case? 

 Not at all ! The massive stall doors were thrown 

 back and Gunda walked out into the yard and 

 sunlight. He walked about for an hour, then 

 returned to his usual place, in the stall where 

 he swung back and forth and surveyed the 

 crowd ! That was his daily performance. Con- 

 trary to all romantic theories, Gunda's princi- 

 ])al diversion is to stand in his stall, solemnly 

 munching hay and rocking to and fro like a 

 i)oat in a cross swell. 



While on that cable, and practically free, 

 he spends much more than one-half of the day- 

 light hours standing quietly in his indoors com- 

 partment. 



