THE ELEPHANT 133 



enemy, but travellers say of one species which lives on the plains, 

 that, if overtaken, the herd forms into a compact body, with their 

 heads in the centre, and presents a dangerous array of kicking 

 heels to the foe. 



These plain-dwelling zebras are seemingly not quite so timid 

 as their hill-loving cousins. Though they avoid man, they like 

 company, and, strangely enough, their favourite companions are 

 ostriches. 



THE ELEPHANT 



If you have ever seen an elephant you must have noticed its 

 trunk. What a wonderful organ it is! So strong that it can lift 

 a heavy man from the ground and raise him high in the air, or tear 

 down a stout branch from a tree; and yet so delicate of touch 

 that it can pluck a single leaf or blade of grass, or pick up a pin 

 from the floor. With the trunk, too, the elephant carries its food 

 to its mouth; draws up water and squirts it down its throat when 

 it is thirsty, or over its back and sides when it is hot. The trunk, 

 indeed, is very much to an elephant what our arms and hands are 

 to us; and without it the animal could not live. For the long 

 tusks would prevent it from reaching the foliage of bushes and 

 trees, while the short, thick neck would not allow it to stoop down 

 and drink — so that it would very soon perish of hunger and 

 thirst. 



This curious and wonderful trunk is formed partly out of the 

 upper lip, and partly out of the nose. If you could examine an 

 elephant's mouth as it was opened, you would see that it possesses 

 a lower lip, but not an upper; and this, with the fact that the 

 nostrils run all the way through the trunk, would at once tell you 

 that that organ is formed partly of the nose and partly of the 

 upper lip; that is, that it is a prolongation of both. The upper 

 lip and nose of an elephant, in fact, are so joined together as to 

 form but one organ; and in that organ there are no fewer than 

 fifty thousand separate muscles! 



That is why an elephant's trunk is so strong, and why it can 

 be put to so many different uses. One set of muscles enables it 



