ANIMAL GIANTS 3 



States remains have been discovered of a creature known as the 

 American Mastodon. This animal was to all appearances very 

 similar to the true Elephant, but careful examination of its remains 

 reveals that its teeth were different, and the head and jaw were more 

 elongated than in the present living animals. 



Sir Ray Lankester states that in Ohio and other localities in the 

 United States "very complete remains of this enormous creature 

 have been found in bogs and morasses which are probably not more 

 ancient than the peat-bogs of Ireland in which the great Irish Stag 

 is found. Man -was certainly contemporary with some of the 

 American species of Mastodon. But in Europe no Mastodons 

 survived to so late a period. Other and older species of Mastodon 

 seem to have preceded the Elephants in Europe, Africa and Asia, 

 and, in fact, to have been the ancestors from which Elephants 

 were derived." 



The Mammoth, it is interesting to note, more nearly resembled 

 the Indian Elephant than the latter's African cousin, but its coarse 

 hairy felt and tremendous tusks would distinguish it from either of 

 the living animals of to-day. In size the Mammoth was somewhat 

 larger than a big Indian Elephant, and that evidence of parentage is 

 still forthcoming is shown by the fact that the new-born young of 

 both the Asiatic and African Elephants have a complete covering of 

 fairly long hair, but this coat is lost a few weeks after birth. 



As will be seen by comparing the African Elephant (Fig. i) with 

 the adult Indian Elephant (Fig. 2), the former possesses a more 

 elongated head and much larger ears than the Indian species, 

 the comparatively small ear and the high forehead of the latter being 

 shown very distinctly in Fig. 2. 



The ancestral history of Elephants tempts one to enlarge upon 

 the fascinating story — a veritable romance of animal life — but in a 

 popular book dealing with so many mammals of the world this is 

 not possible, and the reader must be referred to the various 

 exhaustive works on the subject if he is desirous of following up 

 the story on his own account. 



One need not watch even a captive Elephant very long without 

 becoming convinced of the great use of the trunk, for by means of it 

 the animal procures its living, and its importance is such that 

 although the heavy and gigantic body and massive limbs cannot 

 fail to attract notice, the chief part of the huge animal to which 

 attention is directed is the proboscis. How wonderfully flexible and 



B 2 



