VI ANIMAL TRAINING AND INTELLIGENCE I /I 



When the animal has learned to stay in the ring, 

 and to walk obediently wherever he is directed, 

 his weight and personal idiosyncrasies are taken 

 into consideration in deciding what he shall do 

 next ; and the list of things a well-instructed troupe 

 will do in a modern menagerie is long and varied. 

 Take for example the young — and hence .light 

 and comparatively nimble — Indian elephants ex- 

 hibited first in Europe a few years ago, and later 

 shown in circuses and theatres in this country, 

 where they are still (1897) on exhibition, the star 

 of whom is " Boney." 



At a signal from hand or whip one will lie down 

 to permit another to place the fore feet on his 

 prostrate body; or, mounting upon short pillars, 

 some three feet in height, they will stand on their 

 fore legs or on their hind legs alone, or on the two 

 legs of one side, or the two diagonal legs. Not 

 only do they march to music in a mariner bur- 

 lesquing the action of a circus horse, but will play 

 on a hand-organ and a drum simultaneously. The 

 couple then dine at a table, ring violently for a 

 second course, and pay the bill in the most courte- 

 ous manner. 



But the most interesting part of the performance, 

 as I saw it, is that in which they show that their 

 intelligence or their schooling (or both together) 

 has led them to overcome that fear of movable 

 objects which is apparently innate in all elephants, 

 and due, no doubt, to an appreciation of their 



