42 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:1— Jan., 1920 



which enables it to be stretched, contracted, and turned in every 

 direction. The trunk takes the place of along neck. And the 

 elephant could never develop a neck strong enough to support 

 the weight of his huge head and heavy tusks. The trunk serves 

 not only as a means of securing food and drink for the animal, but 

 also as a trumpet, for it is through this organ that the elephant 

 emits a loud call, and likewise as a weapon of defense in fighting. 

 And lastly, it is used for a purpose for which all noses are used, 

 to smell with. 



The tusks are the greatly overgrown incisor, or "front teeth" 

 and are used as weapons in fighting, as well as to tear up the soil 

 in search of roots. In the male they are especially large, the largest 

 pair on record weighing about 450 pounds. Normally they do not 

 weigh much more than 200 pounds. As a rule the bull with the 

 longest and sharpest tusks rules the herd. 



The elephant is a social animal, and lives in companies, old and 

 young together, ruled by the most powerful male. Sometimes 

 these male rulers, or bulls, get too tyrannical and are driven away 

 from the herd. They then become very dangerous to man, and 

 are known as rogue elephants. 



Elephants have small, but very sharp eyes. Their sense of 

 hearing is also acute, and their sense of smell very keen. They can 

 often detect the presence of an enemy by his odor at a distance 

 of 1,000 yards. 



The food of the elephant consists chiefly of the tender shoots 

 of trees, roots, barks, as well as grasses, bamboo, sugar cane, and 

 reeds. Besides these it will take cultivated crops, and all sorts of 

 soft and herbaceous plants. When not sleeping it is usually eating, 

 and consumes enormous quantities of food. One elephant will 

 stow away over 600 pounds of fodder per day. How many bales 

 of hay, at this rate, would it take to feed a circus elephant for one 

 year? Figure it out and see how surprised you will be A herd 

 of elephants soon exhausts the supply of food in one locality and 

 then moves on to another. When on the march they go in single 

 file, like Indians, and move at a rapid pace, usually about fifteen 

 miles an hour. 



It takes thirty years for an elephant to reach its full growth, 

 and it frequently lives to be over 150 years old. 



The Indian elephant has become the valued servant of man, 

 in war carrying ammunition and men, and in peace helping to 



