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Several species of Zebras and Quaggas are found in Africa, 
and also of wild Asses in South-western Asia. The most 
beautiful of all these, in pattern and shade of coloration, is 
Burchell’s Zebra {^Equus burchelli') , which ranges in large 
herds over the plains north of the Orange river, in Africa. 
It is a curious fact, that some horses, especially those of a 
dun color, have indications of the spinal stripe and those on 
the inside of the legs, which are common among the Zebras, 
and which resemblance is held to indicate the relationship of 
the horse of the present epoch to some such antecedent form. 
A mouse-dun colored* work-horse recently belonging to the 
Society had these stripes plainly marked. 
The Zebras are domesticated and tamed to some extent by 
the Boers, or farmers of South Africa. 
The enormous animals which form the family called Pro- 
boscidea, from the peculiar elongation of their nose into a 
proboscis or trunk, are found at the present time in the 
warmer parts of Asia, in the Islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and 
Ceylon, and also in Central and Southern Africa. 
There are two species, differing very appreciably, — the 
Indian Elephant (^Elephas indicus) has a concave forehead, 
comparatively small ears, and has four nails developed on the 
hind feet, while the African Elephant (^Elephas africanus) 
has a rounder forehead, much larger ears, and has three nails 
on the hind foot instead of four. The incisor teeth, or tusks, 
as they are called, grow to an enormous size, but are rarely 
possessed by the female Indian Elephant. 
The two large ones in this building are both females about 
eighteen years old, one being from Africa and the other from 
India. The two small ones, “ Dom Pedro ” and “ Empress,” 
respectively four and five years old, are both Indian, and were 
placed in the garden in December, 1876. 
The Elephant is in reality a much smaller animal than is 
commonly supposed, careful measurements of large numbers, 
in India, showing that they average about nine feet in height 
at the shoulder, and rarely exceed ten. The ordinary life 
of the Elephant is supposed to be about a hundred years, 
although in special cases they undoubtedly live much longer. 
It is given as a fact, on the authority of Sir Emer- 
son Tennent, that the British, after their capture of the 
Island of Ceylon, in 1799, had in their service an Elephant 
which was proved by the records to have served the Dutch 
