Nature and Art, March 1, 1887.] 
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 
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found, is spread over the whole of that continent, 
varies much in size, and to a certain degree in hue, 
in different localities. In South Africa, where 
these animals have been most attentively observed, 
they ranged, in former times, over vast tracts of 
country, from the belt of forest land which fringes 
the coast line of Natal, to within a few miles of 
Cape Town ; but of late, since the population has 
become more widely spread, and since the use of 
fire-arms has increased, the Elephant, ever the 
first to retreat before the advent of man, has here 
nearly disappeared. Nor is the decrease confined to 
the limits of the colony ; for far across the border 
the numbers are steadily diminishing, partly from 
the animals retiring to less-frequented regions in the 
interior, partly, no doubt, owing to the reckless 
destruction of females and young, as well as of 
males, at all seasons alike. 
The following average dimensions of a South 
African Elephant, and the accompanying description 
of its appearance, may be quoted as a good example 
of the African variety in general. The height of 
the males may be taken at 12 feet at the shoulder, 
that of the females about 8 or 9 feet, and the 
average length of the animal from 18 to 20 feet. 
The head is more round, and the forehead more 
convex, than in the Asiatic variety, and the huge 
ears, often 6 feet in length, overlap at the back of 
the head, and reach far down the legs. The 
difference in physiognomy between the two varieties, 
though difficult to define, is very marked and cannot 
fail to attract the notice of any one familiar with the 
Indian type. Unlike the Asiatic animal, in which 
the male only is provided with tusks, both males and 
females in Africa possess those appendages, which 
they use extensively in ploughing up the ground in 
search of roots and bulbs. These tusks are either 
nearly straight or curved upwards , the latter being 
the most usual form. The toes are five on each 
foot. The teeth present certain marked differences 
from the Asiatic variety, and in some degree 
resemble those of the American fossil Elephant, or 
Mastodon. The skin is a dark iron-grey, rough 
and destitute of hair. As we approach the equator 
(at least in the vicinity of the coast), although 
food is more plentiful, the Elephants appear to 
decrease in size, and to carry less formidable tusks. 
Observers, on both the east and west coast, speak of 
8 to 9 feet as the average height of a full-grown 
bull Elephant in Equatorial Africa, and state also 
that the tusks weigh from 50 to 60 lb. In South 
Africa, 100 lb. is not an unusual weight, and. one in 
possession of the late Mr. Gordon Gumming weighed 
173 lb. Near the equator, too, the Elephants are 
often of a darker hue ; white Elephants (which are 
in fact Albinoes) have never, we believe, been met 
with in South Africa, although instances have been 
observed further north, on the borders of Abyssinia. 
Dr. Barth, in his “Travels in North Africa,” speaks 
of having met with black, grey, and yellow varieties. 
The habits of the African Elephants may be thus 
briefly sketched. 
Near the Gape Colony, they are found in small 
herds, under the leadership of one or more bulls ; 
but as we advance further into less-frequented 
regions, these herds increase greatly in numbers. 
The young remain unusually long in company with 
their dams. During the breeding season terrific 
combats often take place between the males ; * the 
old or vanquished bulls roam about alone or in 
pairs. These are the “ Schelm ” Elephants of the 
Dutch hunters, and, like the “ Hogues ” in Ceylon, 
are the most dangerous to encounter. Elephants 
are particular in frequenting the freshest and most 
verdant parts of the forest, their favourite spots 
being often in secluded situations, far away from 
water. + In these cases they leave their mid-day 
haunts at sun-down, and commence their march to 
the water, which, perhaps, is 12 to 20 miles distant ; 
arriving here an hour or two before midnight, 
they quench their thirst and cool their bodies by 
spouting over them huge volumes of water, and 
then assume the path to their forest solitudes once 
more. The bulls frequently lie down on their sides 
at night and sleep, the place usually selected being 
the side of one of those huge ant-hills, here so 
plentiful. The deep impression of the under tusk may 
be often found in these situations ; but the females, 
and even the males, in exposed positions usually 
sleep standing, resting themselves against a bank or 
the trunk of a tree. 
Their food consists of branches, leaves, roots 
of trees, and bulbous plants. The power they 
exert in felling and rooting up trees of large size is 
remarkable, so also is the readiness with which they 
secure tempting branches in positions seemingly 
the most inaccessible. Bearing themselves on their 
hind feet, the fore-legs resting against the trunk of 
a tree, they manage to bring down leaves and 
branches from heights almost incredible. 
It is singular also to observe that, even where the 
Elephants roam in vast herds like one noticed by 
Dr. Livingstone, on the banks of the Zambesi, 
consisting of 800 animals, and covering an extent 
of more than two miles, the destruction of vege- 
tation is almost imperceptible. This no doubt is 
due, as the Doctor suggests, to the care with which 
they select their food, but it contrasts strongly with 
the frightful havoc which a single animal will com- 
mit on cultivated ground. This careful selection of 
food, which is most noticeable in the larger animals, 
is doubtless not only necessary to their healthful pre- 
servation, but it prevents that vast destruction of the 
materials of sustenance, which their size, and the large 
amount of food they individually require when in 
captivity, would lead us to infer. The mutual re- 
lation between animal and vegetable life is perhaps 
more marked in places, like Equatorial Africa, which 
the disturbing influences of colonization have never 
reached ; and We find consequently that the varieties 
of the larger animals are here placed amid vegeta- 
tion, the differences in which are so marked, that 
* Captain Drayson, E.A., in one of his South-African 
sketches, mentions the fact of a portion of a tusk, 5 or 6 inches 
long, having been found in the flank of a bull Elephant and 
which had evidently been broken off in one of these 
encounters. 
f G-. Cumming’s “ Five Years of a Hunter’s Life.” 
