278 
THE ELEPHANT. 
her body every time she gives it milk. The young 
elephant, whilst sucking, always grasps the nipple, 
w r hich projects horizontally from the breast, with 
the side of the mouth, which enables it to suck as it 
runs along by the side of the mother, or even under 
her belly. 
The young are suckled for two years; and in a 
wild state it is said they run for suck to any female 
near at hand, without regard to the mother. Hence 
a cry of distress from any one of the young gene¬ 
rally arouses the whole herd. 
The young animal grows rapidly at first, but after¬ 
wards more slowly, until it has reached its twentieth, 
or, as some will have it, its twenty-second year. 
Mr. Stephen Harris gives us some curious in¬ 
formation in regard to the growth of the elephant. 
Speaking of a young male that came under his 
observation, he says :—“ At its birth it measured 
thirty-five inches in height. During the seven 
following years it attained a height of six feet four 
inches. With the exception of its fourth and fifth 
year, the decrease of growth had been gradual and 
proportionate.” 
Again : “In a female, which at the supposed age 
of eleven years measured six feet nine inches, the 
growth seems to have been much less regular. Thus, 
during the next five years, she only added six inches 
to her height, whilst, having become pregnant, she 
grew no less than five inches in the short space of 
twenty-one months. In the following seventeen 
months, though again pregnant, she grew only half 
an inch.” 
