53 ° 
UNGULATES. 
Age. 
It is of course impossible to obtain any accurate data as to the 
age which the Indian elephant may attain in its wild state, and we 
can only, therefore, suggest an approximation to what this may be from captive 
specimens. Although full grown at the age of twenty-five, an elephant, as 
determined by the condition of its teeth, is not then mature. A female captured 
in Coorg in 1805, when about three years of age, did not appear to be particularly 
old-looking in 1878, although she had then passed her prime. Other individuals 
have been known to live in captivity for over a century; and since it is obvious 
that the artificial mode of life which prevails in this state cannot be one tending 
to promote longevity, it is probable that the estimate of a century and a half as 
the duration of life in the wild state is not excessive. 
At the present day the Indian elephant inhabits the forest- 
regions of India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma, Siam, Cochin - China, 
Sumatra, and Borneo; although Mr. Blanford is of opinion that its occurrence in 
the island last named may be due to human agency. According to the same writer, 
in India elephants “ are still found wild along the base of the Himalaya as far 
west as Deira Dun; also in places in the great forest country between the Ganges 
and Kistna as far west as Bilaspur and Mandla, in the Western Ghats as far north 
as 17° or 18°, and in some of the forest-clad ranges of Nagpore and farther south. 
They do not appear to ascend the Himalayas to any elevation, but are sometimes 
found at considerable elevations above the sea in Southern India, and in Ceylon 
they range near Newera Elba, over seven thousand feet.” In former times their 
Distribution. 
distributional area in India was still more extensive. 
For full accounts of the habits of the Indian elephant, both in 
Habits x 
the wild and domestic state, we are largely indebted to the writings 
of Sir Emerson Tennent, Mr. G. P. Sanderson, and Sir Samuel Baker. The 
accounts of the former were, however, largely drawn from native sources, and are 
therefore, in some respects, less reliable than those of the other two. It is accord¬ 
ingly mainly from the latter that the following summary is compiled. 
Elephants chiefly frequent districts covered with tall forest, where the ground 
is undulating or hilly, and where bamboos grow in profusion. During the hot 
months, in the early part of the year, thej^ keep chiefly to the densest portions of 
the forest, in the neighbourhood of water; but with the commencement of the 
rains they venture out into the open glades to feed upon the young succulent grass, 
and in the late summer in the Madras districts descend at times to the lower 
jungles. Contrary to general opinion, the Indian elephant is exceedingly intolerant 
of the burning rays of the sun, to which it never voluntarily exposes itself. As 
Sir S. Baker observes, “ its dark colour and immense surface attract an amount 
of heat which becomes almost intolerable to the unfortunate creature when forced 
to carry a heavy load in the hot season in India. Even without a greater weight 
than its rider, the elephant exhibits signs of distress when marching after 9 A.M.” 
In cloudy and showery weather elephants move about a good deal during the time 
that they are in the open country; and when travelling from one forest to another 
they almost invariably march in single file. 
Herds of elephants usually consist of from about thirty to fifty individuals, all 
of which belong, as a rule, to a single family; although females and young males 
