Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 142, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1912 — Surprising Elephant Facts MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Surprising Elephant Facts MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW

4 * ' X- ■ ele Phant is the best £ known and at the ' A—same time the least } known of all wild animale. Paradoxical as this may BOund > !t ,s nevertheless true. ?i'- Nearly every one has V, seen an elephant and jA nearly every one imagines be knows what one looks like. But fc this popular impression as well as most of the be lief about the elephant are erroneous. In the first place the elephants we see here in America are Indian elephants. They are undersized, even the largest of them. " A full-grown African elephant Is ; nearly three times the size of Jumbo, which was the largest elephant ever brought to America. I hpve ehot several specimens which stood over thirteen feet and which weighed at least twice as much as Jumbo. Next to the monkey, the elephant is the wisest and most Intelligent of all animals. lam not saying this of the domesticated Indian elephant, but of the African elephant in his native state. And the African elephant is always a huge, wild beast. He is never domesticated. During the past two years that I spent in British East- Africa and Uganda studying the elephant as he -has lived for centuries, I learned several things about him that entitles him to be called the most intelligent of all animals, the monkey alone excepted. In many respects he surpasses the monkey, but the latter’s intelligence more nearly approaches our own, and for that reason we must consider him the highest type of intelligence. Much'to my surprise, I discovered that the bun elephant is rarely a fighter. Indeed, there Is little danger from him. The generally accepted theory that the big bulls are not found In the big herds is a fallacy. The bull elephants that are found roaming alone are almost invariably senile gentlemen who have been cast off by a herd. While I succeeded In getting three splendid specimens of bull elephants the finest specimen Is still at large. „ I was unable to get Mm, for the reason that he lives in the center of a herd of 700 elephants, who guard him night and day. These herds of elephants have cow leaders. The leader is usually an old animal with an ugly disposition. The cows protect the bulls, and the moment they scent danger they crowd around them in order to prevent them from being shot. If they can see the hunters they will charge them, leaving enough of their number to guard the j-Staßs. - r- — Their sense of smell Is very acute. They can detect the presence of a man a thousand yards off, but unless he is moving they can’t see him, even ■-1 f he Is within a hundred yards. When they catch a whiff of wind tainted by man the cow elephants charge in that direction and it is a hundred to one that they will locate the person. Jf.lt happens that a hunter can get near enough to shoot a bull elephant the cows gather around the bull and try to carry him away. I saw several cows vainly try to carry off a big bull elephant that I had shot. ■-* If he had been able to make any effort himself they would have succeeded, but the bullet from my rifle had finished him, and after trying for several minutes to lift him up and get

him in motion the cows ran off and left him. These African elephants have many signals which they use to communicate among themselves; for instance, when a cow gets the wind of a hunter she signals "bn guard," and immediately every elephant in the herd stops grazing and listens with trunk to the ground. They are as silent as the grave. Even when a shot among them causes a stampede and the forest resounds with the first crash of their moving, they can disappear without making the slightest noise. They can move so silently that I have often come within fifteen or - twenty yards of a big beast, mistaking his trunk and forefeet -for trees in the jungle. On several occasions the beasts receded so quickly and so quietly that I lost them altogether. When they want to they can make more noise than any animals In the world. A herd of two or three hundred will trample down an entire native village and all the farms around It with such noises that can only be compared to an earthquake. Again a herd will slide through the forest so quietly than you can’t hear them ten yards away. As their senses of smell and hearing are acute, they rarely fall into the elephant pits which the natives dig to capture them. I don’t suppose one pit in a hundred accomplishes its mission. When the elephants go through the forests they hold their trunks close to the ground, and by tapping every now and then then can detect any pit, no matter how skillfully concealed, before stepping Into it. The moment they strike any ground that is the least bit suspicious they tap It carefully and make wide detours. Of course, when a herd is stampeded they haven’t time to Investigate the ground and then they sometimes fall into the pits. The generally acepted theory that the calves are only to be found with cows is also a fallacy. The cows are the leaders and the fighters of the herds, so it is only natural that they should turn over their offspring to be cared forhy the bulls when they themselves are busy. And that is exactly the case. I have seen bull elephants playing

With the calves and . looking after them oh numerous occasions. The fact that you see a couple of calves does not indicate that a cow is close by. Their papa may be in charge of them. It is only a matter of a few years until the African elephant wilt be extlnct. Most of the fine specimens have been killed off already. The herds that are roaming the jungles have little ivory, and are, therefore, immune from elephant hunters. However, as civilization spreads, the herds are being destroyed, for the reason that they are a menace to the safety of the natives, besides being the de< stroyers of much property. Now that they are suspected of carrying sleeping sickness, doom Is sealed. For this reason I am anxious to return to Africa as soon as possible to complete the specimens for my group. Unless Idoso no museum will be able to group elephants as they are in all their glory. I Inspected hundreds of elephants without finding any really fine specimens. Mrs. Ackley and I shot three bulls having tusks each weighing over 100 pounds. But what lam after particularly is a bull with tusks weighing 200 pounds, a full-grown animal. Many elephant hunters have killed three and four hundred animals without finding 'as large tusks as we did, . but we were on the lookout only for the finest specimens. These fine specimens are very rare, for the reason that when a bull develops tusks of fifty pounds, which Is quite an early age, perhaps twenty-five years, he becomes the target of every hunter, black or white, who setseyes on him. Thus it is only the more crafty bull elephants that, seeking the protection of large herds or clinging to the more inaccessible regions such as dense forests, managed to survive to a ripe old age and develop a growth of ivory. There is one old bull, perhaps the most splendid specimen in Africa, well known in Uganda, who has been seen by many hunters. He is so well protected by a large 'herd of aggressive cows, who charge on the slightest intimation of danger, that no one has been able to reach him. 1 ' On my return to Uganda I Intend to find him and eventually install him in the Museum of Natural History.