Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of AnimalsLee, R., Mrs.
General
Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals
Lee, R., Mrs.
Animal behavior -- Juvenile literature
The teeth of elephants are remarkable; for they consist of only one
large grinder on each side, and in each jaw, which looks like a bundle
of smaller teeth, fastened together by intervening and surrounding
plates of enamel. These grinders change frequently during the life of
the animal, perhaps even six or eight times, as long as the jaw grows;
and the new arrivals do not come from below, but are formed behind the
old one, and push it out. There are no other teeth, properly so called,
but in the upper jaw are two tusks, which supply the ivory of commerce,
and which are changed once during the life of the animal. Their enormous
weight and size are almost fabulous, and combined with the trunk, make
us cease to wonder that the whole body should have strength alone as its
attribute, and be entirely wanting in grace. One of these tusks, sold at
Amsterdam, weighed 350 pounds, and with such weapons as these, aptly
called _defenses_ by the French, they are able to uproot enormous trees,
and catching their heaviest foes upon them, hurl them to the ground, or
transfix them so as never to rise again. The ears are large, and hang
flapping over the shoulders, and are very sensible to the touch; the
hearing seems to be much more alive to grave than to acute sounds.
Four ungraceful, stiff columns, for legs, support the clumsy body. On
each fore foot there are five toes, and on each hind foot four; each toe
should shew a hoof, but sometimes the skin envelops and conceals them.
The sole is nearly round; and the skin of a foot exhibited by Mr. Gordon
Cumming, is so large, that a child of three years of age could easily
seat itself within it. The tail is small in circumference, flattened at
the end, and has thick, stiff bristles at the extremity. These tails are
sometimes used as whips, and at the court of Ashanti, when decorated
with gold; they form part of the insignia of the Court. The skin is
generally dark-coloured, and rough, having a few scattered hairs upon
it; proofs, however, have been found, that a race of elephants thickly
covered with hair, once existed. White elephants are occasionally met
with, and it has been asserted, that they are worshiped. Others have
contradicted this, and declare, that they are only kept as a piece of
royal state.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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