Animals of the PastLucas, Frederic A. (Frederic Augustus)
Science
Animals of the Past
Lucas, Frederic A. (Frederic Augustus)
Paleontology
more, and while this must be accepted with caution, since unfortunately
he neglected to put a tape-line on them, yet Mr. Thomas Baines did
measure a specimen twelve feet high. This, coupled with Sir Samuel's
statement, indicates that there is not so much difference between the
mammoth and the elephant as there might be. This applies to the mammoth
_par excellence_, the species known scientifically as _Elephas
primigenius_, whose remains are found in many parts of the Northern
Hemisphere and occur abundantly in Siberia and Alaska. There were other
elephants than the mammoth, and some that exceeded him in size, notably
_Elephas meridionalis_ of southern Europe, and _Elephas columbi_ of our
Southern and Western States, but even the largest cannot positively be
asserted to have exceeded a height of thirteen feet. Tusks offer
convenient terms of comparison, and those of an average fully grown
mammoth are from eight to ten feet in length; those of the famous St.
Petersburg specimen and those of the huge specimen in Chicago measuring
respectively nine feet three inches, and nine feet eight inches. So far
as the writer is aware, the largest tusks actually measured are two from
Alaska, one twelve feet ten inches long, weighing 190 pounds, reported
by Mr. Jay Beach; and another eleven feet long, weighing 200 pounds,
noted by Mr. T. L. Brevig. Compared with these we have the big tusk that
used to stand on Fulton Street, New York, just an inch under nine feet
long, and weighing 184 pounds, or the largest shown at Chicago in 1893,
which was seven feet six inches long, and weighed 176 pounds. The
largest, most beautiful tusks, probably, ever seen in this country were
a pair brought from Zanzibar and displayed by Messrs. Tiffany & Company
in 1900. The measurements and weights of these were as follows: length
along outer curve, ten feet and three-fourths of an inch, circumference
one foot, eleven inches, weight, 224 pounds; length along outer curve,
ten feet, three and one-half inches, circumference two feet and
one-fourth of an inch, weight, 239 pounds.
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