"The structure of the teeth is sufficient to indicate that the food
consists chiefly of grass, leaves, succulent shoots and fruits; and this
has been found by observation to be actually the case. In this respect
the Asiatic species differs very widely from its African relative, whose
nutriment is largely composed of boughs and roots. Another difference
between the two animals is to be found in the great intolerance of the
direct rays of the sun displayed by the Asiatic species, which never
voluntarily exposes itself to their influence. Consequently, during the
hot season in Upper India, and at all times except during the rains in
the more southern districts, elephants keep much to the denser parts of
the forests. In Southern India they delight in hill-forest, where the
undergrowth is largely formed of bamboo, the tender shoots of which form
a favourite delicacy; but during the rains they venture out to feed on
the open grass tracts. Water is everywhere essential to their
well-being; and no animals delight more thoroughly in a bath. Nor are
they afraid to venture out of their depth, being excellent swimmers, and
able, by means of their trunks, to breathe without difficulty when the
entire body is submerged. The herds, which are led by females, appear in
general to be family parties; and although commonly restricted to from
thirty to fifty, may occasionally include as many as one hundred head.
The old bulls are very generally solitary for a considerable portion of
the year, but return to the herds during the pairing season. Some
'rogue' elephants--_gunda_ of the natives--remain, however, permanently
separated from the rest of their kind. All such solitary bulls, as their
colloquial name indicates, are of a spiteful disposition; and it appears
that with the majority the inducement to live apart is due to their
partiality for cultivated crops, into which the more timid females are
afraid to venture. 'Must' elephants are males in a condition
of--probably sexual--excitement, when an abundant discharge of dark oily
matter exudes from two pores in the forehead. In addition to various
sounds produced at other times, an elephant when about to charge gives
vent to a shrill loud 'trumpet'; and on such occasions rushes on its
adversary with its trunk safely rolled up out of danger, endeavouring
either to pin him to the ground with its tusks (if a male tusker) or to
trample him to death beneath its ponderous knees or feet."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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