ELEPHANT

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) The generic, name of the most gigantic ol existing quadrupeds. They are characterized e entially by having grinders composed of alternating vertical plates of ivosj^ enamel, and cKmentum, and two tusks in the upper jaw: they are also the only living Mammal i a which have a proboscis or trunk longer than the head. It is inferred frost the structure of the skull that the extinct Mastodons, which have grinders of a more simple structure, also po e ed a long proboscis; and accordingly Cuvier includes die genus Elephas and Mastodon in a particular family of Pachyderms called Proboscidians. Of the true genus Elsphaslltere ate two living and a greater number of extinct species. The Indian elephant (Elephas Indicus, Cuv.) differs from the African species in its greater size, in the skull being higher in proportion to its length, and with a more concave forehead. The Indian elephant has also comparatively smaller ears; the skin is of a paler brown colour; and it has (our nails on the hind feet instead of three. The elephant will breed in confinement; its period of gestation is twenty months and some days. It brings forth one young at a birth, which derives ils nourishment from two nipples placed on the inner side of the setting in of the fore-legs. The perpendicular height of the Indian elephant, measured from the top of the shoulder, has not been found to exceed ten feet six inches: the ordinary height is from seven to nine feet. The Indian elephant varies as lo the length ol the tusks; their ends only are visible exlernally in ihe females, and there is also a race (Mooknah) in which they are straight ami short in the males. In other races the males have (he tusks long and curved, especially in that called " Dauntelah." The anecdotes of the docility, sagacity, and tenacious memory of the elephant are numerous and generally known. The characteristics of the African elephant may be inferred from the account of those of the Indian species. It is usual to describe it as having a forehead convex instead of concave; but Ihe projection is caused by the nasal bones, which are higher placed than in the Indian species; and the true front la in reality concave in the African species, but in a le degree than in the Indian. The chief external character of the African elephant is his huge ears. It is a remarkable fact that no African nation has ever subdued the elephant, or made it available for any useful purpose. For an account of the fo il elephants, see Mammoth. [s. 406]