In 1883 an elephant (which was shortly afterwards shot or drowned) was pointed out to the Duke of Portland as having been the one on which Warren Hastings was carried—and Warren Hastings left India in 1785. Another elephant, which died in 1879, was supposed to have carried Clive at the battle of Plassy in 1757. Yet another, also supposed to have carried Clive, was still alive in 1901.
Many of those who hold that elephants can, and do, live for 100 years or more, argue the possibi y from comparison with man. The argument would be a good one if elephants, like man, could be cared for by their fellow or provided with false teeth. But as they reap neither of these rewards of old age—though they are often cared for by man—they never seem to reach the century. The trouble (for elephants) is that their teeth are renewed, not by growth from the root—as is the case in most of the other animals which are adapted to the gnawing and crushing of hard vegetable matter, but by replacement from behind. As one molar wears out, the one behind it takes its place, with the result that finally ihe elephant wears ouf its Vast and goes the way of all animals that cannot e This situation seems to arrive somewhere between the animals 50th and 70th years. There is no proper documentary evidence, of the sort that might be acceptable to a trained scientist, of an elephant ever having lived to the age of 80. In Zoos the following seem to be the record lengths of life: Clifton, c. 49 years; Dresden, c. 50 or 51; London, c. 51. In Burma Mr. A, E. Neales records that working elephants are old at 50, and generally dead after 70. Mr. H, Mac-Naghten has recently stated that of the 1,700 elephants now working for the Dombay Burmah Trading Cor 84 per cent. are classified as being between 55 and 65 and 14 per cent. as over 65. In Madras the Forest Department, according to Mr. G. C. Robinson, has an elephant in service which is well in the seventies, and which, although blind, is "otherwise hearty."
The Indian or Burmese elephant usually breeds at the age of thirteen years, though it may go on growing until it is 30. In the African elephant the breeding age is later, usually at about seventeen years, Exceptionally, the Indian elephant may breed as early as eight years, but when this happens the calf may be abnormally small. Thus an offspring a sire of nine years and a dam of eight, born in India, weighed I cwt. instead of the usual two. The period of gestation is 20 months or micro, usually 22 or 23, and possibly up to 28. Thus by the time an elephant. has conceived and borne a calf, a mouse can have become a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
On only one occasion has an elephant been born in the London Zoo. On August 31, 1902, a female was born in the old Elephant House to a cow which had been deposited on September 19, 1901. Unfortunately the little animal died. Its sire was in India, and its dam had been impregnated before it left for the Zoo. Other Zoos, notably those at Moscow, Warsaw and Munich, have tusker elephants, and have succeeded in breeding quite a few healthy youngsters, but the London Zoo has never been able to have an adult male. When the war ends, and the new Elephant House is completed, it will be time to think of importing a tusker and establishing a breeding stock,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.