New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-07

JUMBO AND THE MAsToDoM
Two BIG SKELETONS IN THE MUsEUsf,
HOW AN ELEPHANTS AGE IS roLD-A eIcArr1s

HOW AN ELEPHANTS AGE Is TOLD-A GiGANTiG
ANIMAL wHIcH LIVED ALONG THE HUDSON.
Jumbo's skelctos which Mfr. Bafnum hss PLACED m
the Museum of Natural History, is being mounted
on the second floor Of the Museum. It win stand
directly under the big Feeiee Island war canoe ard
the top of tho spine win be nearly ton feet above the
noor The late Mr. Crowley, me chimpansoe OF
Central PARK occupies on the Sane floor. aud
Bombi, the big rhinoceros who died nom pncumoniA
at the Park Menagere win also have place In the
same hall
Several men have been busy for more than week
putting together Jumbo's big skeleton. He was TIE
largest African elephant known In modern times.
Each Of hts rios Is more than three feet long, and one
Of the bones of his legs is load for man to carry.
The skull of Jumbo, however, is the most bulky piece
Of his skeleton. 1t weighs nearly 300 pounds ana
occupies a space about three feet square. The brain
cavity the under side is about large rs mans
high silk hat, and this is protected all sides BY
wall of bone in some places nearly two feet thick
The difficulty Of reaching an elephants brain with
rife bullet through such wall can easily be seen
after examination OF Jumbo's skill. When struck
by the locomotive which killed him, Jumbo had bens
his head to receive the shock and he caught the blow
full on tho broad front Of the skull Tho shock must
have been terrific, It shattered the massive piece
Of bone, splinterng II in many places, and some OF
tbs pieces OF the skull have had 10 be supplied with
cement. The blow smashed the smoke stack, wrecked
the locomotive and seDt to the shops for repairs
On the fourth floor Of the Museum, with an Irish ek
and birds and animals Of extinct species, Is another
skeleton which many visitors at first mistake for that
OF an, elephant. This is q mastodon whose bones
were found deep IN q peat swamp near Newourg on
the Hudson In 1879. 1t was not so tall an animal
as Jumbo, the skeleton being only little more than
eight feet hgh but the bones re thicker and heavier
The animal, too, was longer and more stocky than
Jumbo His skeleton Is fourteen feet long, the tusks
over feet in length and in addition to ths
upper tusks he had lower pair, branching downward
for roofing in the ground. The bones not white
like Jumbo's, but brown with age. When the old
mastodOn roamed on the banks Of the Hudson and
Manhattan Island, the Indians had probably NOT
made their homes In the country, and the Mound
Builders had their towns all over the United States
A farmer who was digging for peat discovered the
skeleton where tho animal had been mired ages ago.
The peat had gone accommodating over him. and 10
is calculated that he must have been buried from
5000 10000 years before the farmer brought bis
bones 10 light
JUMBO WAS THIRTYTVE YEARS OLD.
Professor Whitfield, the curator Of geology In the
Museum, who is authority extinct animals, In
pointing out the differences between the mastodon
and Jumbo a few days ago. explained that Jumbo was
acquiring bis third set Of teeth at the time he was
killed, and consequently about thirty five years
old. He might have lived for fifty or seventy-fvo
years more and still have been hale and vigorous
old elephant TO perpetuae the fame Of p. I. Baruum
Some Of the records kept by the old Romans showed
hat their war elephants lived for 1875 years and
were stu IN good fighting condition, while the teeth
Of elephants and mastodons which have been found
indicate that they frequently lived for 200 years or
even longer. They have six sets Of teeth. The
first set, which has seven teeth, lasts until the au-
NAL is seven years old. The new teeth do not rise
up In the Jaw but move down from the back OF the
Jaw as the old set Is worn out The number OK
teeth is told by the layers or plates of enamel in each
set.
Jumbo's teeth are fat and solid. The
Jaw looks like a single piece Of bono.
The food IS ground on II wheat is ground between
millstoneS The second set comes 10 with ten Oh
twelve layers and lasts the elephant for twentyhvs
or thirty years. By the time II has been pretty Wei
ground down and worn out the third set with fourteen
or sixteen new teeth comes into position. This was
the set Jumbo would have been getting now IL he
had lived. The fourth set With twenty teeth, comes
to the elephant when he is about seventynve years oa
and will last him about forty years. Each now set mas
more teeth plates than the old one, and prooaoly
lasts longer The sixth last set will not mako Its
appearance until the animal Is over $50 years old.
This one will have twenty-five or thirty teeth, and
when they worn out the days OF the elephant arc
numbered.
THE TEETH OF THE MAST0DoN.
In the mastodon. Professor Whitfield says, the
teeth come IN in the same way as In the elephant
But there the resemblance ends. Instead Of being
$500 -
the mastodon are great molsrs. They rise up in tho
Jaw like ranges Of miniature mountains. each one as
big as q mans thumb. The mastodon not only had TO
grind its food but had to tear 1t IS well. Tho old
mastodon in the museum had his fifth set OF teeth,
and the points Of them considerably worn down,
SO that he have been nearly $50 years old when
he lost his life In the Newburg peat swamp.
The museum collection has large variety Of the
fossil teeth OF the mastodon and the elephant at all
ages. These have been received from all parts of the
United States and some from Europe. and they show
that the elephant Is not a modern descendant OF the
mastodOn but that he lived and fourished In this
country ages ago, when the mastodon was also living
Another difference between the two animals Is that
the mastodon had tusks In the lower jaw. bending
downward and being used probably for digging up
roots indicating that his homo was along tho river
banks while the elephant went deeper into the forest
Both Species however at remote ago. IL Is believed.
were derived from one parent.
On some Of these fossil teeth. which
are as hard as flint with age particles Of the animals
food have adhered. These have been examined under
tho microscope and the character OF the food which
the animals lived on ascertaned. The enamel OK
the teeth is usually perfectly preserved In these
fossils and Is polished like pearls One set which
Professor Whitfield pointed out was evidently thas
of a very old mastodOn, $50 years old OF more lt
was his sixth set and the mOlsrs had been all worn
down below the gums and into the Jaws In deep
hollow exposing the roots. This venerable Old Me-
thuselah must have reached the conclusion when
bis time came, II he were capable OF
reasoning that life has too many tooth aches to make
It worth living SO long
In one fossil species Of mastodon teeth and jaw and
I'm some Of the other bones Of the ANIMAL Professor
Whitfield has a particular pride aud interest Theirs
are great many kinds OF msstCdons Indicated by the
fosds which have been found, the differences being
about as great those between the Asatic and the
African elephants This particular species Professor
Whitfield was the first to point out in scientific paper
as one Of the earliest which yet known to science,
dating back TO the Miocene period. The animal was
smaller than the later mastodons. The teeth are
we'll preserved but instead Of the peary white, In
other fossils the enamel has become black as jet
with the tens Of thousands OF years since the animal
lived The most important feature, However, is thas
these teeth show approach TO the same formation
as those OF the elephant and indicate that this AMI