The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-06
HOW ELEPHANTS LEARN TRICKS
Some Are More Difficult to Teach Than
Others of the species.

Some Are More Difficult to Teach Than
Others of the species.
Scores of people ask me every day."
said Keeper Snyder Of the elephant
house in Central park, recently. how
| anything so stupid looking ana thick
skinned as an elephant can be taught
anything. 1 tell them all that eie-
plants are not unlike children. Some
are too dull to learn anything, ana
others catch an idea quickly. Tom
he went on, pointing to the large ele-
plant who was busly engaged in
throwing hay on his back, although
irascible in disposition, is quite intelli-
gent The first trick taught him was
to lie down. This VAS not so easy TO
accomplish as 1t might seem, for II
took block and fall at front and rear,
with a gang of Is or - men at each
end. I stood at one side, and as l said
Get down, his feet were drawn out
from under him. This had to be re-
peated only a few times before ne
learned what Get down meant for
him.
ITO teach him to stand on his hind
feet and on his head a block and fall
on a beam over his head, a snatch
block and two dead men in the floor
and the services of another elephant
were all required. As | said Get up
the elephant in harness walked tof-
ward, and Toms front feet went up,
while his hind feet We're chained to-
gether. When / said stand on your
head his front feet which had been
floor, while his hind feet were drawn
up until they almost literally kicked
the BEAM
"These were his first lessons. When
he learned to drill to right-about-face'
and left-about-face,' | stood on one
side of him and another man on the
other and we each had a prod. AS l
commanded 'right-about- face he was
pushed over to the right. and left
about-face' he was prodded in that di-
recton. 1 taught him to waltz in
much the same way, only as we
pushed him back and forth we made
him go clear around and now he is
one of the best walters in the coun-
try. He learned to ring the bell and
fan himself in one lesson. Both re-
quire the same motion, and they are
really the same trick, although people
never think of that. Yes, he knows
which is which and never picks up the
fan or napkin when ! tell him to ring
the bell. l only had to put each, one
at time, in his trunk, and with the
fan and bell / shook it. and with the
napkin wiped first one side of his
mouth and then the other. He took
to hand-organ grinding like Mulber-
ry street Italian. 1t is one of his IA
vorite tricks.
1.-THE elephant is the only animal
whose legs all bend the same way. His
hind legs bend in, and the position re-
quired for creeping is not very COM
Portable, but he does it as well as
baby. His performance on the har-
monica are the most surprising to on
lockers, but the fact is that all the in
telligence required for that is holding
the instrument. AS he must breathe
through his trunk every breath moves
it back and forth. l discovered that
he holds his breath when he stands on
his hind legs, by trying to get him to
do that and play the harmonica al the
same time; but his front feet are no
sooner W than the sound ceases until
they are down again.
His tub is about two and one-half
feet high and it took me about an hour
to get him to mount it the first time,
and as long to get him down from 1t
once he was up. l had finally to i'm
prOvise a step from it before he would
come down. He went right up again,
however, and came down, and repeat
ed the movement several times in the
first lesson. Now he mounts it and
stands on his hind feet, his front feet,
his side feet and waltzes and changes
on it.
people all seem to think that an
elephant has no sense of feeling be-
cause his skin is thick and coarse. The
fact is that his skin is as sensitive as
a baby's and If you tickle him with
straw you will find it out. The flies
and mosquitoes are great disturbers of
his peace and he is tossing hay on his
back now to dislodge them.
tom had his annual bath and oiling
few days ago and the latter opera
ton prevents his skin from getting too
dry. In his native state he treats him
self to mud baths and keeps himself
in condition.
1.-The feet of the elephant have to be
repaired frequently, for they are as
susceptible to corns and stone bruises
as the feet Of people, and they have
to be cut and trimmed. You wouldn't
think it, would you, that twice around
Toms front foot, when he is standing
with his full weight upon 1t, is equal
to his height? 1t is true, and it is a
rule that seldom varies an inch in any
elephant.
"The African elephants have only
| four toes and their ears are very large.
| The Asiatic elephants have five toes
and their ears are smaller. There are
! few African elephants in this country,
not more than three or four. Not long
| ago, at an exhibition in this city. there
was a skin of leather with small ears
and comparatively fine texture (the
| hide from all elephants has too large
pores to make it of use), and it was
| labeled. Hide from an African ele-
plant People don't know anything
| oil r-Naw York FEepinp