The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-10-27
ELEPHANTS TRICKS.

HOW THE AWKWARD ANIMALS ARE
TAUGHT TO PERFORM.
thing. While Others Are Quick TO
Catch an Iden - Forcible Methods
Used In Their Training.
''Scores Of people ask me every day.
said Keeper Snyder Of the elephant
house in Central park recently, chow
anything SO stupid looking and thick
skinned as an elephant can be taught
anything. I tell them all that elephants
are not unlike children. Some are too
dull to learn anything, and others can
catch an idea quickly. Tom. he went
on, pointing to the large elephant who
was busily engaged in throwing hay on
his back, ''although irascible in DISPOSE
ton, is quite intelligent. The first trick
taught him was to lie down. This
was not go easy to accomplish as it
might seem, for it took a block and fall
at front and rear with a gang Of Is or
20 men at each end. I stood at n
side, and al I said Get DOWN. his feet
were drawn out from under him. This
had to be repeated only a few times be-
fore he learned what Get down meant
for him.
.'To teach him to stand on his hind
feet and on his head a block and fall on
q beam over his head, a snatch block
and two dead men in the floor and the
services of another elephant were all
required. Az l said Get upl' the ele-
plant in harness walked forward. and
Toms front feet went up, while his
hind feet were chained together. When
I said Stand on your headI his front
feet. which had been previously chain
ed. remained on the floor, while his
hind feet were drawn up until they al
most 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, facet he was
pushed over to the right, and Left
about, facet he vas prodded in that
direction. l 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 country. He learn
ed to ring the bell and fan himself in
one lesson. Both require the same mo-
ton, and they are really the same trick.
although people never think Of that.
Yes, he knows which is which and
~o,,os r;o1-c ,,u tho For - porkin whnn
I tell him to ring the bell. l only had
to put each, one at a time, in his trunk,
and with the fan and bell l shook it
and with the napkin wiped first one
side Of his mouth and then the other.
He took to hand organ grinding like a
Mulberry street Italian. It is one Of his
favorite tricks.
"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 comfort
able, but he does it as we'll as a baby.
His performances on the harmonica
are the most surprising to onlookers,
but the fact is that all the intelligence
required for that is holding the instru-
ment. AS he must breathe through his
trunk, every breath moves it back and
forth. I 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 at the same time,
but his front feet are no ooner up than
the sound ceases until they are down
again.
ellis tub is about 2h feet high, and
: A--1 100 ~Lo..k 49, l,o,r,, In rot him $C
mount it the first time and as long to
get him down from it once he was up.
had finally to improvise a step from II
before he would come down. He went
right up again, however, and came
down and repeated the movement sew
eral 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 1t.
"People all seem to think that an Gle.
plant has no sense Of feeling because
his skin is thick and coarse. The fact IL
that his skin is as sensitive as q baby's,
and if you tickle him with a straw you
will find it out. The feet of the ele'
plant 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
it, is equal to his height? 1t is true
and it is a rule that seldom varies ar
inch in any elephant.
1.-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