Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-09
BABY ELEPHANTS
DIFFICULT TO RAISE
Sir Harry Johnston, African
Authority, Tells of His
Experiences.

Will the famous African elephants
soon be as nearly extinct as is the
buffalo of the American plains?
Cable dispatches state that the South
African cape council has. decided to
|sxterminats elephants. which are re-
garded as q menace to the farmers
whose crops they dsspoil and whose
employees they sometimes kill.
Sir Harry Johnston, famous African
authority, tells Of his experiences With
African elephants In communication
to the National Geographic Society
az fellows:
III after many. years Of trial the
African elephant 10 pronounced to be
hopeless az q domestic animal (and II
should be remembered that most mall
African elephants in captivity have
shown themSeiyes to be hopeiessly
savage), then at least. for its mag
pineent ivory the crsatgre y .woEtA
II the Indian elephant shows himself
to be more docfle than the African
elephant, 1t must be remembered, on
the other hand, that he is of very
little value for his ivory.
Mother Elephant Kills Three.
zone day a baby elephant was pre-
sented to me by 2. Uganda chief II
IL a sad thing to relate. but three men
were killed IN attempting to CAPTURE
the. hrst elephant. I had expressed q
wish one day for some elephants to
experiment with in domestication
and the natives, with their usual de-
sire to please me. were so ardent in
their determination. to crafty my
AAfa Inc In. hoi
suit Of the young elephant that the
mother elephant knocked over and
killed three Of them. But finally they
succeeded, In their object, capturing
the calf, and to nay great surprise II
trotted into camp behind one Of the
men. Ss.
"This little creature was at the time
only four feet high. In two days Y
follow . human being as readily a
his own mother It was easy enough ia
feed him with milk, because all thai
was required was a bottle with 9
20 Sa =. k autsd wih watsa ana
poured down the elephants throat
Soon ail that one had 70 DO was e
place the neck Of the bottle In tbs
e1sphant's mouth. and the Intelligent
neck 81 the bottis, ftited It up, ana
absorbed the contents. For several
weeks the elephant throye and be;
s!loy apy one net to Eids En- y. an ssass sns
ment In this exercise. It would Hind
IT. way through divers passages Into
my sitting room. not upsetting or in.
juring anything, but deftly smelltnG
and exaHatning objects OF curiosity
with Its trunk. 81
Elephant and Zebra chums.
AT the same time we had in captty-
ity a young zebra, which was also
to be the pioneer Of a domesticated
striped horse. These two orphans. the
elephant and the zebra, became great
~ attached to each other, though psr.
haps there was more enthusiastic A.
the zebra at times getting q LITTLE
bored with constant embraces. Alas
and alack! both elephant and zebra
"Severai other elephants of the same
age-that ts to say, about four to 1stS
months old-wsre delivered tpto ms
hands. but all eventually died. Cows
Whiis Eli attempts at that early ags
to substitute for milk farinaceous sup:
stances have also resulted In SINH
iar disease. don not say that 1t is I'm
possible to rear young elephants pa
hand, for we have NOT made sum:
Cent number Of experiments, but 4
Ia very difficult. /, therefore, favor
the plan of attempting to catch ele.
pharts of perhaps q year .eld, a
which age they do not require milk
al an exclusive diet. One specimen
OF this age vas caught and was read,
iiy tanned, and for aught I know IL
still alive in captivity -