Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-03-11
WILL ELEPHANTS GO THE
WAY OF THE BUFFAL0ES?

0Rv National Geographic Society
win the famous African elephants
soon be as nearly extinct as Is the
buffalo of the American plains?
Cable dispatches state mat the
South African Cape Council has de
cided to exterminate elephants, which
are regarded as a n to the far
mers whose crops they despofl ana
whose employees they sometimes Kill.
Sir Harry Johnson, famous African
authority, tells OF his experiences with
African elephants in a communication
to the National Geographic Society
which is quoted in a bulletin from the
Society as follows:
'If after many years of trial the
African elephant is pronounced to be
hopeless as a domestic animal (and
1t should be remembered that most
male African elephants in captivity
shown themselves to be hopeless
.ly saVage), then at least for its &
3dcent ivory the creature is worth pre-
serving as an asset to the state. IL
the indian elephant shows hlmSel1 10
be more docile than the African ele-
phant, it must be remembered, on
the other hand, that he Is or very
little value for his ivory.
lone day a baby elephant was pre-
scented TO me by an Uganda chief. IL
is a sad thing to relate, but three men
were killed in attempting to capture
the first elephant. l had expressed a
wish one day for some elephants 10
experiment with in domestlcatlon, II
the natives, with their usual desire 10
please me, were so ardent in their
determination to crafty my wish ana
so determined in their pursuit of the
young elephant that the mother ele-
phant knocked over and Killed three
of them. But finally they succeeded
in their object, capturing the calf,
and to my great surprise it trotted
into camp behind n of the men.
This little creature was at the
time only four feet high. In two days
1t had become prefectly tame. and
would follow a human being as readily
as his own mother. IT was easy
enough 20 feed him with milk, be-
cause all that was required was a bot
tie with 81 long neck. This bottle was
filled with cows milk diluted with
water, and poured down the elephants
throat. Soon all that one had to do
was to place the neck OF the bottle
in the elephants mouth, and the In
telIigent creature wound its trunk
laround the neck of the bottle. tilted
it up, and absorbed the contents. For
lseveral weeks the elephant throve and
became q most delightful pet. 1t
would allow n one to ride on Its
back, and seemed to take pleasure and
amusement In this exercise. 1t would
find its way through diverse passages
Unto my sitting-roCm, not upSetting
or iniuring anything, but deftly smell
ing and examining objects of curiosity
with its trunk.
AT the same time we had in cap
tivity a young zebra, which was also
to be the pioneer of a domesticated
striped horse. These two orphans, the
Elephant and the zebra, became greatly
attached to each other, though per
haps there was more enthusiastic AT
lection on the part of the elephant
the zebra at times getting a little bored
with constant embraces. Ala ant
alack, both elephant and zebra died
eventually from the EMBELLISHMENTS
TO them, Of cows milk.
Several other elephants of the
same age--that Is to say, about foui
to six months old-wered delivered into
my hands but all eventually died Cows
milk appears to give these creatures
Eventually an incurable d~iarrhea, willis
all attempts at that early afe to subst1
tute for milk farinaceous substances
have also resulted in a similar disease,
do not say that 1t is impossible to
rear young elephants by hand for We
have not made a sufficient numbei
of experiments, but 1t Is very Difficult
/ therefore favor the plan of attempt.
ing to catch elephants of perhaps g
year old, at which age they do moi
require milk as an exclusive diet. One
specimen of this age was caught anG
was readily tanned. and for aught
know is still alive in captivity"