THE "WATER-ELEPHANT" OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10765, 13 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE "WATER-ELEPHANT" OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

Mr R- Lvdekker writes to The Times as follows:—! saw a notice in the Daily Mail to the effect that-Dr E. Trouessart had announced the discovery in Central Africa of a so r called "water-elephant, rumors of whose existence have for some time been current. I thereupon wrote to ])r Trouessart asking for further information, and have received in replv a copy of the Paris scientific journal" La Nature for 14th, which contains a note of which the following is a translation : —"We have just obtained' additional information with regard to the mvsterious animal which inhabits the. lakes of Central Africa, and which the natives call by this characteristic name on account of its aquatic habits. The following is what we have learnt from Mr Le Petit, one of two explorers sent bv the Paris Museum of Natural History to these little-known regions, more especially fronr the'point of view of their fauna, as witness the history of the okapi. It was at TombaMayi. on the northern shore of Lake Leopold H-, that Mr Le Petit saw these animals. That lake is situate on the left bank of the Upper Congo, in the district of Lukeni (Belgian Congo). The water-elephants, which formed a small herd of live head, halted at a distance of about 500 yards, in such'a manner that Mr Le Petit was enabled to observe them for some seconds before they plunged into tho lake. The trunk and the ears aro remarkably short; the neck, on the other hand, is longer than ill the elephant, arid tho height does not exceed about Gft./There are no signs of tusks. The prints of their feet in the mud- are very • different from those of the elephant, and natives readily distinguish between the two. The animals, when they caught sight of the travellers, plunged into the water, and, leaving only the summits of their heads and. their trunks exposed, swam towards ;the opposite, shore. These ■ details, coming from a. trained observer are sufficiently precise to leave no doubt concerning, the existence,of the animal, whatever may befits zoological affinities."