Baby Elephants.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 17 February 1888, Page 36

Baby Elephants.

How the young elephants in the large herds escape from being crushed is something of a mystery, as they are almost continually in motion, but when a herd is alarmed the young almost immediately disappear. A close observer would see that each baby was trotting along directly beneath its mother, sometimes between its fore On the march, when a little elephant is born in a herd, they stop a day or two to allow it time to exercise its little limbs and gain strength, and then they press on, the mothers and babies in front, the old tuskers following in the rear, but ready to rush forward at the first alarm. When rocky or hilly places are reached the little ones are helped up by the mothers, who push them from behind and in various ways ; but when a river has to be forded or swum, a comical sight, ensues. The stream may be very rapid and rougn, as the Indian rivers often are after a rain, and at such a place the babies would hardly be able to keep up with the rest ; so the mothers and fathers help them. At first all plung boldly in— both young and old— and when the old elephants reach deep water, where they have to swim, the young scramble upon their backs and sit astride, sometimes two being seen in this position. But the very young elephants oiten require a little more care and attention, so they are held either upon the tusks of the father or grasped in the trunk of the mother, and held over or just at the surface of the water. Such a sight is a curious one, to say the least —the great elephants almost hidden beneath the water, here and there a young one seemingly walking on the water, resting upon a submerged back, or held aloft while the dark waters roll below.— St. Nicholas.