ELEPHANT is the name applied to the two existing species of the Proboscidea and their immediate allies. The existing ele phants inhabit respectively the forest-lands of India, Burma, the Malay peninsula, Cochin China, Ceylon, Sumatra and the con tinent of Africa south of the Sahara.
The Asiatic elephants are distinguished by the following char acteristics. They possess complex teeth, the third molar having about 24 plates. There are 5 nails on the forefoot and 4 (oc casionally 5) on the hind one. There is a depression crossing the dorsal surface of the neck, and the ears are of moderate size. The trunk is smooth, not possessing the transverse ridges and grooves of the African form and at the end is a single finger-like process. The Asiatic elephants although referred to the single species Elephas maxims, differ a good deal amongst themselves ; for instance, the Ceylon animals are generally tuskless and the ele phant of Sumatra, with its slighter build and longer trunk, is equally distinct.
The Asiatic elephant lives in small herds moving about in forests in the neighbourhood of water. It has a dislike of bright sunlight and hence during the hot season keeps to the denser parts of the forest. It drinks by sucking up water into the cavity of the trunk and then discharging it directly into the mouth. Its food consists chiefly of grass, leaves, the young shoots of trees, bamboo and fruits.
The height of the male Indian elephant when full grown is usually between 8 and to ft. but may reach as much as zi ft.; the calf when born has a height of about 3 feet. The adult Indian elephant is usually very sparsely provided with hair, there is the well-known tuft on the end of the tail and occasionally small patches on the forehead. The new-born elephant, on the other hand, may be covered with a continuous coat of short, grey fur. This coat is soon shed but is replaced in part by coarser and darker hair which may be comparatively abundant in individuals about 5 years old. The period of gestation is not accurately known but is about 18 months and the animal lives to about years. One calf is usually produced at birth, but twins are known.
The African elephant (Elephas [Loxodon] africanus) differs from that of Asia in its body form, the highest point lying in the middle of the back and there being no depression across the dorsal surface of the neck. Also there are transverse ridges and grooves on the trunk which possesses 2 finger-like processes at the end. The molar teeth are shallower and coarser than those of the Indian elephant, and possess only about 8 ridges in the second molars. On the worn surface the plates have a lozenge-shaped section instead of having nearly parallel sides. The ear of the African elephant is always very large, although it varies in this respect as it does in shape in different geographical races. The African elephant, although it is a woodland form, is much less averse from exposure to full sunlight than is the Indian form ; it also lives in herds varying from a few to a large number of individuals. The African elephants have been separated out into about a dozen different races distinguished from one another chiefly by the form and size of the ears, but also in some cases by differences in the shape of the skull. In the Congo there is found a dwarf-race of the African elephant', perhaps only about half the normal height.
The Asiatic elephant has long been captured and domesticated and is used as a transport animal in India, Burma and Siam. As the animal does not breed readily in captivity, most of the tame elephants have been caught, the following method being employed. A herd is driven through a funnel-shaped palisade into a small enclosure, individuals are then cut out from the herd by tame elephants and soon learn to obey their mahout, even when old animals. The only other commercial use of the elephant is as a source of ivory, a trade which is rapidly leading to the extermina tion of the African species. The tusks of the Indian elephant may reach a length of nearly 9 ft. and a weight of i oo lb., whilst the African elephant tusks may be i o ft. in length, with a weight of 220 pounds. The female Indian elephant usually has small tusks, if any at all, but in the African species the female tusks are always large, as they are extensively used by the animal in feed ing. African elephants are not now tamed, although they are actually as tractable as the Indian form, and were tamed and used in warfare by the Carthaginians and Romans.
Fossil elephants very similar in structure to those now living existed during Pleistocene times throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. They belong to several species, of which the best known is the mammoth (q.v.). Amongst the others the most interesting are the dwarf forms whose remains are found in cave deposits in the islands of the Mediterranean, Cyprus, Malta and Crete. The smallest of these is a Cretan form, which in the adult stood about 3 ft. high. The whole group appear to be local varieties of Elephas antiquus, a straight-tusked elephant found essentially over the whole of Europe, India and Africa; it includes also gigantic individuals such as the one now mounted in the British Museum which was found in Kent, and has a height of about 14 feet, probably the greatest height to which any elephant has attained. (See also MASTODON.) (D. M. S. W.) ELEPHANTA, a small island between Bombay and the main land of India, situated about 6 m. from Bombay (native Ghara puri). It is nearly 5 m. in circumference, and the few inhabitants it contains are employed in the cultivation of rice, and in rearing sheep and poultry for the Bombay market. The island, till within recent times, was almost entirely overgrown with wood ; it con tains several springs of good water. There are also important quarries of building stone. But it owes its chief celebrity to the famous Temple Caves, standing on a plateau and approached by a long flight of steps. The entrance is nearly 6o ft. wide and 18 high, supported by pillars cut out of the rock; the sides are sculp tured into numerous compartments, containing representations of the Hindu deities, but many of the figures have been defaced. In the centre of the excavations is a remarkable Trimurti or bust, thought to be a triform representation of Siva. The heads are from 4 to 5 ft. in length, and are well cut. The head-dresses are curiously ornamented ; and one of the figures holds in its hand a cobra, while on the cap are, amongst other symbols, a human skull and an infant. On each side of the Trimurti is a pilaster, 'The height of a large bull African elephant may reach eleven ft. and the weight 6--8 tons.
the front of which is filled up by a human figure leaning on a dwarf, both much defaced. There is a large hollowed compartment covered with figures, the largest of which is 16 f t. high, repre senting the double figure of Siva and Parvati, named Viraj, half male and half female. On the right is Brahma, four-faced, on a lotus—one of the very few representations of this god which now exist in India ; and on the left is Vishnu. On the other side of the Trimurti is another compartment with various figures of Siva and Parvati, the most remarkable of which is Siva in his vindictive character, eight-handed, with a collet of skulls round his neck. On the right of the entrance to the cave is a square apartment, supported by eight colossal figures, containing a gigantic symbol of Mahadeva or Siva cut out of the rock. In a ravine connected with the great cave are two other caves, also containing sculptures, much defaced, and in another hill is a fourth cave. This interest ing retreat of Hindu religious art is said to have been dedicated to Siva, but it contains numerous representations of other Hindu deities. It forms a wonderful monument of antiquity, and must have been a work of incredible labour. The cave is thought to have been excavated about the loth century of the Christian era, if not earlier. The island is much frequented by the British resi dents of Bombay and few visitors to the city leave without mak ing a trip to Elephanta.