Taming elephants. Elephants and people: a dramatic story of coexistence
Candidate of Biological Sciences Evgeny MASCHENKO (Palaeontological Institute named after A. A. Borisyak RAS).
Man has been closely associated with various animals for many centuries. In some cases, the domestication and use of animals has shaped human history. One example is the domestication of large and small livestock, which contributed to the formation of a productive type of economy; another is the domestication of wild horses, which allowed tribes Central Asia switch to a nomadic lifestyle. Historians usually pay quite a lot of attention to these events. Much less research has focused on mammals, where domestication was not a widespread practice. One of these “undeservedly” overlooked animals is the elephant. Elephants have left a deep mark on the history of mankind, and people, in turn, have greatly influenced the fate of elephants.
Asian (left) and African (right) elephants. For asian elephant Characterized by relatively small ears, a curved back line (the highest point of the body is the shoulders), a relatively massive body and the absence of tusks in females.
In numerous national parks and private natural reserves South Africa elephants roam in large herds. By eating branches of woody vegetation, they often literally devastate the savanna.
Use of elephants in logging. India, 1970s.
Distribution areas of Asian (top) and African (bottom) elephants. The range of the Asian elephant in the 70s of the 20th century and in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. The estimated range of the Asian elephant, which became extinct in the first millennium BC, is shown.
Science and life // Illustrations
Elephants crossing the Rhone River during Hannibal's campaign in Italy.
The most ancient evidence of the role of elephants in the culture of the peoples of Asia. Below is a sacrificial pit at Senxingdui (Sichuan Province, Southwest China), containing various cult objects and 73 large Asian elephant tusks.
Science and life // Illustrations
Images of elephants on ancient coins of Carthage and Asia Minor of the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. From top to bottom: reverse of a Carthaginian coin from the Second Punic War with the image of a war elephant.
Roman depictions of Asian elephants from the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. At the top is a painting on a plate (presumably from the middle of the 3rd century BC), depicting an Asian war elephant of the army of Pyrrhus. Rome. National Museum Etruscans.
Science and life // Illustrations
Fresco in the courtyard of the Sforza Castle (Milan, Italy), 60s of the 15th century. The large ears (the upper edge of the ears are higher than the line of the head) and the concave back indicate that the fresco depicts an African elephant. Photo by Evgeny Mashchenko.
African elephants: in the Kruger National Park, South Africa (1); among the stones of Twyfelfontein, Namibia (2); in Tangala Nature Reserve, South Africa (3); in Etosha National Park, Namibia (4). Photo by Natalia Domrina.
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
Science and life // Illustrations
The most dramatic part of the history of coexistence between humans and elephants apparently begins about five thousand years ago. The fate of these animals to some extent repeats the fate of many other species large mammals exterminated or displaced by humans, such as the sea cow or wild bull tour. What saved elephants from complete extinction was that over the centuries they were involved in social and political life person.
From the fifth millennium BC. and until about 1600 AD. Human economic activity in Africa and Asia has led to a manifold reduction in the range of elephants and the disappearance of several of their subspecies. Already at the beginning of our era, few people saw living elephants in Southern China and Pakistan. The catastrophic reduction in the distribution of these animals, coupled with the severance of trade and political ties with some of the countries where elephants lived, led to the fact that in the Middle Ages in Europe there was a loss of knowledge about elephants, although these animals were well known in ancient times. Europeans became acquainted with elephants again in the Middle Ages.
Modern elephants of Asia and Africa
Currently, there are only two genera of elephants - Asian and African. However, just 11 thousand years ago (the end of the Pleistocene period), the diversity of elephants was much greater. In Eurasia and North America There were two types of mammoths: the Eurasian woolly mammoth and American. Stegodont elephants lived in South Asia, and comb-toothed mastodons also lived in North America. Asian elephants belong to the biological genus Elephas. Africans represent another genus - Loxodonta. At the end of the Pleistocene period, Asian and African elephants were not widespread, but at the beginning of the Holocene (10-5 thousand years ago), after the extinction of other species of elephants, the African elephant spread throughout almost the entire African continent, and the Asian elephant throughout South Asia .
Asian elephants are now found only in protected areas in parts of South and Southeast Asia and are represented by three subspecies. The subspecies of the Asian elephant proper is Elephas maximus maximus (South India and Ceylon), the subspecies of the Asian elephant of Southeast Asia is Elephas maximus indicus (Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia) and the subspecies of the island of Sumatra is Elephas maximus sumatranus. Subspecies of the Asian elephant differ from each other in color and size. The current number of wild Asian elephants does not exceed six thousand, and all subspecies are included in the international Red Book.
The distribution of African elephants at the end of the 20th century covered the equatorial, southern and southwestern parts African continent. They mainly live in the territories of national parks, as well as in areas that are natural centers of dangerous infectious diseases, that is, where there are no people. Elephants need intact savannas to survive different types, primary broadleaf or wet rainforests. They cannot live in the steppes, although some populations of animals now live in the foothills and very dry savannas of Namibia and in the area south of the Sahara, where there is no more rainfall.
300 mm of precipitation per year, but these populations are very small.
Currently, there are two subspecies of African elephants: African forest elephant (Loxodonta africalna ciclotis) (wet area tropical forests) and savanna (Loxodonta africana africana) (savannah areas). The savanna subspecies is slightly larger than the forest subspecies and has a larger range than the forest subspecies. The total number of African elephants exceeds 100 thousand individuals.
The Asian elephant is more dependent on climate humidity compared to the African elephant.
The distribution of elephants is greatly influenced by water availability. They are excellent swimmers and should drink at least once every two days. For the survival of one adult elephant, a territory of at least 18 km2 is required. The lack of suitable habitats today is one of the main reasons for the decline in the numbers of these animals.
It has now been established that elephants can quickly restore their numbers (within 7-12 years) if they are not hunted, so in reserves it is necessary to control them and even carry out sanitary shootings of animals.
Man and elephants in ancient times
Paleontological and archaeological finds in North Africa indicate that in the seventh to fourth millennia BC. The climate in this region was significantly different from today. At that time, even in the Central Sahara, vegetation of the Mediterranean type and true savannas existed. Numerous petroglyphs of Neolithic tribes who lived in what is now the Sahara depict elephants and other large mammals that now live thousands of kilometers to the south. Neither in Africa nor in Asia at that time were there tribes that specifically hunted elephants. Active persecution of these animals began with the development of civilization, not for the purpose of obtaining food, but for the sake of ivory.
In the territory Ancient Egypt and there were no elephants in the surrounding areas of eastern Libya. According to ancient Egyptian written sources (Old Kingdom era, third millennium BC), Egyptian pharaohs received live elephants and ivory from the south, from the territory of modern Sudan. The Egyptians never domesticated elephants or used them for military purposes or as working animals. It is known that African elephants were kept in the zoos of some pharaohs (Thutmose III, 15th century BC).
East of Ancient Egypt, in North Africa, lived a now extinct subspecies of African elephants. This animal does not have scientific name, and there are no scientific descriptions of it. This type of elephant is known today due to the fact that the Carthaginians used them in the wars they waged in the 3rd century BC. War elephants were an important element of the Carthaginian army. The Roman historian Polybius reports that the Carthaginians hunted elephants in Morocco and in the oasis of Ghadames (northwest of modern Libya) - approximately 800 km south of Carthage, on the outskirts of the Sahara. This fragmentary evidence from a Roman historian shows that in the 3rd century B.C. conditions for elephant habitat existed in a relatively narrow band North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, bounded by the Sahara to the south and east. In Africa of the first millennium BC. elephants lived in the north of modern Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya.
The belonging of the elephants of the Carthaginian army specifically to the genus of African elephants was established from the images on Carthaginian coins. The Carthaginians began using these animals against the Romans from 262 BC. e. During Hannibal's first campaign against Rome, in 218 BC, his army had 40 war elephants, most of which died while crossing the Alps. Only four elephants survived and did not play a significant role in the fighting. The transition was so difficult that Hannibal lost about 30% of his army personnel, more than 50% of his cavalry war horses and almost all his pack animals in deaths and desertions.
It is interesting to note that before the conquest of Carthage (early 2nd century BC), the Romans obtained elephants and ivory from Syria, not Africa. It is Asian elephants of the largest subspecies E. maximus asurus that are depicted on Roman objects of art and everyday life of this time.
After the Roman conquest of North Africa and Egypt and their incorporation as provinces into the Roman Empire (from about the 1st century BC), images of elephants on dishes and mosaics in the homes of wealthy Romans represent only African elephants. The disappearance of images of Asian elephants in Rome and Asia Minor is most likely associated with the extinction of the Asia Minor subspecies in Syria and Iraq. It is believed to have disappeared by the beginning of the 1st century BC. The extinction of these animals was most likely due to continuous wars, the formation of new provinces of Rome and population growth. Climate change in Asia Minor towards increasing aridization (aridity) probably also played a negative role.
By the 1st-2nd centuries AD. e. and in North Africa, elephant populations have been extirpated or driven to extinction by climate change, which has caused desertification and the disappearance of savannas in Libya and Algeria. From this time on, the Romans received African elephants, most likely through Egypt from the territory of modern Ethiopia and Somalia, where they were still found. In fact, since the beginning of our era, the distribution of elephants in Africa has been limited to sub-Saharan Africa.
Note that at the beginning of our era, elephants were regularly and in large numbers supplied to the Roman Empire for gladiatorial games. These large-scale spectacles played an important role social role in Roman society. During such games, which sometimes lasted up to a month, more than 100 elephants were killed in the Colosseum arena in Rome alone.
Elephants and ancient civilizations of Asia
Much earlier than the Asia Minor elephant, another subspecies of Asian elephants in southern China, E. maximus rubridens, became extinct. The existence of this subspecies of Asian elephants is known not only from archaeological excavations, but also from ancient Chinese written sources and images from the middle of the second millennium BC. Based on the size of the surviving tusks and some skeletal bones found by archaeologists, the elephant of China was a large subspecies of the Asian elephant.
Long before the advent of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, elephants were hunted in China to obtain ivory. The scale of the hunt can be judged from excavations of archaeological sites of the 13th-12th centuries BC. Shang culture. In Sichuan province, near one of the cities belonging to this culture, sacrificial pits were discovered containing objects made of bronze, jade and gold, as well as 73 elephant tusks. Since China never had a tradition of domesticating these animals, the numerous tusks found in the sacrificial pits could only have been obtained during hunting. Note that only much later, in the 16th-17th centuries AD, Chinese emperors and generals began to use elephants as observation posts during battle.
Already in the II-III centuries AD. e. China's population has grown so much that chronicles mention a shortage of agricultural land. For this reason, more than 2,000 years ago, the distribution of many large mammals in China was limited to areas unsuitable for agriculture. Now in the very south of China (Yunnan province) there is a small population of wild elephants that came here from Northern Vietnam. To protect approximately 150-200 animals living here, a reserve and a center for the protection and breeding of elephants have been created.
In South Asia, where people practice Hinduism and Buddhism, the relationship between people and elephants was different. One feature should be noted: all three modern subspecies of Asian elephants live in places where these religions are widespread, which determine the attitude towards elephants as sacred animals - they are not killed, not eaten and they try to protect them.
In the north of the Hindustan Peninsula, tribes who lived here more than 3,000 years ago tamed elephants. Moreover, animals have become part of human social and cultural life. Judging by the texts of the Ramayana and Mahabharata of the mid-second millennium BC, already at that time the elephant was an important element of the religious ideas of the peoples living there. For example, the elephant-headed god Ganesha is one of the central figures of the Hindu pantheon. Ganesha is highly revered not only in India, but throughout South Asia, China and Japan. In Buddhism, which has adopted most of the philosophical and moral ideas of Hinduism, the white elephant is one of the reincarnations of Buddha.
At the same time, the tradition of capturing wild elephants for their domestication, which has been practiced in South Asia since the middle of the second millennium BC, had a negative impact on their numbers. Written sources report that in the ancient states of Hindustan, each ruler kept several hundred elephants. Some of the domesticated animals were used for military operations. To replenish the number of tamed elephants, tribes were attracted from all over Hindustan and from the eastern regions of Asia. The loss of natural populations as a result of annual mass trappings increased due to the development of new areas by farmers and pastoralists as the population grew.
Middle Ages
After the ban on gladiatorial games by the Christian emperors of Rome, interest in elephants in Europe declines and they are gradually forgotten. The first elephant to reach Europe after the ancient period was the Asian elephant, given to Charlemagne on the occasion of his coronation in 800. There have been other isolated cases of live African elephants being transported to Europe. One evidence of this is the fresco with an elephant in the Ducal wing of the Sforzesco Castle (Castello Sforzesco) (Milan, Italy). The creation of this fresco dates back to the sixties of the 15th century. The fresco is located on one of the walls of the arcade of the portico (modern name - Portico of the Elephant). The painting of this part of the castle was carried out by artists from the school of Raphael, so the details appearance the young elephant is depicted accurately, in a style typical of the European Renaissance. By the arched shape of the animal’s back and large ears, it can be determined that the fresco depicts an African elephant, not an Asian one.
In addition, throughout the Middle Ages, ivory continued to flow from Africa to Europe through various routes, as evidenced by numerous ivory works of art of that period.
Meanwhile, by the end of the 16th century, African elephants were already found only in sub-Saharan Africa. The northern border of their distribution ran in the south of Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Niger and Mali. Elephant hunting and the colonization of North Africa by tribes of Muslim pastoralists in the early Middle Ages (10th-11th centuries AD) marked the beginning of a reduction in the range of the savanna subspecies of the African elephant south of the Sahara.
During the Middle Ages, the states of the northeast of Hindustan became dependent on Muslim rulers, who adopted the local traditions of using elephants in war. In the army of Padishah Akbar there were about 300 elephants, which, however, were no longer the main striking force of the army. Direct military use elephants in India and Iran ended at the end of the 16th century, and in Southeast Asia - at the beginning of the 18th century.
Elephants in Russia
For a long time, only Asian elephants were known in Russia. Most likely, the first living elephants came to Russia under Ivan the Terrible, although there is no documentary evidence of this. It is reliably known that live Asian elephants have been delivered to Russia since the 18th century, when permanent diplomatic relations between Russia and Persia were established. At the end of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, elephants were kept at the court in St. Petersburg, and under Elizaveta Petrovna in 1741, special “elephant yards” were built on the Fontanka embankment, where animals sent by the Persian Shah Nadir were kept. In the second half of the 18th century, elephants were kept not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow. This is evidenced by several finds of the remains of Asian elephants on the territory of Moscow in layers dating back to the second half of the 18th century.
Of particular interest is the discovery of part of the skeleton of a female Asian elephant on the site of modern Kaluga Square. Initially, due to the lack of teeth and skull, this skeleton was attributed to the ancient forest elephant (Elephas antiquus), which lived in Eastern Europe during the last interglacial period about 150-70 thousand years ago. (Elephants have many species characteristics are determined only by the structure of the teeth.) The dating of the bones of the found elephant put an end to the dispute, which showed that they are no older than the middle of the 18th century. Apparently, after the death, the elephant’s corpse was buried or simply abandoned in the city landfill, which then existed behind the Kaluga outpost. Now the bones are kept in the State geological museum named after V.I. Vernadsky.
Another evidence that elephants were kept in Moscow long before the creation of the first zoo is the skeleton of a large male Asian elephant, which is kept in the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University, where it arrived at the beginning of the 19th century. Now it is one of the oldest exhibits in the museum's osteological collection.
In contrast to Asian elephants, living African elephants appeared in Russia only in the second half of the 19th century, along with the first zoological gardens.
Ivory always came to Rus' in the form of ready-made products, since Russian craftsmen used either walrus tusks or mammoth tusks for bone-carving work. The latter, at least since the end of the 15th century, were exported from Russia to Germany and England.
The development and growth of all ancient civilizations was accompanied by the extinction or displacement of elephants into inaccessible areas. Over the past 3-3.5 thousand years, the range of the Asian elephant has decreased from 17 million km 2 to 400 thousand km 2, and the African elephant - from 30 million km 2 to 3.8 million km 2. The deplorable result of the last five thousand years is the disappearance of at least two subspecies of elephants in Asia and one subspecies in Africa.
The first real steps to save elephants were taken 137 years ago. In 1872, in Madras, the colonial authorities of India issued the first official order for the protection of these animals. Elephants are now protected in special national parks and reserves in Asia and Africa, and in China a small group of elephants from the North Vietnamese population are protected by government regulations of the highest category. However, even after hunting for elephants in Africa was banned and only sanitary shooting of these animals was allowed in the national parks of four states (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique), annually, according to official data alone, up to 30 tons are exported from this continent tusks.
It remains to be hoped that, despite the problems facing modern humanity, we will not forget about our duty to such amazing animals as elephants.
In preparing the article, materials and illustrations were used from books, encyclopedias, collections and magazines: P. Conolly. Greece and Rome. Encyclopedia military history. - M: EKSMO-Press, 2001. - 320 p.; Buried kingdoms of China. - M.: TERRA - Book Club, 1998. - 168 p.; Ambrosini L. Un donario fittile con elefanti e Cerbero dal santuario, di Portonaccio a Veio. Proceedings of the 1st International congress The world of Elephants. Roma, 16-20 October, 2001. - P. 381-386; Di Silvestro R.D. The African Elephant. John Willey & Sons, Inc USA, 1991. - 206 p.; Eisenberg J.F., Shoshani J. Elephas maximus. Mammalian Species. No. 182, 1982. - P. 1-8.; Manfredi L.-I. Gli elephanti di Annibale nelle monete puniche e neopuniche. Proceedings of the 1st International congress The world of Elephants. Roma, 16-20 October, 2001. - P. 394-396; Shoshani J., Phyllis P. L., Sukumar R., et. al. The illustrated encyclopedia of Elephants. Salamander book, 1991. - 188 rub.
So, in India, unlike in Africa, elephants are not killed, but rather caught and tamed. This kind of fishing takes on the character national holiday. It begins with the authorized representative of the fishing organizer sending messengers to the villages. They call on the population to arrive at the assembly points, taking with them enough provisions.
Those who arrive are placed under the command of professional hunters - shikari - and form the chain of beaters necessary for catching elephants, sometimes numbering several thousand people. As soon as the chief shikari discovers the herd, having determined that twenty or thirty elephants have been grazing in the same place for several days, the beaters are ordered to cordon off the herd. First, the posts are installed at a distance of 50-60 meters from one another, then they gradually begin to move closer together. The chief shikari at this stage ensures, first of all, that the animals are not disturbed as much as possible and at the same time not let out of sight. The ultimate goal of the roundup is to drive the elephants into kraals that have been built and prepared for their reception.
WHAT KRAALS LOOK LIKE
Kraals are somewhat different from each other. In India, they are usually circular pens with a diameter of 150-200 meters. The pens are surrounded by a fence made of thick tree trunks. The entrance to the kraal, in front of which there is a well-camouflaged funnel-shaped palisade, is approximately four meters wide and can be closed with a lowering grate.
The Sinhalese elephant trainer Epi Vidane, who took part in many roundups in Ceylon, told me that the size of the kraals on this island is much larger than in India. The kraal is a barricaded square, one kilometer long. One of its sides is extended by a fence also a kilometer long. Elephants are driven onto this fence, and along it they then “slip” into the kraal.
There is always a pond near the kraal, the smell of which attracts animals. In Ceylon, the number of participants in the raid is several thousand. Each of them, as Epi Vidane told me, must first make a will.
HOW IS A RAID PERFORMED?
The beaters are equipped with a stick or spear. They are instructed not to frighten the animals with noise or shouting, because if the elephants panic, they may break through the cordon. The goal is to calmly, with gentle measures, encourage the elephants to move in to the right people direction - towards the kraal. The necessary influence on them should be exerted, first of all, by a quiet rustling in the thickets, which makes the animals feel uneasy. They will begin to suspect something is wrong and slowly move away. There are not only negative, but also positive means to direct elephants in the right direction, and these means are delicacies: fragrant hay, bananas, sugar cane. However, it is not man, or at least not him directly, who brings them food that serves as bait. Most often, the food is delivered on tamed elephants and dumped on the ground with a pitchfork. The elephants that receive this insidious gift are still completely wild. One would, in fact, expect that they would rush at a reckless person who dared to creep into their midst, and, united in an organized attack, drag him off his tamed elephant and trample him. But as a rule, exceptions to which have never yet been observed, a person riding a tame elephant into a herd of wild ones is completely safe, even if he is carried by a very young elephant calf.
So, the animals do not touch the rider, but are only interested in the bait. The main task of the beaters during this period of fishing is the same as before - not to do anything that could frighten or alert the elephants, which are very easily disturbed from a state of serene rest. And if they get scared, it’s as if the devil possesses them, and then they rush away, running for many kilometers without stopping. In these cases, all the labor-intensive work of cordoning off begins all over again. Once, during a hunt in Ceylon, a herd of about forty elephants broke through a cordon three times, in which more than a thousand people participated. Full of primitive power, these animals rushed through the chain. Each time they were led by a leader - a powerful, temperamental female. And only after the hunters separated its leader from the herd, they were able to drive him into the kraal.
SOMETHING IS HAPPENING IN THE JUNGLE...
The elephants, and in particular their old leader, clearly have no idea what their opponents are up to. After all, people try not to show themselves as much as possible. But still the elephants are worried - something is happening in the jungle... The next day, blows, grinding, and crackling noises are heard in the forest. What is happening?.. The participants in the raid are erecting a bamboo fence around the surrounded herd. It's not very durable. If the elephants, realizing their strength and capabilities, rushed at him, he would not have resisted and would have immediately collapsed. However, animals do not know how to evaluate forces, as humans do. Everything alien, hitherto unprecedented, still unfamiliar inspires them with fear. In essence, these giant, clumsy animals are no braver than a timid hare. The light fence is guarded by beaters, who are equipped with spears and torches just in case. The herd does not give up without a fight. But this struggle very rarely comes to a fight and is usually limited to demonstrations on the part of the animals. Following the leader, the elephants, holding against the wind, rush to one side of the fence. But it is here that a person shows all his power. A gong sounds, trumpets sound, shots thunder, a deafening cry goes up, torches flash everywhere. One of them flies straight at the leader's head. Where has all the courage gone? The elephants retreat to the center of the encircled space. Silence falls again. There is peace in the jungle.
STRANGE "COLLEAGUE"
The next morning the world looks completely different than it did the night before. There is a gap in the hated fence, from which no human smell can be heard. The herd moves on. Adult animals are on the left and right, and protected young animals are in the center. And again there are numerous baits on the way: whole mountains of maize, bananas, sugar cane. Suddenly, a strange elephant approaches the herd, but it is not like them, but one of those they had already met yesterday. He behaves strangely - he calmly goes his way, not showing any interest in the herd. What does all of this mean? As for the rarest “colleague,” the herd would not get excited because of him alone. Elephants cannot talk to each other the way people can. They cannot even formulate their thoughts (which should have preceded such a discussion). But they have something else, they have a very perfect organ of smell. The strange lone elephant emanates, just like yesterday, a human smell. This is the smell of a two-legged creature sitting on the back of a “colleague”. The leader does not at all intend to come to terms with her discovery. She wants to leave this place as quickly as possible and hit the road. The herd is about to follow her. But then the disgusting human smell suddenly overtakes the animals from all sides. Suddenly, dark-skinned people appear and make a hell of a noise. What's left to do? The elephants huddle together, trumpet, grunt, but feel helpless and mark time in one place.
AT THE KRAAL GATE
But suddenly the noise subsides. People are disappearing. And this mysterious elephant comes to the fore, an animal of their breed and yet a creature from another world. Should you follow him? Instinct tells the elephants that something is wrong here. However, experience had already shown them that peace and silence reign precisely when they join a stranger, and all unpleasant phenomena arise if they refuse to follow him. Where is this brother who acts so unbrotherly leading them? Of course, to the kraal gates. It happens that before the elephants enter this gate, the leader, and with her the entire herd, is seized with mistrust and they try to turn back. However, they won't get far. They are stabbed with spears and, most frighteningly, pyrotechnic shells explode in front of them. Finally they stop resisting. Following the tamed elephant, they pass through the gate into the kraal. The years of freedom are over. From this hour on, elephants are at the mercy of man.
LONE HUNTERS AT WORK
Of course, one should not think that driving a whole herd into a kraal, which requires large number participants, lasts for weeks and is performed like a performance - the only type of elephant catching in India. It also happens that lone hunters (in Ceylon they are called panikis) approach elephants and catch them, so to speak, with their bare hands. But their hands still cannot be called completely “naked”; they hold a lasso made of buffalo leather. The hunter, imperceptibly approaching from the direction opposite to the wind, at an opportune moment entangles the elephant’s legs with this lasso. Among the Indians there are great specialists in this type of hunting. These are people in whose families the profession of elephant catcher is passed down from generation to generation; they masterfully find the trail and lead the tracked elephant into any mood he desires. Of course, a lasso is the minimum that is required for hunting elephants, and only specialists in this field who have gone through fire, water and copper pipes can afford to approach the gray giants with such an inconspicuous weapon.
A FUTURE ATTEMPT TO BREAK AWAY FROM CAPTIVITY
The oldest of the elephants driven into the kraal, those that can no longer be tamed, are released back into the jungle. When dealing with the remaining elephants, three conditions are mainly observed: calm, calm and calm again. If animals had a human mind (which is precisely what they don’t have!) and if they thought like humans (which is precisely what they cannot do!), they would easily get out of the captivity into which they were lured . Still, they undoubtedly have some vague idea of \u200b\u200bthe possibility of escape. The elephants rush back and forth through the kraal, trying to find some opening, but they do not find it. There are stakes all around, and it seems there is only one thing left to do: throw yourself at the person. Then they decide to use force. Suddenly the entire group, led by the leader, rushes to some place in the fence. But at the same moment, the guards guarding on the other side of the kraal also begin to move. The guards begin to wave their spears (and sometimes only sticks and clubs) and raise a desperate cry. If the elephants had been more decisive, pitiful human tricks would never have blocked their path. Of course, the stockade would not stand if the elephants began to trample it with their powerful legs, and, of course, the little men would not be able to stop them. But the gray giants comically underestimate their capabilities. They cowardly retreat before this militant demonstration, huddle in the center of the kraal, huddle together and freeze in bewilderment, clearly not understanding what it all means. If they are not irritated now, they will not make new attempts to break through. And therefore, not only are they not irritated, but, on the contrary, they strive to sweeten their stay in the kraal (and in the literal sense of the word).
ENERGETIC ELEPHANT BAIT
Darkness falls. At night, large fires are lit around the kraal to prevent the elephants from trying to break free again. In the morning they are a little calmer, and now you can do something new against them. A mahout rides into the kraal on a tamed elephant. This elephant walks indifferently through the kraal. Along the way, he picks off a few leaves, and then heads into the thick of the newly captured animals. In relation to such a bait elephant (called a decoy), wild elephants behave differently. Some of them seem to be expecting help from him and let him approach them with some curiosity. Others simply don’t want to know him and are ready to attack him.
What is the task of a mahout? He must calm wild animals, “inspire them with cheerfulness” and “set them in a new mood.” And he does this by scattering all kinds of delicacies in front of them. Newly captured elephants receive many wonderful gifts. But the most precious thing, water, is not given to them, and this is very cleverly planned. Let the elephants be tormented by thirst, let them taste all its torments. At the right moment, a person, that is, the very creature that doomed them to torment, will help them find water for both drinking and bathing. And since elephants are not able to understand the connection between phenomena, then, when quenching their thirst, they will only feel good deeds on the part of man and will not at all unravel his devilish cunning. For now, they are given tasty things to eat and left alone.
LOOP AROUND YOUR NECK
Nothing has been achieved yet by the fact that the elephants roaming the kraal are no longer obstinate. A new stage of their taming is coming. The elephants must be tied up. Tame elephants appear on stage again. They enter the kraal, approach the herd, then move away from it again and each time they try - and not without success - to attract the attention of the other elephants. Meanwhile, under their cover, the mahouts quietly penetrate into the kraal, and while the wild elephants get to know their tamed brothers, people wrap their hind legs with jute ropes as thick as a good club. The ends of these ropes are tied to trees growing outside the kraal. But just tangling the elephants' legs is not enough. Mahouts, sitting on the backs of tamed elephants, throw loops around the necks of wild animals, the ends of which are also tied to a tree on the other side of the kraal. Bound animals, as soon as they realize that their freedom has been damaged, naturally become obstinate. They stick their tusks into the ground, uproot all the bushes they can reach, and do not eat the food that is offered to them. True, they grab him, but immediately scatter him in different directions. And first of all, they frantically wave their trunks around themselves. They try to prevent this by placing an iron rod under the heroic blows. Having gradually wounded the end of the trunk, they weaken the force of the blows and eventually calm down completely.
Elephants are desperate - this word can be used in this case with good reason. No matter how careful we are when comparing an animal with a person, we can say that the affects of animals are extremely similar to ours. The elephants are overcome with sadness and anger. But neither exertion of strength, nor jerking, nor violence helps them. The ropes hold them tight.
Our friends are going through difficult days. The ropes cut deep into the body. Wounds appear that must be treated immediately before insects infest them. Of course, not all elephants in the kraal are tied up at once. They are subjected to this procedure one by one and, as a rule, in accordance with the danger they pose to others, as well as their qualities as leaders. The relationship between still free animals and already bound animals is interesting. They run up to them, sometimes even stroke them with their trunks, “feel sorry,” but never do anything to untie the ropes, although, as evidenced by the actions of tamed elephants in sawmills, there are opportunities for this.
LIBERATION AND... enslavement
And here comes liberation, which is at the same time enslavement: liberation from suffocating fetters and enslavement by man. The ropes are untied. Two tame elephants are brought down. The broken and devoid of will, the animal obediently stands between them and allows them to do whatever they want, especially pleasant things - for example, take themselves to the river for a watering hole.
But initially the captive is not yet completely freed from his shackles. After returning to the kraal, his neck (but no longer his legs) is again tied with rope. The elephant begins to protest again. But his resistance is no longer strong. At the same time, he is again shown the pleasant side of human enslavement. The enslaver removed the elephant's responsibility for food. Bananas and sugar cane rain down on him as if from a cornucopia. He is no longer stubborn. Tests last day, fasting and bathing made him hungry. He grabs food and feasts on it. Several days pass, and the elephant allows the man standing in front of him to touch him.
And a few days later he already allows a person to sit on his back. Some of the tamed animals are sold right there on the spot. In Ceylon their price is about one hundred rupees apiece.
"NO DIFFERENCE"
The opinion that mainly Indians, or even only they alone, have the ability to tame and train elephants is unfounded. Europeans have certainly made significant advances in elephant training in both Asia and Europe.
At one time it was believed that African elephants were either not domesticated at all, or were domesticated to a lesser extent than Indian ones. This idea is also wrong. Karl Hagenbeck said that within a day he managed to train African elephants, which they had never tried to train before, to carry a guard and a load on their backs. The reason for this blitz of training was a visit to the Berlin Zoo during the stay of a large Nubian caravan by the famous Professor Virchow. The scientist questioned the ability of African elephants to train. In response, Hagenbeck, shaking his head, said: “There is no difference!..” And as soon as Virchow left, he immediately ordered the Nubians to begin training five African elephants. At first, the animals showed extreme displeasure - they trumpeted and shook themselves off. However, after a few hours, under the influence of treats and persuasion, they began to give in and by the middle next day, to the joy of Hagenbeck and the surprise of Virchow, they turned from stubborn and wild into efficient riding and pack animals.
If the elephants are not yet completely tamed, they are left for some time in the kraal. They treat them well. More can be achieved by gentle treatment and good food than by roughness and severity. The vast majority of elephants are capable of taming. However, some, very few, do not obey man under any circumstances. Sometimes such “incorrigibles” are released into the wild, and sometimes their lives are cut short by a bullet.
WHAT BIOLOGICAL TASK DOES MUST PERFORM?
In general, tamed elephants can be relied upon. Both among males and females, unreliable specimens are a rare exception: these are, as a rule, animals that are ferocious from birth or are in the peculiar state already mentioned above (must), which outwardly resembles a yar, but is still different from it. Sometimes males in this state do not show any mating intentions; females do not attract them. Why then must must, what biological task does it perform? The most logical explanation is that instinct prompts males to fight for the female before mating. Their blood is boiling, they are eager to fight with their opponent. However, with must, the excitement of animals does not subside even after mating.
Of course, unreliable elephants are found not only among bullies from childhood and animals in a state of must. In Burma, elephants deemed dangerous are identified by placing a bell on them. In addition, the ootsi (as mahouts are called in Burma) receives an assistant armed with a spear, who is obliged not to let the elephant out of his sight for a minute.
POSSESSED WITH RABIES
The chronicle of accidents caused by untrustworthy elephants is extremely extensive.
One day, in a kraal in Ceylon, a tamed deka began to go on a rampage. He tried to throw off the driver, but he was an experienced mahout. What did this bully elephant do, what tricks did he throw out, but achieved nothing. Then he suddenly threw his trunk back, grabbed his rider, threw him to the ground and trampled him. Sometimes elephants go berserk, and then, after all the trouble they have caused, they enter a state of what, from a human point of view, may seem like repentance (but in reality, of course, it has nothing to do with it).
In Burma, one elephant, which, however, was not in a state of must, killed its rider, and then for a whole week guarded the body of the killed one, grazing only near it and becoming terrible at the slightest attempt by people to approach the corpse. When the corpse decomposed, the animal ran away. Ten days later the elephant was recaptured and was behaving quite normally. In another case, reported by John Hagenbeck, a tamed elephant suddenly went berserk and began to attack everyone who caught his eye. A happy thought, as it seemed to him, occurred to Mahut. He decided to play on the animal’s timidity, wrapped his face in a black scarf and, resembling a mummy in this form, went to meet his raging charge. But the raging animal did not allow itself to be frightened. The elephant rushed at the mahout and killed him.
According to Hagenbeck, what happened next was that a black scarf was removed from the corpse. Seeing the face of his dead owner, the elephant immediately calmed down, began stroking the corpse with his trunk and making plaintive sounds. Finally, he dug a hole in the ground, pushed the corpse into it, and decorated the grave with branches and leaves plucked from a nearby tree.
Hagenbeck calls this case, which, however, is known to him only by hearsay, “absolutely true.” This, of course, cannot prevent us from considering the final part of the story, especially the version that the elephant “decorated” the grave, as a legend based on an overestimation of the animal’s mental abilities.
Another elephant, of Siamese origin, killed no less than nine mahouts in Burma in fifteen years. He pierced all his victims with his tusks. In the end, his owner decided to use radical treatment methods. He ordered both tusks of this magnificently developed elephant to be sawed off, and even down to the meat. The operation was clearly very painful for the animal, but the wounds healed relatively quickly. After this, the elephant became meek like a lamb and no longer attacked the person.
What seems surprising is that finding drivers for animals known for their viciousness is not so difficult. Such risk-taking mahouts receive no more reward than their colleagues working on tame elephants. But there are many elephant mahouts for whom the admiration of their misplaced courage balances the terrible risk; Some people may enjoy this game of danger. The coldly calculated owners of such vicious elephants probably also contributed to the emergence of such sports fanaticism.
WHO IS BETTER - A FEMALE OR A MALE?
If we compare the qualities of males and females from the point of view of the possibility of their use by humans, we must say the following. Males are larger and stronger than females, and are also less shy. But along with these advantages, nik also has disadvantages. Having reached puberty, the male begins to show a tendency to rebel. His master is now no longer a leader to whom he obeys, but a rival with whom he fights for leadership of the herd.
Of course, Indian mahouts are trying to curb such elephants. One of the most effective, but also cruel means is to keep the male in a state of prolonged malnutrition. In this way, its overflowing force is moderated. But even reducing feeding is not an absolutely reliable remedy against outbreaks of violence. And drovers in Asia often have to pay with their lives.
Elephants And Mammoths- large mobs that live in forests, jungles, deserts and plains. Mammoths can be found in snow biomes. There are two breeds of mammoths and two breeds of elephants in the fashion, they are shown in the picture on the right:
- Sungari mammoth
- African elephant
- Woolly mammoth
- Asian elephant
Friendly, they attack only in response. After killing, the Skin drops.
Taming
Elephants and mammoths are only tamed as children. To tame it, you need to feed the cub ten or five Cakes. After this, you will be asked to name the animal. You can then rename it using Book or Medallion.
Tamed elephants can be treated by feeding them Bread or Baked Potatoes. You can attach a Leash to them.
Think carefully about where to keep the elephant, as hostile mobs will attack it.
Adaptations
Tamed elephants and mammoths can be equipped with various useful or simply beautiful devices.
elephant harness
An elephant harness is placed on an adult elephant or mammoth and allows you to control it, as well as put other devices on top, without it you cannot put on anything (except for padding). Only one player can climb on an elephant with a harness.
In order to climb on an elephant or mammoth, you need to sneak up to it (walk while holding Shift) for four seconds, after which it will sit down and you can sit on it.
This device is used for decorative purposes and can only be worn on an adult Asian elephant.
Elephant Throne ( English Elephant Howdah) is also used for decoration and can only be worn on an adult Asian elephant. Before you put on the elephant throne, you need to put on elephant clothes.
Hanging Chests
Hanging chests fit on adult elephants and mammoths and allow them to carry things like some do
Hello, dear players, today I will briefly talk about how to tame animals that are added by the Mo'Creatures mod.
Wyverns.
To get a tame wyvern, you first need to knock out an egg from a wild one. Wyverns will spawn in their own world. You can only get there if you have a special staff (Wyvern Portal Staff), which will teleport you there. It can be made using Essence of Light or Unicorn Horn.
After you get the wyvern egg, throw it (RMB) next to the torches and wait for it to hatch. I recommend not leaving the egg.
Monitor lizards.
Monitor lizards can be found in the swamp biome. Beat an egg from a wild monitor lizard to raise a tame one ( throw the egg (RMB) next to the torches and wait for it to hatch).
Snakes.
There are eight different types of snakes: shy (they will try to crawl away from you), venomous (coral colored), cobra and others. Snakes can be seen in ordinary world in many biomes. Rattlesnakes, for example, spawn only in deserts, pythons - in swamps and jungles.
Of wild snakes and adults tamed eggs drop out, from which tame snakes will hatch ( throw the egg (RMB) next to the torches and wait for it to appear).
Sharks.
Spawn in the ocean. The tame shark must be hatched from the egg. It is knocked out of a wild shark. For a shark to hatch, you need to throw the egg into a pond and wait.
Ostriches.
Spawn in plains and desert biome in groups. You can see a male and a female specimen. They differ in color. Males are black, females are brown. There are also rare albino ostriches ( white). You can also find cubs - they are brown.
To get a tame ostrich, you will need to raise it from an egg. It can be found near the ostrich.
Elephants and mammoths.
Elephants can be found in deserts, jungles, plains and forests.Only baby elephants and mammoths can be tamed! To do this, you need to feed them 10 pieces of sugar (Sugar Lump) from the mod (pcm)!
Turkey.
Spawns in the plains biome. It can be tamed with watermelon seeds and cured with pumpkin seeds. Cannot be bred!
Stingrays.
Spawn in the ocean biome. You can tame it if you press (sit down) and do not let go for a long time, RMB several times. The stingray cannot be tamed!
Dolphins.
Dolphins will spawn in the ocean biome. There are six species (from common to rare): blue, green, purple, dark, pink and albino. A dolphin can be tamed by feeding it raw fish (rpm).
Aquarium fish.
Spawns in any body of water. There are 10 models aquarium fish. To tame one, you need to catch it in a net (Fish Net)
(for crafting you need shark teeth).
Then, they can place their fish in an aquarium (to do this, they need to scoop up (right-cm) a tame fish)
They spawn almost everywhere in the overworld. You can tame it by right-clicking something edible.
Turtles.
The turtle can be seen in the swamp biome. Scatter reeds or slices of watermelon near it and move away to a distance of ten blocks. When the turtle eats the treat, you will become its favorite owner. And if you name the turtle Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo or Leonardo, it will receive the corresponding headband and weapons like those of the Ninja Turtles.
Scorpios.
Scorpions come in 4 types: brown and green (in the desert and plain biomes), blue (in the winter biome), red (in the Nether (in Hell)). To get a tame scorpion, you need to knock out the baby on the back of the mother (see picture above) and take it (pcm) in your hands.
Cats.
Cats can be found in the plains biome. There are 8 colors. To tame a cat, throw fried fish next to him, as soon as he eats, right-click on the cat pet with the medallion.
Big cats.
Big cats are lions, lionesses, tigers, cheetahs, panthers, Snow leopards and white tigers. You can only tame their babies by throwing raw pork/beef/fish and right-clicking on the medallion.
Pandas.
They live in the plains and jungle biomes. They are tamed by reeds.
Rabbits.
There are 5 colors. Spawns in forest and winter biomes. You can tame it by right-clicking on the rabbit.
Birds.
There are six different species of birds: pigeon, crow, blue grosbeck, cardinal, canary bird and parrot. Throw the wheat seeds and move away so that the bird eats, when it does this, come up and right-click on it.
Foxes.
Found in the forest biome. White fox can be seen in the winter biome. You can tame it with turkey meat.
Raccoons.
You will see it in the forest biome. You can tame it by right-clicking on something edible.
Ducks.
They are no different from chicken, only in sound and texture. If you give two individuals each a wheat seed, they will have a baby duckling!
Horses.
Can be found in plains, forest or mountain biomes. They are tamed immediately if you give (RMB) an apple. You can also put a saddle on a wild horse and try to ride it for a long time (RMB).
Zebras.
Can be found in the plains biome. Tames with an apple if you sit on another zebra or a black and white horse (level 4 horse) from the mod!
That's all! Tame animals and show off your pets!
All the best!
Every tourist who has ever visited Thailand would not miss the opportunity to ride a horse, take a selfie on its back, or admire their performances at a circus show. However, almost none of them even suspect how the Thais train and subjugate these amazing and strong animals to people to work in the tourism sector (as well as in logging). The answer lies in an incredibly sad and discouraging story, the original of which we translated from several English-language primary sources.
Attention! This article may shock especially impressionable people!
The tribalism of the time, modern politics and ignorance of tourists played a key role in what we see today in many countries around the world. These days, elephants have become a symbol of tourism, especially in Southeast Asian countries.
The plight of the elephants
Over the years, in order to generate income from tourism, elephant owners have subjected their animals to disgraceful acts of street begging, circus performances, forced breeding, horse riding, not to mention industrial logging.
If you think that elephants enjoy the fame and life of a circus, the grueling work of cutting down trees in the jungle, and the fact that they have a choice about whether to take people along for the ride, then you are sadly mistaken. What if we told you that the elephant only allows people to ride it out of fear? Fear of repetitions of the torture that he had to endure before.
The Phajaan Ceremony - destruction of the spirit
Although Indian elephants, unlike African ones, are excellent at riding and performing other tasks, this procedure still requires a ton of effort. In Thailand, the process of subduing them is called the Phajaan Ceremony, meaning “destruction of the spirit” of the animal.
Phajaan Literally translated from Thai it means “to crush”.
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The Fajan ceremony has deep roots in Thai history. In those days, the expulsion of the wild spirit of the elephant and its subjugation was carried out by a tribal shaman. And since no one has yet come up with a more gentle method of training (maybe elephants are not tamed any other way), this ceremony has survived to this day.
Its essence is that they are subjected to physical and mental torture for a week or even more. The process begins with the theft of a baby elephant from its mother at the age of 6 months, then it is driven into a tight cage. His legs are tied, feeding is excluded for a very long time, while he is beaten with a weapon resembling a small pickaxe, and the sensitive insides of his ears and trunk are damaged.
Once the “wild spirit of the elephant is driven out,” the animal will obey all its master’s commands out of fear. The video below clearly demonstrates the above process.
An elephant never forgets an insult
Every year, thousands are sent to training camps and subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Not everyone survives the ceremony, and those who undergo it are left with physical and mental memories of a dark past for the rest of their lives. Scars on the skin of an animal, once inflicted piercing weapon, can be easily detected even by inexperienced people.
Dislocated hips and damaged spines in elephants are quite common in Thailand. Such injuries are usually caused by forced breeding, ill-fitting saddles and over-riding. The list of injuries can be endless.
Method of combating brutal torture
Based on the above, it can be summarized that a large number of Elephants are subjected to severe torture, in large part because of tourism. Of course, this is impossible, but what if all tourists at the same time refused to ride horses, watch shows and other entertainment with elephants, then the Fajan ceremony would simply lose its relevance. A much smaller number of elephants would end up in the camps, and then only for training in industrial work, and this point should already be regulated by state policy.
