Elephant taming. Elephant Protection Fund Method for combating cruel torture

2. A war elephant from an English "bestiary" of the 15th century - a kind of medieval encyclopedia of the animal world. Interestingly, the artist depicted an elephant with four tusks and cloven hooves (bestiary.ca, Copenhagen Kongelige Bibliotek Gl).

Indian elephants have been captured for agricultural and construction works in the north of the Indian subcontinent. The rulers of ancient Indian states kept several hundred Indian elephants at their courts, and some of the tamed animals were used for military operations. Pro African elephants it is known that they (starting from the 15th century BC) were kept in the zoos of some pharaohs. From 262 B.C. e. The Carthaginians began to use African elephants for military purposes. So, in the army of Hannibal during his first campaign against Rome (218 BC), 40 war elephants “were in service”. At the beginning of our era, elephants were supplied in huge quantities to the Roman Empire for gladiatorial games. After the Christian emperors of Rome banned such cruel fun, interest in elephants in Europe fell. The first elephant to enter Europe after ancient period, there was an Indian elephant (according to some sources - an albino) named Abyl-Abbas. This giant was presented to Charlemagne in 800 by the Caliph of Baghdad Harun ar-Rashid, one of the characters in the Thousand and One Nights.

So, in India, unlike Africa, the elephant is not killed, but caught and tamed. This type of trapping becomes national holiday. It begins with the fact that the authorized organizer of fishing sends messengers to the villages. They urge the population to arrive at the assembly points, taking with them enough provisions.

The newcomers come under the command of professional hunters - shikari and form a chain of beaters necessary for catching elephants and sometimes numbering several thousand people. As soon as the head shikari discovers the herd, having established that twenty or thirty elephants have been grazing in the same place for several days, the beaters are ordered to cordon off this herd. First, the posts are set at a distance of 50-60 meters from one another, then they gradually begin to approach each other. The chief shikari at this stage sees first of all that the animals are not disturbed as much as possible, and at the same time they are not out of sight. The ultimate goal of the raid is to drive the elephants into the kraals built in advance and prepared for their reception.

WHAT KRAALS LOOK LIKE

Kraals are somewhat different from each other. In India, they are usually circular enclosures with a diameter of 150-200 meters. The paddocks are surrounded by a fence of thick tree trunks. The entrance to the kraal, in front of which there is a well-camouflaged funnel-shaped palisade, is about four meters wide and can be closed with a drop-down portcullis.

Epi Vidane, a Sinhalese elephant tamer who took part in many raids 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, the length of which is equal to a kilometer. One of its sides is lengthened by a fence also of a kilometer length. Elephants are driven onto this fence, and along it they then “slip” into the kraal.

Near the kraal there is always a pond, the smell of which attracts animals. In Ceylon, the number of participants in the raid is several thousand. Each of them, Epi Vidane told me, must first make a will.

HOW DOES THE ROUNDUP BE DONE?

Beaters are equipped with a stick or spear. They are instructed not to frighten the animals with noise and shouting, for if the elephants panic, they can break through the cordon. The goal is to calmly, gently encourage the elephants to move into the right people direction - to the kraal. The necessary effect on them should be exerted, first of all, by a quiet rustle in the thickets, from which the animals become uneasy. They will begin to suspect something is wrong and slowly walk away. There are not only negative, but also positive means to send elephants into the right side, and these means are delicacies: fragrant hay, bananas, sugar cane. However, it is not the man, or at least not he directly, who brings them food that serves as bait. Most often, food is delivered on tamed elephants and dumped on the ground with pitchforks. Elephants receiving this insidious gift are still quite wild. In fact, one would have expected that they would rush at a reckless person who dared to creep into their midst, and, united in an organized attack, drag him off a tamed elephant and trample him. But as a rule, exceptions from which have never been observed, a person who rides a tamed elephant into a wild herd is completely safe, even if he is being carried by a very young elephant.

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 catching is the same as before - not to do anything that can frighten or alert the elephants, which are very easy to bring out of a state of serene rest. And if only they get scared, it’s like the devil takes possession of them, and then they rush away, running for many kilometers without stopping. In these cases, all the laborious work on the cordon starts over. Once, while hunting in Ceylon, a herd of about forty elephants broke through the cordon three times, in which more than a thousand people participated. Full of primal 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 his leader from the herd, they were able to drive him into the kraal.

SOMETHING IS GOING ON 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 to hide as much as possible. But still, the elephants are worried - something is happening in the jungle ... The next day, blows, rattles, and crackles are heard in the forest. What is going on?.. It is the participants of the round-up erecting a bamboo fence around the surrounded herd. He's not very durable. If the elephants, realizing their strengths and capabilities, rushed at him, he would not have resisted and immediately collapsed. However, animals do not know how to evaluate forces, as a person does. Everything alien, hitherto unseen, still unfamiliar inspires fear in them. In fact, these gigantic clumsy animals are no braver than a shy hare. The light fence is guarded by beaters who, just in case, are equipped with spears and torches. 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 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. The gong sounds, trumpets blow, shots rumble, a deafening cry rises, torches flash everywhere. One of them flies straight into the leader's head. Where has all the courage gone? Elephants retreat to the center of the surrounded space. Silence falls again. Peace reigns in the jungle.

STRANGE "COLLEAGUE"

The next morning the world looks completely different than last night. There is a gaping hole in the hated fence, from which no human smell can be heard. The herd moves on. To the left and right are adult animals, in the center - protected young animals. And again, numerous baits are on the way: whole mountains of maize, bananas, sugar cane. Suddenly, a strange elephant approaches the herd, but he is not the same as themselves, but one of those with whom they had already met yesterday. He behaves strangely - calmly goes his own way, not showing any interest in the herd. What does all of this mean? As for the rarest "colleague", then because of him one herd would not come into excitement. Elephants cannot talk to each other like humans do. They cannot even formulate their thought (which should have preceded such a discussion). But then they have something else, they have a very perfect organ of smell. From a strange lone elephant comes, just like yesterday, a human smell. This is the smell of a bipedal creature sitting on the back of a "colleague". The leader does not intend to come to terms with her discovery at all. She wants to leave this place as soon as possible and hit the road. The herd is going to follow her. But then a disgusting human smell suddenly overtakes animals from all sides. Suddenly, dark-skinned people appear and raise hellish noise. What's left to do? Elephants huddle together, trumpet, grunt, but feel helpless and stagnate in one place.

AT THE KRAAL GATE

But suddenly the noise stops. People disappear. 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 has 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 so unfraternally acting colleague leading them? Of course, to the gates of the kraal. It happens that before the elephants enter this gate, the leader, and with her the whole herd, is seized with distrust and they try to turn back. However, they don't get far. They are stabbed with spears, and, what is especially frightening, pyrotechnic projectiles explode in front of them. Finally they stop resisting. Following the tamed elephant, they pass through the gate to the kraal. The years of freedom are over. From now on, elephants are in the power of man.

LONE HUNTERS AT WORK

Of course, one should not think that driving a whole herd into a kraal, which requires a large number participants, lasts for weeks and is played out like a spectacle - in India, the only type of catching elephants. It also happens that lone hunters (in Ceylon they are called panikis) approach the elephants and catch them, so to speak, with their bare hands. But you still can’t call their hands completely “naked”, they hold a lasso made of buffalo leather. The hunter, imperceptibly approaching from the side opposite to the wind, at a favorable moment entangles the elephant's legs with this lasso. Among the Indians there are great experts in this type of hunting. These are people in whose families the profession of elephant trapping is passed down from generation to generation; they masterfully find the trail and lead the hunted elephant into any mood he desires. Of course, the lasso is the minimum of what is required for hunting elephants, and only experts in this field who have gone through fire, water and copper pipes can afford to approach the gray giants with such a nondescript weapon.

A vain attempt to break out of captivity

The oldest of the elephants driven into the kraal, those that can no longer be tamed, are again released into the jungle. When dealing with the rest of the elephants, three conditions are mainly observed: calm, calm, and again calm. If animals had a human mind (but that’s exactly what they don’t have!) And if they thought like a person (but that’s exactly what they can’t!), They would easily get out of the captivity into which they were lured . Still, they no doubt have some vague idea of ​​the possibility of escape. Elephants rush back and forth along the kraal, trying to find some kind of gap, but they do not find it. There are stakes all around, and it seems that only one thing remains: to rush at a person. Then they mature the decision to use force. Suddenly, the whole 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, begin to move. The guards begin to brandish spears (and sometimes only sticks and clubs) and raise a desperate cry. If the elephants had been more determined, the pitiful human tricks would never have blocked their path. Of course, the palisade would not stand if the elephants began to trample it with their powerful feet, and, of course, the little men could not interfere with them in any way. But the gray giants ridiculously 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, they are not only not annoyed, but, on the contrary, they seek to sweeten them (and, moreover, in the literal sense of the word) their stay in the kraal.

ENERGETIC ELEPHANT BAIT

Darkness is coming. At night, large fires are lit around the kraal so that the elephants do not try to break free again. In the morning they are already a little calmer, and now something new can be done against them. A mahout rides a tamed elephant into the kraal. This elephant walks indifferently along the kraal. Along the way, he picks off a few leaves, and then goes into the thick of the newly caught animals. In relation to such a decoy elephant (it is called a deco) wild elephants behave differently. Some of them seem to be waiting for help from him and let him in with some curiosity. Others simply do not want to know him and are ready to pounce on him.

What is the task of the mahout? He must calm wild animals, "inspire them with vigor" and "tune in new way". And he does this by scattering all sorts of delicacies in front of them. Newly caught elephants receive many wonderful gifts. But the most precious, water, they are not given, and this is very cunningly conceived. Let the elephants be thirsty, let them taste all her torments. At the right moment, a person, that is, the very creature that doomed them to torment, will help them find water for drinking and bathing. side of a person and will by no means unravel his diabolical cunning.For the time being, they are allowed to feast on tasty things and left alone.

LOOP AROUND THE NECK

By the fact that elephants roam the kraal no longer obstinate, nothing has yet been achieved. Coming new stage their taming. Elephants must be tied. The tame elephants are back on stage. They enter the kraal, approach the herd, then move away from it again, and every time they try - and not without success - to attract the attention of the other elephants. Meanwhile, under their cover, mahouts sneak into the kraal unnoticed, and while the wild elephants get to know their tamed counterparts, 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 confusing elephants with just their 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 it reaches their consciousness that their freedom has been damaged, of course, become obstinate. They stick their tusks into the ground, uproot all the bushes they can reach, do not eat the food that is offered to them. True, they grab him, but they immediately scatter him in different directions. And above all, they frantically swing their trunks around them. They try to prevent this by substituting an iron rod under the heroic blows of the trunk. Gradually wounding the end of the trunk, they weaken the force of the blows and eventually completely subside.

Elephants in despair - this word can be used in this case with good reason. However careful we may be in comparing an animal with a man, we can say that the affects of animals are extremely similar to ours. Sorrow and anger seize the elephants. But neither the exertion of forces, nor jerks, nor violence help them. The ropes hold them tight.

Our friends are going through hard times. The ropes cut deep into the body. There are wounds that must be treated immediately, before insects start to enter 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 with their qualities as leaders. The relation of still free animals to those already bound is interesting. They run up to them, sometimes even stroke them with their trunks, "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.

RELEASE 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. Bring two tame elephants. The broken and devoid of will animal obediently stands between them and allows them to do anything with themselves, especially pleasant things - for example, take themselves to the river for a drink.

But initially the captive is not yet completely freed from the shackles. After returning to the kraal, his neck (but no longer his legs) is again entangled with a rope. The elephant starts protesting again. But his resistance is already devoid of its former strength. At the same time, he is again shown the pleasant side of enslavement by a person. The enslaver took care of the feed from the elephant. Bananas and sugarcane rain down on him like a cornucopia. He won't be stubborn anymore. Tests last day, the hungry regime and bathing caused him hunger. He grabs food and eats it. Several days pass, and the elephant allows the person standing in front of him to touch him.

A few days later, he already allows a man to sit on his back. Some of the tamed animals are sold right there on the spot. In Ceylon, they cost about one hundred rupees apiece.

"THIS IS NO DIFFERENCE"

The opinion that predominantly Indians, or even only they alone have the ability to tame and train elephants, is untenable. Europeans have certainly made significant progress in elephant training both in Asia and Europe.

At one time, it was believed that African elephants were either not tamed at all, or tamed to a lesser extent than Indian ones. This view is also wrong. Karl Hagenbeck said that he managed to teach African elephants, which they had never tried to train before, to carry a watchman and a load on their backs in a day. The reason for this blitz 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 start training five African elephants. At first, the animals showed extreme displeasure - they trumpeted, brushed themselves off. However, within a few hours, under the influence of delicacies and persuasion, they began to yield, and by the middle of the next day, to the delight of Hagenbeck and the surprise of Virchow, they turned from stubborn and wild into executive riding and pack animals.

If the elephants are not yet fully tamed, they are left for a while in the kraal. They are treated well though. More can be achieved by gentle handling and good food than by roughness and severity. The vast majority of elephants are tameable. However, some, very few, do not obey man under any circumstances. Sometimes these "incorrigibles" are released into the wild, and sometimes their lives are cut short by a bullet.

WHAT BIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVE DOES MUST PERFORM?

In general, tamed elephants can be relied upon. Both among males and among females, unreliable specimens are a rare exception: these are, as a rule, animals ferocious from birth or in the peculiar state already mentioned above (must), which outwardly resembles a yar, but nevertheless differs from it. Sometimes males in this state do not show any mating intentions, females do not attract them. Why, then, must, what biological task does it perform? The most logical explanation is that instinct induces males to fight for a female before mating. Their blood is boiling, they are eager to fight with an opponent. However, with must, the excitation 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 singled out by hanging a bell on them. In addition, the ootsi (as mahauts are called in Burma) receives an assistant armed with a spear, who is obliged not to let the elephant out of sight for a minute.

RABIES OBSESSED

The chronicle of accidents caused by unreliable elephants is extremely extensive.

One day, in a kraal in Ceylon, a tamed deca went on a rampage. He tried to throw off the driver, but he was an experienced mahout. Whatever this bully elephant did, what tricks he did not throw out, but achieved nothing. Then he unexpectedly threw his trunk back, grabbed his rider, threw him to the ground and trampled. Sometimes elephants go into a frenzy, and then after all the trouble they have caused, they have a state that, from a human point of view, may seem like repentance (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 his rider, and then for a whole week guarded the body of the slain, grazing only near him and came into a terrible rage at the slightest attempt of people to approach the corpse. When the corpse decomposed, the animal escaped. Ten days later, the elephant was recaptured and behaved quite normally. In another case, reported by John Hagenbeck, a tame elephant suddenly became furious and began to rush at everyone who caught his eye. Mahaut came up with what he thought was a happy thought. He decided to play on the fearfulness of the animal, wrapped his face in a black scarf and, resembling a mummy in this form, went towards his raging ward. But the rampaging animal did not let itself be frightened. The elephant rushed at the mahout and killed him.

According to Gagenbeck, the following happened: a black scarf was removed from the corpse. Seeing the face of his dead master, the elephant immediately calmed down, began to stroke the corpse with its trunk and make 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, he knows 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 a reassessment mental abilities animal.

Another elephant, of Siamese origin, killed at least nine mahouts in Burma in fifteen years. He pierced all his victims with tusks. In the end, his owner decided to apply radical methods of treatment. He ordered to saw off both tusks from this magnificently developed elephant, and besides, to the very meat. The operation was obviously very painful for the animal, but the wounds healed relatively quickly. After that, the elephant became meek as a lamb and no longer attacked a person.

Surprisingly, it turns out that it is not so difficult to find drivers for animals known for their viciousness. Such risky mahouts receive no more reward than their counterparts working on gentle elephants. But there are many elephant mahouts for whom admiration for their misplaced bravery balances the terrible risk; some may enjoy this game of danger. The cold-calculated owners of such vicious elephants probably also contributed to this sporting fanaticism.

WHO IS BETTER - A FEMALE OR A MALE?

If we compare the qualities of males and females in terms of the possibility of their use by humans, we must say the following. Males are larger and stronger than females, and also less shy. But along with these advantages, there are also disadvantages. Having reached puberty, the male begins to show a tendency to rebellion. His master is now for him no longer a leader to whom he obeys, but a rival with whom he fights for leadership over the herd.

Of course, Indian Mahouts are trying to rein in 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 a completely reliable remedy against violent outbursts. 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 snowy biomes. There are two breeds of mammoths and two breeds of elephants in the mod, they are shown in the picture on the right:

• Sungari mammoth
• African elephant
• furry mammoth
• Asian elephant

Friendly, attack only in response. After the kill, the Skin drops out.

Taming

Elephants and mammoths are tamed only when they are children. To tame, you need to feed the cub with ten or five Cakes. After that, you will be prompted to name the animal. Later it will be possible to rename using the Book or Medallion.

Tamed elephants can be healed by feeding them Bread or Baked Potatoes. You can tie a leash to them.

Think carefully about where to keep the elephant, as hostile mobs will attack it.

fixtures

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, nothing can be put on without it (except stuffings). Only one player can climb an elephant with a harness.

In order to climb an elephant or a mammoth, you need to sneak up to him (go while holding Shift) for four seconds, after which he will sit down and you can sit on him.

This device is used for decorative purposes and can only be worn on an adult Asian elephant.

elephant throne ( English Elephant Howdah) also serves as decoration and can only be worn by an adult Asian elephant. Before you put on the elephant throne, you need to put on elephant clothes.

Hinged chests

Hanging chests are worn by adult elephants and mammoths and allow them to carry things, as some do.

Every tourist who has ever visited Thailand would not miss the opportunity to ride a horse, take a selfie on his back, or admire their performances on circus show. However, almost none of them even suspects how the Thais train and subordinate these amazing and strong animals to people to work in the tourism industry (as well as in logging). The answer lies in an incredibly sad and discouraging story, the original of which we have translated from several English-language primary sources.

Attention! This article may lead in particular impressionable people in shock!

The tribal approach of the time contemporary politics and ignorance of the reality by tourists played key role in what we see today in many parts of the world. Nowadays, elephants have become a symbol of tourism, especially in countries South-East Asia.

The Plight of the Elephants

For years, elephant owners have subjected their animals to shameful acts of street begging, circus performances, forced breeding, horseback riding, not to mention industrial logging, for the sake of tourism income.

If you think that elephants enjoy fame and life within the confines of a circus, the grueling work of felling trees in the jungle, and the fact that they have the choice of whether to take people on a trip, then you are deeply mistaken. What if we told you that an elephant only allows people to ride it out of fear? Fear of repeating those tortures that he had to endure before.

The Phajaan Ceremony - Destruction of the Spirit

Although Indian elephants, unlike African elephants, are excellent at learning to ride and perform other tasks, this procedure still requires a ton of effort. In Thailand, the process of their submission is called The Phajaan Ceremony, meaning "destruction of the spirit" of the animal.

Phajaan literally translated from Thai means "crush".

The Fajan ceremony is deeply rooted in Thai history. In those days, the tribal shaman was engaged in the expulsion of the wild spirit of the elephant and its submission. And since no one has yet come up with a more gentle way of training (maybe elephants are not tamed in a different way), this ceremony has survived to this day.

Its essence is that they are subjected to physical and mental torture for a week or 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 cramped cage. His legs are tied, feeding is excluded for a very long time with simultaneous beating with a weapon resembling a small pickaxe, as well as damage to the sensitive insides of the ears and trunk.

After the "wild spirit of the elephant is banished", the animal, out of fear, will obey all the commands of its master. The video below clearly demonstrates the above process.

An elephant never forgets a grudge

Every year, thousands end up in training camps and are subjected to torture and ill-treatment. After passing the ceremony, not everyone survives, and those who endured it have physical and mental memories of a dark past for life. Scars on the skin of an animal, inflicted once 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, poorly fitting saddles, and excessive riding. The list of injuries is endless.

Method of combating cruel torture

Based on the above, it can be concluded that a large number of elephants are brutally tortured, mostly because of tourism. Of course, this is impossible, but what if all the tourists at the same time refused horseback riding, watching shows and other entertainment with elephants, then the Fajan ceremony would simply lose its relevance. A much smaller number of elephants would fall into the camps, and then only for training in industrial work, and this moment should already be regulated by state policy.

ELEPHANT CAPTURE AND TAPEMENT IN INDIA

Beaters cordon off the HERD

So, in India, unlike Africa, the elephant is not killed, but caught and tamed. Such fishing acquires the character of a national holiday. It begins with the fact that the authorized organizer of fishing sends messengers to the villages. They urge the population to arrive at the assembly points, taking with them enough provisions.

The newcomers come under the command of professional hunters - shikari and form a chain of beaters necessary for catching elephants and sometimes numbering several thousand people. As soon as the head shikari discovers the herd, having established that twenty or thirty elephants have been grazing in the same place for several days, the beaters are ordered to cordon off this herd. First, the posts are set at a distance of 50-60 meters from one another, then they gradually begin to approach each other. The chief shikari at this stage sees first of all that the animals are not disturbed as much as possible, and at the same time they are not out of sight. The ultimate goal of the raid is to drive the elephants into the kraals built in advance and prepared for their reception.

WHAT KRAALS LOOK LIKE

Kraals are somewhat different from each other. In India, they are usually circular enclosures with a diameter of 150-200 meters. The paddocks are surrounded by a fence of thick tree trunks. The entrance to the kraal, in front of which there is a well-camouflaged funnel-shaped palisade, is about four meters wide and can be closed with a drop-down portcullis.

Epi Vidane, a Sinhalese elephant tamer who took part in many raids 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, the length of which is equal to a kilometer. One of its sides is lengthened by a fence also of a kilometer length. Elephants are driven onto this fence, and along it they then “slip” into the kraal.

Near the kraal there is always a pond, the smell of which attracts animals. In Ceylon, the number of participants in the raid is several thousand. Each of them, Epi Vidane told me, must first make a will.

HOW DOES THE ROUNDUP BE DONE?

Beaters are equipped with a stick or spear. They are instructed not to frighten the animals with noise and shouting, for if the elephants panic, they can break through the cordon. The task is to calmly, by gentle measures, encourage the elephants to move in the direction people need - to the kraal. The necessary effect on them should be exerted, first of all, by a quiet rustle in the thickets, from which the animals become uneasy. They will begin to suspect something is wrong and slowly walk away. There are not only negative, but also positive means to direct the elephants in the right direction, and these means are goodies: fragrant hay, bananas, sugar cane. However, it is not the man, or at least not he directly, who brings them food that serves as bait. Most often, food is delivered on tamed elephants and dumped on the ground with pitchforks. Elephants receiving this insidious gift are still quite wild. In fact, one would have expected that they would rush at a reckless person who dared to creep into their midst, and, united in an organized attack, drag him off a tamed elephant and trample him. But as a rule, exceptions from which have never been observed, a person who rides a tamed elephant into a wild herd is completely safe, even if he is being carried by a very young elephant.

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 catching is the same as before - not to do anything that can frighten or alert the elephants, which are very easy to bring out of a state of serene rest. And if only they get scared, it’s like the devil takes possession of them, and then they rush away, running for many kilometers without stopping. In these cases, all the laborious work on the cordon starts over. Once, while hunting in Ceylon, a herd of about forty elephants broke through the cordon three times, in which more than a thousand people participated. Full of primal 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 his leader from the herd, they were able to drive him into the kraal.

SOMETHING IS GOING ON 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 to hide as much as possible. But still, the elephants are worried - something is happening in the jungle ... The next day, blows, rattles, and crackles are heard in the forest. What is going on?.. It is the participants of the round-up erecting a bamboo fence around the surrounded herd. He's not very durable. If the elephants, realizing their strengths and capabilities, rushed at him, he would not have resisted and immediately collapsed. However, animals do not know how to evaluate forces, as a person does. Everything alien, hitherto unseen, still unfamiliar inspires fear in them. In fact, these gigantic clumsy animals are no braver than a shy hare. The light fence is guarded by beaters who, just in case, are equipped with spears and torches. 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 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. The gong sounds, trumpets blow, shots rumble, a deafening cry rises, torches flash everywhere. One of them flies straight into the leader's head. Where has all the courage gone? Elephants retreat to the center of the surrounded space. Silence falls again. Peace reigns in the jungle.

STRANGE "COLLEAGUE"

The next morning the world looks completely different than last night. There is a gaping hole in the hated fence, from which no human smell can be heard. The herd moves on. To the left and right are adult animals, in the center - protected young animals. And again, numerous baits are on the way: whole mountains of maize, bananas, sugar cane. Suddenly, a strange elephant approaches the herd, but he is not the same as themselves, but one of those with whom they had already met yesterday. He behaves strangely - calmly goes his own way, not showing any interest in the herd. What does all of this mean? As for the rarest "colleague", then because of him one herd would not come into excitement. Elephants cannot talk to each other like humans do. They cannot even formulate their thought (which should have preceded such a discussion). But then they have something else, they have a very perfect organ of smell. From a strange lone elephant comes, just like yesterday, a human smell. This is the smell of a bipedal creature sitting on the back of a "colleague". The leader does not intend to come to terms with her discovery at all. She wants to leave this place as soon as possible and hit the road. The herd is going to follow her. But then a disgusting human smell suddenly overtakes animals from all sides. Suddenly, dark-skinned people appear and raise hellish noise. What's left to do? Elephants huddle together, trumpet, grunt, but feel helpless and stagnate in one place.

AT THE KRAAL GATE

But suddenly the noise stops. People disappear. 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 has 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 so unfraternally acting colleague leading them? Of course, to the gates of the kraal. It happens that before the elephants enter this gate, the leader, and with her the whole herd, is seized with distrust and they try to turn back. However, they don't get far. They are stabbed with spears, and, what is especially frightening, pyrotechnic projectiles explode in front of them. Finally they stop resisting. Following the tamed elephant, they pass through the gate to the kraal. The years of freedom are over. From now on, elephants are in the power of man.

LONE HUNTERS AT WORK

Of course, one should not think that driving a whole herd into a kraal, which requires a large number of participants, lasts for weeks and is played out like a spectacle, is the only kind of trapping of elephants in India. It also happens that lone hunters (in Ceylon they are called panikis) approach the elephants and catch them, so to speak, with their bare hands. But you still can’t call their hands completely “naked”, they hold a lasso made of buffalo leather. The hunter, imperceptibly approaching from the side opposite to the wind, at a favorable moment entangles the elephant's legs with this lasso. Among the Indians there are great experts in this type of hunting. These are people in whose families the profession of elephant trapping is passed down from generation to generation; they masterfully find the trail and lead the hunted elephant into any mood he desires. Of course, the lasso is the minimum of what is required for hunting elephants, and only experts in this field who have gone through fire, water and copper pipes can afford to approach the gray giants with such a nondescript weapon.

A vain attempt to break out of captivity

The oldest of the elephants driven into the kraal, those that can no longer be tamed, are again released into the jungle. When dealing with the rest of the elephants, three conditions are mainly observed: calm, calm, and again calm. If animals had a human mind (but that’s exactly what they don’t have!) And if they thought like a person (but that’s exactly what they can’t!), They would easily get out of the captivity into which they were lured . Still, they no doubt have some vague idea of ​​the possibility of escape. Elephants rush back and forth along the kraal, trying to find some kind of gap, but they do not find it. There are stakes all around, and it seems that only one thing remains: to rush at a person. Then they mature the decision to use force. Suddenly, the whole 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, begin to move. The guards begin to brandish spears (and sometimes only sticks and clubs) and raise a desperate cry. If the elephants had been more determined, the pitiful human tricks would never have blocked their path. Of course, the palisade would not stand if the elephants began to trample it with their powerful feet, and, of course, the little men could not interfere with them in any way. But the gray giants ridiculously 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, they are not only not annoyed, but, on the contrary, they seek to sweeten them (and, moreover, in the literal sense of the word) their stay in the kraal.

ENERGETIC ELEPHANT BAIT

Darkness is coming. At night, large fires are lit around the kraal so that the elephants do not try to break free again. In the morning they are already a little calmer, and now something new can be done against them. A mahout rides a tamed elephant into the kraal. This elephant walks indifferently along the kraal. Along the way, he picks off a few leaves, and then goes into the thick of the newly caught animals. In relation to such a bait elephant (called a deco), wild elephants behave differently. Some of them seem to be waiting for help from him and let him in with some curiosity. Others simply do not want to know him and are ready to pounce on him.

What is the task of the mahout? He must calm the wild animals, "inspire them with vigor" and "set them in a new way." And he does this by scattering all sorts of goodies 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 cunningly conceived. Let the elephants be thirsty, 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 drinking and bathing. And since elephants are not able to understand the connection between phenomena, then, while quenching their thirst, they will feel only beneficence on the part of a person and will by no means unravel his diabolical cunning. So far, they are given tasty things to eat and left alone.

LOOP AROUND THE NECK

By the fact that elephants roam the kraal no longer obstinate, nothing has yet been achieved. A new stage of their taming is coming. Elephants must be tied. The tame elephants are back on stage. They enter the kraal, approach the herd, then move away from it again, and every time they try - and not without success - to attract the attention of the other elephants. Meanwhile, under their cover, mahouts sneak into the kraal unnoticed, and while the wild elephants get to know their tamed counterparts, 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 confusing elephants with just their 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 it reaches their consciousness that their freedom has been damaged, of course, become obstinate. They stick their tusks into the ground, uproot all the bushes they can reach, do not eat the food that is offered to them. True, they grab him, but they immediately scatter him in different directions. And above all, they frantically swing their trunks around them. They try to prevent this by substituting an iron rod under the heroic blows of the trunk. Gradually wounding the end of the trunk, they weaken the force of the blows and eventually completely subside.

Elephants in despair - this word can be used in this case with good reason. However careful we may be in comparing an animal with a man, we can say that the affects of animals are extremely similar to ours. Sorrow and anger seize the elephants. But neither the exertion of forces, nor jerks, nor violence help them. The ropes hold them tight.

Our friends are going through hard times. The ropes cut deep into the body. There are wounds that must be treated immediately, before insects start to enter 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 with their qualities as leaders. The relation of still free animals to those already bound is interesting. They run up to them, sometimes even stroke them with their trunks, "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.

RELEASE 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. Bring two tame elephants. The broken and devoid of will animal obediently stands between them and allows them to do anything with themselves, especially pleasant things - for example, take themselves to the river for a drink.

But initially the captive is not yet completely freed from the shackles. After returning to the kraal, his neck (but no longer his legs) is again entangled with a rope. The elephant starts protesting again. But his resistance is already devoid of its former strength. At the same time, he is again shown the pleasant side of enslavement by a person. The enslaver took care of the feed from the elephant. Bananas and sugarcane rain down on him like a cornucopia. He won't be stubborn anymore. The trials of the last day, the starvation regimen and bathing caused him hunger. He grabs food and eats it. Several days pass, and the elephant allows the person standing in front of him to touch him.

A few days later, he already allows a man to sit on his back. Some of the tamed animals are sold right there on the spot. In Ceylon, they cost about one hundred rupees apiece.

"THIS IS NO DIFFERENCE"

The opinion that predominantly Indians, or even only they alone have the ability to tame and train elephants, is untenable. Europeans have certainly made significant progress in elephant training both in Asia and Europe.

At one time, it was believed that African elephants were either not tamed at all, or tamed to a lesser extent than Indian ones. This view is also wrong. Karl Hagenbeck said that he managed to teach African elephants, which they had never tried to train before, to carry a watchman and a load on their backs in a day. The reason for this blitz 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 start training five African elephants. At first, the animals showed extreme displeasure - they trumpeted, brushed themselves off. However, within a few hours, under the influence of delicacies and persuasion, they began to yield, and by the middle of the next day, to the delight of Hagenbeck and the surprise of Virchow, they turned from stubborn and wild into executive riding and pack animals.

If the elephants are not yet fully tamed, they are left for a while in the kraal. They are treated well though. More can be achieved by gentle handling and good food than by roughness and severity. The vast majority of elephants are tameable. However, some, very few, do not obey man under any circumstances. Sometimes these "incorrigibles" are released into the wild, and sometimes their lives are cut short by a bullet.

WHAT BIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVE DOES MUST PERFORM?

In general, tamed elephants can be relied upon. Both among males and among females, unreliable specimens are a rare exception: these are, as a rule, animals ferocious from birth or in the peculiar state already mentioned above (must), which outwardly resembles a yar, but nevertheless differs from it. Sometimes males in this state do not show any mating intentions, females do not attract them. Why, then, must, what biological task does it perform? The most logical explanation is that instinct induces males to fight for a female before mating. Their blood is boiling, they are eager to fight with an opponent. However, with must, the excitation of animals does not subside even after mating.

Of course, unreliable elephants are not only found among bullies from childhood and animals in a state of must. In Burma, elephants deemed dangerous are singled out by hanging a bell on them. In addition, the ootsi (as mahauts are called in Burma) receives an assistant armed with a spear, who is obliged not to let the elephant out of sight for a minute.

RABIES OBSESSED

The chronicle of accidents caused by unreliable elephants is extremely extensive.

One day, in a kraal in Ceylon, a tamed deca went on a rampage. He tried to throw off the driver, but he was an experienced mahout. Whatever this bully elephant did, what tricks he did not throw out, but achieved nothing. Then he unexpectedly threw his trunk back, grabbed his rider, threw him to the ground and trampled. Sometimes elephants go into a frenzy, and then after all the trouble they have caused, they have a state that, from a human point of view, may seem like repentance (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 his rider, and then for a whole week guarded the body of the slain, grazing only near him and came into a terrible rage at the slightest attempt of people to approach the corpse. When the corpse decomposed, the animal escaped. Ten days later, the elephant was recaptured and behaved quite normally. In another case, reported by John Hagenbeck, a tame elephant suddenly became furious and began to rush at everyone who caught his eye. Mahaut came up with what he thought was a happy thought. He decided to play on the fearfulness of the animal, wrapped his face in a black scarf and, resembling a mummy in this form, went towards his raging ward. But the rampaging animal did not let itself be frightened. The elephant rushed at the mahout and killed him.

According to Gagenbeck, the following happened: a black scarf was removed from the corpse. Seeing the face of his dead master, the elephant immediately calmed down, began to stroke the corpse with its trunk and make 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, he knows 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 at least nine mahouts in Burma in fifteen years. He pierced all his victims with tusks. In the end, his owner decided to apply radical methods of treatment. He ordered to saw off both tusks from this magnificently developed elephant, and besides, to the very meat. The operation was obviously very painful for the animal, but the wounds healed relatively quickly. After that, the elephant became meek as a lamb and no longer attacked a person.

Surprisingly, it turns out that it is not so difficult to find drivers for animals known for their viciousness. Such risky mahouts receive no more reward than their counterparts working on gentle elephants. But there are many elephant mahouts for whom admiration for their misplaced bravery balances the terrible risk; some may enjoy this game of danger. The cold-calculated owners of such vicious elephants probably also contributed to this sporting fanaticism.

WHO IS BETTER - A FEMALE OR A MALE?

If we compare the qualities of males and females in terms of the possibility of their use by humans, we must say the following. Males are larger and stronger than females, and also less shy. But along with these advantages, there are also disadvantages. Having reached puberty, the male begins to show a tendency to rebellion. His master is now for him no longer a leader to whom he obeys, but a rival with whom he fights for leadership over the herd.

Of course, Indian Mahouts are trying to rein in 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 a completely reliable remedy against violent outbursts. And drovers in Asia often have to pay with their lives.

WHAT A TRAINED WORKING ELEPHANT SHOULD DO

It is not enough to tame an elephant and make it endure a mahout or an oozi on its back. The elephant must do the work, and this work, which can be very diverse, must be trained. This has been done for centuries in Indian and Burmese elephant schools. The elephant must learn to respond to a significant number of words and body movements of the driver. The “scientist” elephant, on command, picks up a pipe, a knife, a stick from the ground, which are thrown by his mahout, tightens or loosens the chains wrapped around the trees. He must be able to understand the meaning of the Mahout's body movements.

If the mahout tenses up and leans back, it means that he wants the elephant to stop. Pressing the knee on one of the sides should encourage the elephant to turn in one direction or the other. A kick to the right or left means that one must raise the right or left front leg. If the mahout leans forward, it means he wants the elephant to kneel.

The stages of training a young elephant, as a rule, are as follows. After the baby elephant is weaned from its mother, which usually happens in the fifth year of life, the animal must be accustomed to the mahout. Training takes place in a camp near which a river flows. In the center of the camp, a triangular fence is being built from wooden stakes the size of a baby elephant. With the help of a tamed elephant, bait, or by force, the baby elephant is driven into this fence. He enters the pen through the open side of the triangle, which is immediately closed. The animal feels that it has been deprived of its freedom, and begins to run amok. They try to calm him down by treating him with bananas and other delicacies. Next to the fence, a block serviced by two workers is installed, with the help of which the future driver descends from above onto the elephant's back. However, the animal does not want to put up with this maneuver and becomes restless. Then the rider is lifted up, but as soon as the elephant calms down, it is lowered again.

This game continues until the baby elephant is tired of resisting. In the end, he comes to terms with fate and no longer tries to throw the driver off his back. He seems to be saying now: “Of course, what you are doing is stupid, and I don’t understand what it is for. But if you really want to, so be it! ..”

STICK EDUCATION

Even when young elephants have already been taught to endure a rider on their backs, they are no, no, and capricious. Williams reports that one of the elephants in his camp used to attack him at every opportunity. Something had to be done. We decided to beat the animal properly, just like educators (we note by the way: bad ones) act with a naughty child. The elephant was driven behind a triangular fence, and here the people who had gathered for this procedure struck him with dozens of stick blows. Before the flogging began, Williams stood in front of the elephant and, showing a stick, tried to let him know what awaited him. What is the result? When the next day the young elephant saw Williams accidentally holding a stick, he blew a deafening trumpet and sped off into the jungle. Of course, it cannot be assumed that a beaten elephant is able to understand the connection between "guilt" and "retribution." And in this case, of course, it did not reach the consciousness of the elephant, for which he received beatings (not to mention the fact that he could not understand the "justice" of the punishment). The result of punishment, of course, could only be that the animal began to associate the sight of a person unsympathetic to him for some reason with unpleasant sensations emanating from this person and in the future did not dare to attack him again. When an elephant reaches the age of eight, a light load is first loaded on it and taught to climb a mountain or wade through shallow water.

Over the following years, he becomes accustomed to doing more difficult work, such as lifting and piling firewood from the ground or releasing a chain tangled in bamboo thickets. Only after reaching the age of nineteen is an elephant considered full-fledged. He has already "learned", and his power has reached highest point development. He "entered the age of a mature man, lasting until about fifty-five years. The classic work of the Asian elephant is his work in woodworking and sawmills, for example, such as in Rangoon (Burma), where hundreds of animals are employed. Here they are constantly, and here they are at their best as workers.What can an elephant do in a sawmill?

His main duty is to carry logs. For the most part he does it with his trunk. If the logs are too long and thick, he drags them along the ground.

Some old males, when they need to move a heavy log, kneel down, put tusks under it from below and, holding it with their trunk, then carry it to the saw. Cleaning up the sawn trunks is also the job of the working elephants. They do not drop boards at random, but neatly stack them in piles. Human hands could not have worked more reliably. Elephants blow off heaps of sawdust. However, elephants know not only their duties, they also understand well the meaning of the bell, which signals the end of work. After it has sounded, the elephant will no longer carry anything with its trunk.

BIOGRAPHY BY SEINA

In India and Burma, there are two ways of keeping elephants. Some large enterprises, such as sawmills in Rangoon, Moulmein, Mandalay, stall elephants (often numbering several thousand) in stalls in the same way as horses. These animals have a brand on the back of the body, which is burned into them in their youth (usually at the age of six years). As for the events that take place in their lives, the exact information about them is given by entries in the book wound up for each elephant.

By Sein, No. 895 1897. Born in November.
1903 Trained. Both buttocks are branded "C".
1904-1917 He worked as a pack animal.
1918-1921 Carried logs in the area of ​​the river My.
1922 Transferred to the forests of Gango.
1932 Wounded in a fight with a wild male. Has not been used for work for over a year. Completely cured.
1933 Transferred to Kindab forests.
1943 Busy carrying tree trunks for bridge construction.
1944 Transferred to the Surun Valley. Gone for one day. Found on a pineapple plantation, where he ate about a thousand fruits. Acute colic. cured.
1945 Given to a sawmill in Vietocco Forest.
March 8, 1951 Found dead. Shot dead by an unidentified person in the Vietoca area.

LABOR CARRYING REWARDS

Such animals, kept in stalls in the "barracks position", are always at hand with their owners and under their control. But the constant keeping of elephants in captivity has its own negative sides: Animals deprived of their liberty do not reproduce on the same scale as those in the wild. You can say: so what! When there is a need for working elephants, they can be caught in the jungle! But this is not true for two reasons: firstly, the jungle is not inexhaustible, and, secondly, taming and training a wild animal or a baby elephant born in captivity are two different things. In the latter case, everything happens much easier and without interference. From birth, the baby elephant is in constant contact with the owner of his mother, considers him as his playmate and takes food from him. It is clear that an animal accustomed to humans from infancy is easier to train than one caught in the jungle.

Therefore, in Burma, less often in India, you can find another, more original treatment of a tamed elephant. During the day he works, but then he is "his own master", which means, first of all, that he himself must take care of his own food. A peculiar method, this or that reader will think: an elephant exhausts his strength for the sake of a person whom he helps in his work, and then he is even denied food - a self-evident reward that any animal in a circus or zoo receives as compensation for imprisonment! From a human point of view, this is undoubtedly the most heinous exploitation. But the elephant himself, unable to think in concepts, has not the slightest idea of ​​the absurdity of the role assigned to him. Just as he cannot evaluate his own actions by human criteria, so he cannot apply these criteria to human actions.

After work, the driver rides his elephant home, and his house is often located many kilometers from the factory. Then he releases the elephant and the animal can do whatever it wants. Well, what does it do? In any case, it does not run away from the owner and does not even move too far from his house, but goes in search of food, and rarely goes deeper into the jungle for more than ten kilometers.

"WHY DID YOU RUN SO FAR AGAIN?"

The next morning, the mahout's first task is to go in search of his elephant. We should not forget the conditions under which he has to go deep into the jungle. Alleys for walks have not been laid through the forest thicket - there are a lot of wild animals. But the ooczi is well acquainted with the surrounding forests, he is vigilant and prudent.

You can never be sure where an elephant is. A person who had not yet dealt with elephants, or even simply did not know the habits of the wanted elephant, would certainly not have found him. But our oozi is a master of his craft and an expert on elephants to the marrow of bones. His father, grandfather, all his ancestors were elephant drivers. And when he himself was barely six years old, he was already sitting on the back of an elephant. From the age of fourteen, he went to the sawmill and at first served here for a negligible salary as an assistant to the oozi, doing all sorts of auxiliary work for him. One day - that was one of the most important and glorious days in his life - he himself became an ooczi and received an elephant in his care. He not only knows to the smallest detail the habits of his elephant, but knows his tracks, remembers their area, their diameter, all their features. He can distinguish them from the tracks of hundreds of other elephants. Following the tracks, he suddenly stumbles upon huge piles of manure. They tell him that the elephant spent the night there, and even about what exactly the animal ate. It happens that there is a lot of bamboo in manure - we can conclude that for a change the animal wanted to eat this plant growing on the banks of a small river.

When the ooczi thinks that the elephant is already somewhere nearby, he sings a song, wanting to attract the attention of the animal. Noticing the elephant, the mahout approaches and talks to him as if sentient being. He reproaches the elephant, reads morals to him, scolds him: “Why did you run away so far again? You always think only about your belly! mouth was? A piece or two, and that's it! "

A huge good-natured man passes these instructions on deaf ears. Needless to say, he did not understand anything. But then the ooczi orders: "Hmit!" - and this requirement to lie down the elephant understands very well. He bends his front and hind legs and touches the ground with his belly. When the ooczi sits on its back, the elephant rises and goes to the factory.

WORKING DAY OF ELEPHANTS

An elephant's work day in a sawmill is usually well-determined. Animals know their duties and willingly run to their jobs. After two hours of work, the first break. If there is a lake or a river nearby, elephants are allowed to flounder there. They do it with obvious pleasure, water themselves and their comrades, dive, frolic and play. After bathing, the elephants go to the stalls, as the time of the most scorching heat is approaching, which the animals do not tolerate well. Here they receive a meal consisting mainly of hay, bananas and sugarcane. A few hours later, a siren heralds the end of the afternoon rest, and the elephants go back to work, continuing until dark and ending again with a bath.

You might think that Asian elephants are ruthlessly exploited. But they are still taken care of. Of course, not so much out of considerations of humanity, but out of the understanding that it is impossible to treat such precious good predatory. During the year, elephants have nine months of work (from June to February) and three months of rest, which occur during the hottest time of the year. But even working months have no more than eighteen and twenty working days. During the year, the elephant works about one thousand three hundred hours and during this time produces work that fully pays for its maintenance. It happens that an elephant working at a sawmill is also used for solemn ceremonies. For example, when distinguished guests visit a factory, gray workers with white lines drawn on their foreheads - the signs of Shiva - are lined up in two lines to the right and left of the gate.

LIVE TRACTORS

Deep in the jungle, Indian elephants are often used as living tractors. They have to drag the trunks of the trees, which have fallen down on densely overgrown tropical vegetation trails, from the cutting site to the transshipment point. Usually such points are located on the banks of the river, along which the timber is rafted further. An especially important role is played by the elephant in one of the most important branches of the Burmese industry - teak harvesting. The teak trunk gives excellent solid wood, which breaks easily and is well processed. It can last three times longer than oak wood. Teak is used in the construction of temples and especially in shipbuilding. Delivery of trunks from the jungle is carried out mainly by the draft force of elephants, the effectiveness of which is increased by the fact that a path is being laid on certain sections of the path. Elephants also work at staging posts with their trunks, tusks, and front legs. Sometimes you need to drag the trees to the edge of the abyss and throw them down. And the elephant performs this work also reliably. With an accuracy of one meter, he knows how close he can come to the edge of the abyss. Without any command, he himself stops about three meters from the edge. And now there is no way to force him to take at least a step forward. The chains that bind the elephant to the load that he is dragging behind him are untied, and the animal is placed behind the trunk. Now the driver gives the command. The elephant tilts its head and sticks its trunk under the trunk from below, like a lever. First, one end of the log moves forward. This uncomfortable position the elephant immediately corrects, so that the middle and the other end move too. Pushing the trunk to the very edge, our friend finally gives it a good kick with his front foot. A heavy colossus with a rumble flies into the abyss.

In Thailand, in a forested area of ​​five thousand square kilometers, about three hundred elephants constantly worked. The animals dragged felled tree trunks through the forest to the nearest river. When the rainy season came, stacked logs were dumped into the river and tied into rafts, then driven downstream to Bangkok. Elephants are very fond of water, and work in the river gives them obvious pleasure. One traveler in Thailand, riding a horse on a river, found that in one place the river bed was dammed up with about a hundred teak logs. And among the heaped trunks worked, showing all signs of pleasure, three elephants. First, they clasped the logs with their trunks and brought them to the position indicated by the overseer, and then guided them along the fairway with their foreheads and tusks. In some areas of India and Ceylon, the Mahouts are not content with simply training elephants to work, but they train them, as in a circus. One traveler who visited Ceylon reported, for example, that on the way from Colombo to Kandy he met Sinhalese who had learned to stand on their hind legs and wrap their trunk around themselves, on which the driver sat. Other elephants, on the orders of the mahouts, stood on three legs, on their heads, or sat down, raising their front legs in front of them. Elephants can also serve well in the construction of roads. It is less rational to take them on long trips, since the huge mass of forage they need for food is too burdensome ballast, and the payload that they are able to carry is very small compared to the colossal weight of their body. Nevertheless, in India, elephants were used for military purposes, namely in artillery. In an elephant battery, there are twelve elephants for six guns. For the care and supervision of them, an overseer and twelve mahouts are kept, as well as twelve mowers providing food for the animals. Military elephants are supposed to carry a load of 500 kilograms per day for a distance of up to 70 kilometers. The largest load that they are able to carry, and then only on the road, over a distance of several hundred meters, is a thousand kilograms. On hilly terrain, they can carry no more than 300-350 kilograms.

DIVE PLANES AGAINST ELEPHANTS

Elephants played a significant role during World War II in Burma. The British 14th Army operating in that country had many elephant companies that performed important functions. When the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, elephants served the British retreating to the Indian provinces of Assam and Bengal in good service in the construction of bridges and roads and in the evacuation of Burmese cities. The animals then had to do work that was much harder than in peacetime. So, they had to lift logs to a height of up to three meters. It was this operation that posed the greatest threat to the ooci. Elephants first put trunks on their tusks. When they then raised their heads, there was a danger that these massive trunks, weighing up to a quarter of a ton, would roll back and injure the rider, and perhaps even fatally. During the retreat in the mountains of Chin, the British had to overcome a height of up to two thousand meters. Elephants climbed it, but very slowly and carefully, and some of them could not stand the climb and died. Not only the British, but also the Japanese used elephants, which they captured in some cases along with the ooczi. But they used them to a lesser extent than the British in building roads and logging, and more to transport war materials. The capture of males gave the Japanese another benefit. Having a passion for ivory, they sawed off their tusks to the very meat. This did not harm the health of the animals, but significantly reduced their performance. When the Japanese advanced to the approaches to Imphal, the British began to inflict counterattacks on them. British aircraft attacked the caravans of elephants, swooping down on them and opening fire on them with machine guns. Forty elephants were the victims of one such terrible raid. Often on the body of elephants caught after such a shelling, there were gaping wounds. The British set up a field hospital for elephants at that time - undoubtedly a unique phenomenon in the history of warfare. It turned out that elephants have a high regenerative capacity and their wounds heal relatively quickly. By the time the war in Burma was over, the number of working elephants had dropped by about four thousand. Some of them, no doubt, died. As for the survivors, it can be assumed that, having lost their home and owners, they went into the jungle, where they joined the wild herds. There were several brave ooczi who decided to return at least some of the feral elephants. Their plan was to ride the tame elephants into the thick of the herd, approach the elephants, which have a brand on their backs, and, having moved on them, force them to obey. Such an undertaking requires, of course, the greatest courage and dexterity, a game with death. Nothing is known of the success or failure of this jungle expedition.

JOURNEY IN GOUDHA

In India and Thailand, the use of elephants as riding animals is traditional. Sometimes they are taught to lie down on the command, so that it is easier to climb them. If the elephants cannot be taught this, then a ladder is attached to them, along which passengers climb onto the back of the animal. They make the journey while sitting in a gaudha, a box attached like a saddle. Its form can be very different. In India, goudha looks like a sleigh, in Thailand it looks like a bed. In most cases, it has a woven bamboo roof to protect from the sun and rain. In front of the Gaudha sits a Mahout, whose position is by no means a sinecure. His work is quite strenuous: he must continuously force the animal to move with ankbm - a stick with an iron tip and a hook, as well as with his cries. During long marches, the riding elephant is unsaddled in the evening, his legs are tangled, released into the forest and left to himself. Despite the fetters, he is sometimes removed to a fairly large distance. If he manages to free himself from the fetters, then it is often necessary to look for him for days on end. People who have repeatedly ridden elephants say that these rides are comfortable and enjoyable. Despite the constant shaking that you have to put up with, you can even sleep in Gaudha,

TRAINING THE HUNTING ELEPHANT

The elephant is also used for hunting tigers. Of course, this function of his has long ceased to have a serious economic importance, because modern firearms much more reliable than the strongest elephant. But even today, when hunting tigers, the main thing is not the practical expediency of this or that method of hunting, but its effectiveness. The participation of a powerful giant striding through the steppe and jungle undoubtedly makes a very big impression. But first, the elephant must be trained to hunt the tiger. After all, if he, without any preparation, meets in the jungle With this predatory striped cat, then, with his fearfulness, he will certainly rush to run. And meanwhile, in this case, he should in no way take to his heels. How to achieve this? He must be taught to tigers, which he may never have met in the wild, and to all the vicissitudes and dangers of the hunt. First, he is introduced to appearance, smell and roar of the object of hunting and do this by showing him the tiger in the cage.

However, meeting a tiger behind a strong fence is a completely different matter than facing one in the jungle. Training, therefore, must be supplemented. And then one fine day the elephant is led into the forest, where, quite unexpectedly, a tiger jumps out of the thickets, which, of course, is not free now, but is tightly restrained by a chain. However, the predator growls menacingly at the elephant and, as far as the chain allows, rushes at him. The elephant has no desire to deal with such a dangerous subject and tries to get out as well as possible. But the mahout, sitting on the elephant's back, with the injections of the ankh prevents its flight, and against its own will the elephant approaches its companion in the jungle. He is clearly excited, but gradually becomes convinced that he has nothing to be afraid of this tiger (and, as the trainer expects, he simply will not understand the difference between this tiger and all other animals of this species). The excitement subsides. Thus, the goal is achieved: the elephant got used to the look and habits of the tiger.

It remains only to accustom him to rifle shots. To do this, you need to shoot in the immediate vicinity of the elephant. At first, he is thoroughly frightened, but then the shooting almost does not impress him.

BATTLE WITH THE TIGER

The hunt goes like this. Dozens of saddled elephants, some seasoned tiger hunters and some novices, line up in front of the stables with their mahouts on their backs. Having finished all the preparations, the hunters, led by the old elephant, set out into the jungle. Having made a many-hour march, the elephants finally take their original position. With a wide front they block the tiger all the ways to escape. Beaters are placed between them. First, the cordon of elephants, in mortal horror, is trying to break through the peacocks, deer and other harmless living creatures frightened by the beaters. They succeed, because this time only large animals are to be hunted. Finally, the tigers emerged from the grass. They seek not to fight, but to save their lives. Only when they see that they cannot save their lives without a fight do they rush to the elephants (of course, if they have not been killed by the hunters' bullets before). The most dramatic moment comes when the tiger jumps on the elephant. The latter has an excellent second in the person of his mahout, who uses a heavy iron stick against the "aggressor involuntarily". The elephant can also count on help from other mahouts. And he himself does not feel defenseless at all. He tries to grab the tiger with his trunk and, if he succeeds, presses him to the tusks, throws him to the ground and tramples until he expires.

In one hunt, conceived on a grand scale, which was organized by the Nawab (ruler) of Aud, who was distinguished by insane extravagance, in addition to a huge armed retinue and other accompanying persons (including jesters and bayadères), at least a thousand elephants participated. When the tiger gave himself away with a growl, two hundred elephants surrounded him. Suddenly, a predator jumped out of the bushes and jumped onto the back of one of the elephants, on which three hunters were sitting. He shook himself with such force that all four people and the tiger, describing a large arc, flew off into the bushes. It seemed that the hunters' cause was lost, but the tiger was not up to them. He only thought about running away, but he could not escape. The elephants drove him to the elephant, surrounded by a dense cordon of guards armed to the teeth, on which the Nawab sat ready to shoot. Killing the tiger was his personal privilege. As a rule, after such a hunt, the dead tigers are tied to elephants. But elephants don't like it. They cannot stand the smell of such beasts and carry them with great reluctance. Finally, Indian elephants are also used for all sorts of less significant activities, for example, even for such a seemingly completely alien occupation as fishing. Mahouts send their animals to some pond or oxbow, and elephants, who have a special love for water, go there with obvious pleasure. But we are talking not about making them happy and entertaining, but about using them as fishing helpers. With their heavy gait, they should scare away the fish. When the frightened inhabitants of the reservoir float up, they are finished off with clubs or knives, or caught with their hands. And sometimes the elephant is directly involved in fishing. He lowers his agile trunk into the water and pulls out a fish. However, he does not use his prey. A "convinced vegetarian", the elephant does not know what to do with the fish, and obediently passes it to the mahout.