Elephant: Pillar of the World

Author: [French] de Loloire, translated by Cai Hongbin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-07-01
Features: Modern elephants are believed to have evolved from a mammal, with a body size similar to the tapir, living approximately 45 million years ago. Fossils of this type of elephant were discovered near Lake Moeris in Egypt, leading to its being named Moeritherium, or the ancestor elephant. This ancient elephant already had small tusks, a result of its well-developed incisors. Most of its descendants have since gone extinct, leaving behind a large number of fossils that have facilitated research. The elephants seen after the appearance of Homo sapiens belong to the Elephantidae family, evolving from the primitive elephant (Primelephas), and are recent species of the Proboscidea order. During their evolution, they gradually abandoned their originally small, Malta-like bodies, or, like some species of mammoths, lost their small bodies in the plains of Western Siberia. Only two genera of close relatives, the woolly mammoth (Elephas primigenius) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), as well as another significantly different African elephant (Loxodont africana), survived. The evolution of these three types of elephants is roughly similar, all being transitional forms: their heads became larger, which inevitably led to the reduction of cranial tissue, making it spongy, while their neck muscles strengthened. The lower jaw always hung downward due to the inability to support the weight of the new tusks, and the nose and upper lip elongated into a muscular, cumbersome proboscis. Why did the woolly mammoth go extinct? Some research works from the former Soviet Union suggest that the woolly mammoth lived more recently. Its final representatives lived in northeastern Siberia or Alaska and may have disappeared only 5,000 years ago, which corresponds to the early Egyptian Kingdom period, rather than going extinct tens of thousands of years ago. The reasons for the extinction of the woolly mammoth were many and varied, differing by region. Experts, due to their different perspectives on the times, proposed varying opinions. Recently, scientists from the former Soviet Union and the United States proposed the following credible explanations: Since the woolly mammoth was highly adapted to cold environments, it died out when the climate warmed. Of course, people living in Eurasia hunted woolly mammoths, pushing them off high ground and into swamps, eliminating many of these clumsy animals. Additionally, the slow reproductive cycle of the woolly mammoth meant that some herds may have moved northeastward as the glaciers retreated. However, as the taiga moved northward, pushing the tundra toward the Arctic Ocean, the woolly mammoths may have finally fallen into the trap of the taiga. Due to excessive snow, when the summer thaw melted, the grasslands were submerged, causing severe harm to the herds. The mothers struggled to protect their young and provide for them. The taiga repeatedly encroached on sparse grasslands, driving the woolly mammoths into a desperate situation and leading to their gradual decline, first in size and later in disappearance. Around 9,000 BCE, short-term cold snaps frequently occurred in Alaska, and large populations hunted and preyed on woolly mammoths. All of these factors were sufficient to drive this species to extinction, while some mammoths were frozen. Annual river flooding gradually expanded the river basins, depositing hundreds or thousands of skeletal remains at the river mouths. Even today, in small bays, the remains of woolly mammoths that appear to have died recently can still be found. In one pile of remains, 120 woolly mammoths, dozens of tusks, and over 8,000 bones were discovered. Truly a graveyard! Each woolly mammoth consumed 200 kilograms of grass daily, yet it survived for so long at the edge of the tundra, which is incredible! The gentle, vegetarian giants faced numerous terrifying and dangerous predators throughout most of their lives, which may explain why they are so cautious and vigilant, distrusting anything unfamiliar. Additionally, they knew they must stay with their herds to learn the life experiences of the older elephants. This cautious behavior may have been influenced by the historical context. As calves, woolly mammoths were often preyed upon by saber-toothed tigers (Machairodus) and European wildcats. Furthermore, an archaeological site in Moravia (Prédmost) revealed their environment at the time. Over 900 to 1,000 skeletons of killed woolly mammoths were discovered there, arranged quite neatly. The bones were mostly broken to extract marrow, and the terrifying predator was humans. This led to the conclusion that although the population density during the Paleolithic era was low, the migration of woolly mammoths was influenced by both human activity and climate warming. As the great forests expanded and the tundra grasslands were flooded by summer rains, woolly mammoths were forced to gradually move northeastward and finally fell into a desperate situation. In modern history, human activities have had various impacts on animals, such as environmental changes, bushfires, overgrazing, rapid cultural development, destruction of grasslands and forests, the retreat of swamps, the construction of dams on rivers, water resource development, and irrigation. All of these have caused water scarcity, which elephants, as animals with high water consumption, cannot tolerate. However, despite their differences, elephants and humans sometimes develop curiosity and attraction, bringing these two distinct species closer. However, due to differences in region, environment, and historical development, the way humans and elephants interact varies greatly. In some customs of the Pygmies or Fang people, elephants have been personified for a long time. They believe that after the death of a leader or a powerful person, they may reincarnate as elephants and become the leaders of herds. Therefore, they respect elephants, allowing them to hunt certain members of their herds without hindrance, even facilitating it. Even reincarnation as an elephant occurs in the context of death. Most shamanic spells to summon the souls of elephants are related to their death or caution against retaliation. There are many other shamanic rituals centered around hunting and killing elephants. In the downstream region of the Cavally River in C?te d'Ivoire, the Krou people mix the flowers of the raffia palm with a type of mushroom—the flower's pistil resembles ivory, and the mushroom resembles morel. They then grind the flowers and mushrooms into a paste and apply it to their bodies. Hunters abstain from sexual relations before hunting, while the entire village dances for several nights. In Gabon and the middle reaches of the Congo River, in the Ogowe River basin, the Mindassa people base their shamanism on sexual relationships, primarily to appease the souls of elephants to be killed. The ritual is led by the "elephant priest," who is usually the village chief. According to Even's account, the ritual is very complex: the night before hunting elephants, the "elephant priest" spends the night alone with his wife in a hut and sleeps with her. During the hunt, his wife hides, and when her husband cuts off the male elephant's genitalia, she comes out to suck blood. Later, when celebrating the killing of the elephant, the "elephant priest" pretends to be extremely grief-stricken, crying bitterly before the deceased noble animal. Although black Africa has a deep understanding of the habits and characteristics of elephants, their attitude toward these generous giants has not changed. Instead, the attitudes of Asians, mediated by the Mediterranean, have had a profound impact on Western civilization. The Indian interior was colonized by Europeans more than three centuries earlier than the African interior, but until the late 19th century, Europeans still viewed live elephants as close companions of humans, friendly and reliable helpers. Today, poaching in the 1960s nearly only involved poachers providing ivory. They developed methods within the gaps of international regulations: fencing large grasslands with iron wire fences, creating barriers that were both high and wide, stretching for several kilometers. Only a few passages were left open, with numerous traps laid, causing countless animals to fall into traps—giraffes with their mouths cut, elephants, felines, zebras, and antelopes. These captured animals struggled for a long time before dying, often being eaten by hyenas, lions, and vultures. Poachers kept everything they could sell, using the tusks feared by predators to make fly whisks, bracelets, and ornaments, elephant tails and hair for the beautiful Sambu women to make, elephant legs for umbrella frames, and bracelets for the Great Lakes region, while elephant ears were used to make tables and drums, and the skin was used to make leather and armor—just as it was used by the Fang warriors or the Zairian Mondjembo warriors for protection—and now also for Texas leather boots. Even India needs a large amount of elephant eyelashes, as they are said to enhance fertility, allowing people to have as many children as they wish! In recent years, due to increased surveillance and hunting, poachers often only have time to seize ivory. As for the elephant meat lacking in nearby communities, it is usually discarded along with the skeletons, often rotting on-site, attracting other animals—either sympathetic to the elephants or predatory. Poachers specializing in elephants target large males, pregnant females, and juveniles with increasingly lighter tusks. Young herds lose their guides and protectors, inexperienced and lacking good breeding stock. They do not know where there are grasslands or water sources, and often die as a result. Overhunting not only breaks up elephant herds but also puts the entire species at risk. Without sellers or buyers, this situation would not occur. Driven by wealth, greed, and affluent trends, the massacre of African elephants has occurred in just a few years. This act is equivalent to eliminating a species, making it unable to survive and reproduce. African elephants are decreasing at an alarming rate, gradually heading toward extinction. The survivors may be mere scattered remnants of their populations, struggling to survive in crowded protected areas. In protected areas, the space available for elephants is very limited, and within this confined area, the weak and elderly are often killed to fit the space's tolerance limits. The largest elephants are gradually being hunted by poachers. In Asia, only about 50,000 elephants remain, but with rapidly increasing populations, their numbers are declining rapidly. Alfred Edmund Brehm, the Siberian woolly mammoth zoologist, traveled extensively in the mid-19th century, from Africa to Siberia, before writing his monumental work on animal life. From 58 degrees north latitude to the Arctic Ocean, along the Obi, Yenisei, and Lena rivers, in the homes of the Ostiac, Tungus, Samoyed, and Buryat peoples, the burial grounds of these (woolly) mammoths were abundant. When the sandy riverbanks thawed, piles of tusks and enormous bones could be found mixed together. Sometimes, these tusks were still firmly embedded in the jawbones, even surrounded by bloody meat and fur. Locals called this animal a mammoth. They said it was tall, standing 2 to 3 meters, with a long and wide head, and feet similar to those of a bear. They said this animal lived underground, sometimes emerging when walking but quickly retracting, as light was harmful to it. It lived by eating mud and would die if it stepped onto sandy ground, as it would sink into the sand and be unable to pull its legs out. It would also die immediately upon seeing the sunlight. This was the description of Ides in his works. In 1692, Ides heard from an embassy in China that there were places where such remains were stored. In the late 18th century, the famous German naturalist Pallas accurately described the fossil remains of woolly mammoths exhibited at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. However, the most significant discoveries centered around elephants were made by Adams at the Lena River mouth. Adams learned that someone had discovered a woolly mammoth with its fur intact and immediately set out to rescue this precious relic. He found the leader of the Tungus people, who had discovered the mammoth but had not touched it. The elderly people said that in the past, similar monsters had also been discovered on this peninsula, and that anyone who encountered such a monster would bring misfortune to their family, causing the entire family to die. The Tungus man, hearing this, fell ill with fear. However, the two long tusks of the animal stirred his greed, and he decided to keep them for himself. In March 1804, he sold both tusks for very little money. Two years later, Adams went out searching and found the animal in the same place, but it was already fragmented. The Yakuts cut the meat off to feed the dogs. Arctic foxes, wolves, badgers, and foxes also came to feed on the meat. The mammoth skeleton was still intact, except for one missing front leg. Its head still had dry, wrinkled skin, and its eyes and brain were preserved. The legs had thick calluses, and one ear with dense fur was also well-preserved. The skin was dark gray, with reddish-brown hair and black manes, denser than horse manes. Adams collected everything he could find. He wanted to strip the skin off the mammoth but needed ten people to do so. He had the scattered hairs on the ground collected, totaling 17 kilograms. Everything was sent back to St. Petersburg, but it was damaged in transit, with all the hair falling off the skin. Nevertheless, due to the efforts of this naturalist, the facts were undeniable. The longest hair was on the neck, measuring over 70 centimeters, and the rest of the body was covered in thick fur, proving that the woolly mammoth must have lived in a cold environment. Its tusks were much more curved than modern ivory, with some mammoth tusks almost forming complete circles. Adams had seen woolly mammoth tusks over 7 meters long. The discovery of woolly mammoths attracted the attention of scientists for a long time. The sudden extinction of this animal in the region was puzzling. Some, based on plant remains, believed the cause was a sudden change in Earth's rotation. Others thought it was due to flooding that submerged Siberia.