Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

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most of the animals have been wild caught and most breeding is from matings
between domestic cows and wild bulls. Working elephants have not been the
subject of sustained captive breeding, nor have they been selected for
particular characteristics. It is therefore inaccurate to refer to the Asian
elephant as a domesticated species. African elephants have a reputation of
being more difficult to train than Asian (Mellen and Ellis 1996) however
elephants have been trained to work in what is now the Democratic Republic
of Congo since Belgium colonial times (Bridges 1947) (Hillman Smith 1992)
(Wager 1954) (Caldwell 1927) and are still used in the Garamba National Park
(Hillman Smith 1992).
Man has hunted the elephant since prehistoric times; it is known that stoneage
man hunted the mammoth, mainly for use of meat and skin. More
primitive methods involved pit traps, poisoned arrows, harpoons and even
swords, but it was the advent of the rifle that heralded the start of the serious
decline of elephant populations. Elephant carcasses are put to many uses:
food, oil, hair is made into bracelets and the skin can be manufactured into
many objects from shields to clothing and furniture. Elephants became extinct
in Syria in the first millennium BC due to excessive hunting. From the first
days of civilization ivory has been in great demand. It is mentioned in the
Bible and was much treasured in ancient Greece and Rome, its consumption in
Europe was enormous. The Menageries (1831) quote 364,784 lbs of ivory
being imported into England in 1827, representing at the very minimum, the
deaths of 3,040 elephants. More recent is the advent of sport hunting, with
licences being sold to hunters (Redmond 1996) and this forms part of the
ongoing debate over sustainable use of elephants in some African countries.
Not only has man hunted the elephant, he has used it as a means of transport
to hunt other animals, notably in magnificent hunting expeditions by Indian
princes, when hundreds of elephants could be used. All animals were
targeted from antelope to leopard, buffalo and tiger, although the elephant
was most frequently employed in India in tiger hunts [Menageries 1931 #30]
and there are several accounts of tigers fighting back and attacking the
transporting elephant.
Assurnasirpal II (King of Assyria) established a zoo in the ninth century BC
with elephants he had captured in Syria; Alexander the Great kept elephants
in the Macedonian court. However it was the Romans that started to use
elephants in the amphitheatre as circus performers. They fought each other,
bulls and even armed men. Elephant baiting was also a popular sport in India
and other Asian countries as was elephant / tiger and lion fights (Carrington
1962) [Menageries 1931 #30]. In Roman times they were also taught to
perform and even to throw arrows and walk on tight-ropes. Both Caeser and
Claudius are reputed to have brought elephants to England [Menageries 1931
#30]. The first elephant to reach England since Roman times was in the 13 th
century, as mentioned in the Introduction but it was not until the 16 th century
that elephants became more common in western Europe; notable animals
were the one at Clerkenwell Green in London in the mid 17 th century and the
one burnt to death in Dublin around the same time. By the nineteenth century
they were a familiar sight in zoos and, when the menagerie in the Tower was
closed, an elephant from there was passed on to the newly formed collection
in Regent’s Park, which opened in 1829. The first Asian elephant was brought