The Wonders of the Jungle, Book One

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the zoo or in a circus-elephants, bears, lions, tigers, leopards, and many others. But the

and bushes grow quite wild, so that men never cut down the trees or cl

Papas and Mammas among the animals are just as fond of their children as ours are. So you must imagine that you are going into

onderful that King George and Queen Mary of England went to see it; that was a few years ago, when they went t

ou are sitting with the King and Queen and all the fine men and lovely

nk. This stream is a river about twice as wide as a large street in your home town. We are sitting on

animals see us across the stream

their side of the stream, just in front of them, and then to cover the net with twigs and leaves so cleverly that

through the leaves and watch the animals. Almost all wi

a gap in the jungle close to the bank. That gap was made by elephants by beating down the bushes with their feet. They made it long ago to come to the water, and

he wisest of all animals. You have seen many kinds of animals-elephants, horses, dogs, monkeys, and others-do funny tricks in a circus. Now,

, to show even the elephant how to do tricks; but in the ju

e jungle; and as you hear about them, you must think! Why? Because then you will k

ink First-bu

nts as they come to the river

s not big enough for more than one at the same time. The elepha

tell them by the huge tusks they have. The bulls come first, in case there are any

is down the stream-that is, the way the water flows. You see the first one walk

for all their friends who are still coming from behind. In thi

and nearly every one of them has a baby elephant trotting in front of her. You have often seen the ord

y. For a tiger sometimes wants to pounce on the baby from the side, grab it quickly, and carry it away. But he cannot do it if the baby is right i

h her baby, you see them also walk alo

Why? Because some enemy might try to attack the Mammas and the babies from the back; so these bull elephant

elephants belong to one herd; you can count about a hundred. A herd of elephants is really a repu

emen in the herd, and catch and punish any naughty elephant who becomes a rogue; and how, if two elephants start quarrelling and fighting like naughty boys, the police elephants

and fighting as to who found it first, it is the duty of the President to keep his own herd away from the two that are fighting, and n

at all are ready. Then he gives the signal for them to begin drinking; he does this by dipping his trunk into the water. Then the second one sees him do it, and does the same; in that way each

in? Why is it that any elephant, anywhere along the line,

r flows down that way. But if the lower ones drank a little before, it would not matter if they did muddy the water, for the higher ones would still

Elepha

nk into the stream and suck in the water about halfway up the trunk; then he curls up the tip of the trunk and gets it near his mouth; then he blows through the nose, and squirts the water i

hant Drinks

th is so high up, and his neck is so stiff, that he would have to go quite two or three yards deep into the stream before he could get his mout

se! And that is exactly what happened many, many years ago-his nose became long enough to reach the water from the ban

ks have grown long enough to reach the stream. But what about a baby elephant? Why, its Mamma f

on our right, down the stream-let us turn o