African Elephant Domestication (From Richard Reynolds)

UntitledMA12502677-0005, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. This photo shows Howard Y. Bary, circus owner, showman, adventurer, and collector of exotic attractions and oddities. He has his hand on a huge male African elephant with the animal’s cornac (mahout) standing alongside. This photo was taken when Bary went to the Belgian Congo (and surrounding colonies) in early 1947 trying to obtain attractions for RBBB. It is from a brochure Bary used in his British Africa railroad exhibit in the early 1950s. It was three-car walk through, along the lines of the 1930s whale shows. This elephant is certainly a huge male. Owing to genetic studies we now know that the forest elephant is a separate species, not just a jungle subspecies of the large bush or savannah elephant. This animal has the characteristic straight-down tusks of the forest elephant but the ears are more fan-like than the rounded ones we associate with the forest species. The fan-like ears are typical of the larger bush or savannah elephants of eastern Africa. Moreover , he is far too tall for the typical male forest elephant which rarely exceeds 9 feet. That makes me think this giant was a hybrid. That is known to have occurred and would explain the extra height and fan like ears though the straight down tusks are definitely that of the forest elephant. This elephant would have been one of those trained by the Belgians to do agricultural work. I think this one was at the okapi station at Epulu in the Ituri Rainforest where captured okapis and domesticated elephants were kept. There are other photos of Bary there with okapis. [He was supposed to get a pair of them for RBBB but failed.] There have been several recent postings to the blog about these African work elephants. I think I can shed some light on that subject. The project was the idea of Belgian King Leopold II. He figured that if elephant domestication can take place in Asia, why not in Africa in what he had targeted as his privately owned colony. It became the Congo Free State (his private property) and later the Belgian Congo. The first domesticated elephants in tropical Africa were Indians imported under direction of King Leopold. Four of them were landed in 1879 near Dar-es-Salaam (now Tanzania). They were accompanied by three superb mahouts who brought with them the regal attire associated with Indian ceremonial processions. Two Englishmen, Carter and Rankin, were put in charge of a great caravan which was to trek all the way across what is now Tanzania to what would become the Belgian Congo. The native African populations along the way were utterly amazed and astonished by the sight of men dressed in regal garb riding elephants which would kneel and otherwise do their bidding. Such was completely foreign to their cultures. Alas, the Asian elephants did not survive the long trek and the last one died in June 1880 at Karema on Lake Tanganyika. The project began in earnest in 1899 under the direction of King Leopold. After some hits and misses, the program finally got traction in 1902 under Commander Jules Laplume. The primary purpose was to get elephants to do clearing, agricultural, and logging work. The material I’ve read does not suggest military use though that may have been involved as well. CONTINUED - - - -