| I use to tell my kids, "Get yourself an elephant; people | | | | Savannah is as different "species wise" from the |
| will look up to you." | | | | African Forest Elephant(s) as the lion is from the tiger? |
| What I meant was that they should reach high goals | | | | Usually the kind of elephant you see in a circus is the |
| that are difficult for many other people to obtain. I still | | | | Indian Elephant. The Africans never bothered to tame |
| tell my grandkids in college to take solid state physics | | | | their critter. They preferred to eat them instead. |
| type classes rather than basket weaving. That will cut | | | | A Slight Diversion |
| down the competition. | | | | This is quite like Geronimo who preferred to eat |
| I might note that I took plenty of solid state physics | | | | horses rather than ride them. I've always been a fan |
| classes when I was a graduate student and I sat in on | | | | of Geronimo. He is in one of my novels (Bull |
| a number when I was a college professor. All in all I | | | | I was stationed at Fort Sill so I know where he was |
| didn't understand exactly what in the heck was going | | | | incarcerated and where he jumped off the bluff. |
| on. Maybe nobody does. I never used one thing from a | | | | I saw aircraft fly over that very same bluff at low |
| solid state physics class in all my days in the | | | | altitude. Out jumped hundreds of paratroopers. Each |
| professional world. But it did get me a Ph.D. and better | | | | one yelled, "Geronimo!" |
| working conditions. I don't know exactly why this is but | | | | Well, maybe they didn't. I couldn't here them anyway. |
| it is what happens. | | | | Some of the equipment landed with a big thud when |
| Are you kids listening? | | | | the chutes didn't open. The troops were on the ground |
| As far as elephants go, I have always wanted to have | | | | in minutes and firing 105 mm howitzers at nothing in |
| one, and hoped that one of my kids might have one in | | | | particular. |
| his back yard. Now I've learned that it is illegal | | | | Back to the Decline in Elephant Populations |
| worldwide to have a pet elephant. What a shame. | | | | Elephants are decreasing in number because people |
| See | | | | are increasing in number and crowding them out. That |
| If many of us had pet elephants, there would not be a | | | | is everywhere but in such places as Zimbabwe where |
| shortage of elephants. There are only a few places | | | | ivory hunters, who are tired of getting shot at by |
| that I know of that has a surplus of elephants. I learned | | | | rangers, want to hunt elephants in peace. |
| this at Zimbabwe has so many they want to sell ivory | | | | My solution to the decreasing elephant population is |
| legally to cut down the elephant population. The | | | | simple: Make pet elephants legal. |
| demand for Ivory is the reason that there are elephant | | | | You would be able get one at PetSmart®. |
| shortages in much of Asia and Africa. | | | | I saw a guy bring a dog out of PetSmart® the |
| We use to have elephants in America. These are | | | | other day. It was as big as a full-grown pig. If it had of |
| called Mammoths by us and nobody knows what the | | | | had a trunk I would think it was from Crete. |
| natives that hunted them called them. I think they called | | | | Another great idea would to take the DNA from one |
| them Zigdogs which in the ancient American language | | | | of those frozen Hairy Mammoths, stick it in a female |
| means Run for your life! I just added Zigdogs to my | | | | elephant's ova (a single egg is called an ovum), and |
| computer dictionary. This is not a trivial definition. The | | | | plant them in the uteruses of cows near my home |
| Aztecs thought the Spanish horses were big dogs. | | | | here in Idaho. There would be plenty of milk to feed |
| The elephant was on the island of Crete until about | | | | the newborn Mammoth calves. |
| 3000 to 5000 years ago. It was as big as a pig. I | | | | I'll bet nobody would mess with those babies. |
| wouldn't call that much of an elephant. See again | | | | One of my grandkids just pointed out that the Hairy |
| There is nice shot of some elephants at This article | | | | Mammoth was killed by primitive hunters. Well, forget |
| claims that the population of elephants in the 1970s and | | | | the Mammoth restoration project for now. |
| 1980s dropped from 1,300,000 to 600,000. That | | | | Actually, that was a lie. My grandkids are not here |
| includes all "three" living African species, the African | | | | today. But that is what they would tell me if they were |
| Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, the "Other" | | | | here. |
| African Forest Elephant, but not the Asian Elephant, | | | | Read about current Asian Elephant populations at and |
| which we called as kids, the Indian Elephant. | | | | about African Elephant populations at |
| Did you know that the African Elephant of the | | | | Get yourself an elephant. People will look up to you! |