Lesson 41
Training elephants
At what point does the training of a captive wild elephant begin?
Two main techniques have been used for training elephants, which we may call respectively the tough and the gentle.
The former method simply consists of setting an elephant to work and beating him until he does what is expected of him.
Apart from any moral considerations this is a stupid method of training,
for it produces a resentful animal who at a later stage may well turn man-killer.
The gentle method requires more patience in the early stages,
but produce a cheerful good-tempered elephant who will give many years of loyal service.
The first essential in elephant training is to assign to the animal a single mahout who will be entirely responsible for the job.
Elephants like to have one master just as dogs do, and are capable of a considerable degree of personal affection.
There are even stories of half-trained elephant calves who have refused to feed and pined to death
when by some unavoidable circumstance they have been deprived of their own trainer.
Such extreme cases must probably be taken with a grain of salt,
but they do underline the general principle that the relationship between elephant and mahout is the key to successful training.
The most economical age to capture an elephant for training is between 15 and 20 years,
for it is then almost ready to undertake heavy work and can begin to earn its keep straight away.
But animals of this age do not easily become subservient to man, and a very firm hand must be employed in the early stages.
The captive elephant, still roped to a tree,
plunges and screams every time a man approaches, and for several days will probably refuse all food through anger and fear.