Elephants are now the largest mammals on Earth. At one time Sri Lanka had about 25000 elephants, but today the number has dwindled to less -than 2500. It is even feared that elephants in the wild might disappear altogether. This is because the forest areas- the elephants habitat- is daily becoming smaller due to human encroachment.

Elephants have been very useful to Sri Lankans from ancient times. It was elephants which helped to carry the large blocks of stone used for the ancient buildings at Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

Elephants are large animals but they are by no means stupid. I can remember an incident which I witnessed when I was quite small. I was just 5-years-old and had gone with my parents to witness the Kandy Perahera. My uncle was then the head of the Eye Hospital, Kandy and the Chief Priest of the Dalada Maligawa, knew him. So the latter had told him that he could come with his family and witness the pageant from the Pathirippuwa, or balcony of the temple.

The elephants were all lined up in the courtyard and were awaiting their turn to join the pageant. All the elephants, were dressed in brightly ornamented cloaks. These are made of silk or velvet, embroidered with sequins and little bulbs. The bulbs are lit up by a battery which is placed on the elephants back. That day the last elephant in the line did not have an ornamental dress. Evidently his owner had brought him at the last moment for the pageant and had been unable to provide him with a dress. Incidentally these ornamental dresses are said to cost as much as Rs 5 lakhs today. When the time came for this last elephant to move out and join the pageant he did not stir. It stayed put all the efforts of the mahout, to make him go. Then some one who knew elephant psychology realised that it was because this elephant had no ornamental dress. He went and brought, a large double bedsheet and put it on the elephant’s back from behind. The elephant could not see that it was a plain sheet as it was put on him from behind. He thought it was like what the others in front had, and he gaily moved on and joined in the pageant.

There was another incident which occurred many years ago on the road to Kataragama. A postman was going riding his bicycle along a lonely stretch of this road. He met a lone elephant. Lone elephants in a forest or jungle area are generally dangerous. The elephant gave chase and although he peddled as fast as he could, he knew that the elephant would catch up with him. So when he came to a concrete culvert on the road he had a bright idea. He got down and leaned the bicycle against a tree and crept into the culvert.

When the elephant came to that spot, the first thing it did was to dash the bicycle against a tree and break it. Then with his keen sense of smell he was able to sense that the man was inside the culvert. He put his trunk into the culvert to see if it could catch the man. Immediately the postman crawled backwards to the other end of the culvert and was out of reach. Then the elephant went to the other end and put his trunk in from the other side, but the postman again moved out of his reach. The elephant again tried both ends of the culvert, but failed to get at the man. Then it walked away and came back with a large piece of rock. This it placed against one opening of the culvert. It again went off and returned with another piece of rock and blocked the other opening. Then it went away.

The postman waited for a long time as he was afraid that the elephant would be hovering in the vicinity. Then he cautiously tried to move one of the rocks. Again and again he tried, but couldn’t move even one of the rocks, as they were too heavy. He was now wondering whether he would have to die there. He began to weep, thinking of his wife and family. Night came on and he went to sleep, hungry and tired. Then when dawn broke, he heard the sound of a cart coming along the road. As it came nearer he screamed and shouted for help. The two men in the cart were startled by the screams coming from the culvert and they got out to investigate. The postman was now hysterical and he pleaded with them to let him out, telling them that he had crept in there to escape an elephant. So the two men managed to push aside one of the rocks and free the Postman.

Another story I heard was about an old woman who used to bake hoppers for a living. She was rather short-sighted, but her hoppers were really good. She used to go to a hotel in the vicinity with the hoppers. It was a Sunday morning and Mary Nona Had got up before dawn to start work. There was a pet baby elephant kept in a neighbouring house, and it used to visit Mary Nona who fed it with whatever she could spare. Before this the small elephant only came in the evenings when Mary Nona thought that she was quite alone while working. She had started working around 4 am. So when dawn broke she had a good pile of hoppers. Hoppers are made from rice flour and coconut milk and are rather like pan-cakes, only a little larger and are also made by breaking a whole egg into the centre while baking, so that it looks like a really tempting bulls-eye -and lighter because it is baked without oil. Mary-Nona’s fire-place was on the ground. She sat on a small stool by it and put each hopper that she baked into a basket on her right

When she saw the morning sun streaming through the window she thought that she would be having a good pile of hoppers to take to the Hotel. She rose from where she sat and looked at the basket. Lo! It was empty and there was her Jumbo friend standing behind it. He had come in silently from the back door and eaten each one as she baked them. She was tired and there would be no hoppers for the Hotel, but she couldn’t help smiling. "You little rogue" she said stroking his small trunk.

Baby elephants are cute loveable animals. I have seen a few of them at the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela. They are fed with milk from a large bottle with a narrow mouth. After the feed one tiny elephant was following the keeper around and the keeper strokes his head and calling him "Putha Putha"

Elephants grow up to love their master and they are generally very loyal to him. If elephants in the wild become aggressive and attack people, it is usually because man has been cruel to men, Either man has encroached on their jungle territory or has hunted them at some time. Then they naturally think when they see a human being that he or she is a source of danger to their kind and so must be put away. In ancient times people did not have fire-arms and so they did not harm elephants. They had methods of controlling elephants without using force. Further it is the male elephant which is sometimes aggressive. This is because adult male elephants become easily angry and irritable when they are in "must". It generally lasts for about three weeks and during this period even tame elephants have to, be kept tethered and approached with caution. At other times however elephants can be trained to work for man. Not only heavy work like uprooting trees and hauling huge logs, but even building work which needs skill.