Post-War descendants of the intimidating elephant, Eliphantez Tandemm exist in very small herd located on SantaRosae Island. However, it has been rumoured that others have obtained specimens in the Mexican state of Baja and the American state of Arizona.
Description[]
The Eliphantez Tandemm (Alone Elephant in Kaisarian Latin) is a very large mammal in the Eliphanidae family of the Mammathus genus native to SantaRosae in the 2270s.
Each member of this species poses two (four for adult males) up slopping tusks similar to that of the Javelina endemic to the Mojave and Arizona but many times longer. They are thought to help it fight off predators and clear trees from the thick jungles of SantaRosae. They can be quite long-lived due to their modified genetic makeup, living upwards of 65 years.
Most have grayish-red skin that blisters in the summer months while a few males afflicted with what records call "Musth" or elephant madness have yellowish hides that secrete the toxic taint spores at certain times of the year. The beasts are four or five-toed depending on the individual and are said to have certain healing qualities much like the milk of a brahmin but this has not been reliably tested as of yet.
Behavior[]
As noted in the few surviving prewar records of elephants we have available at this time, the animals behave in a matriarchal herd of 6 to 15 individuals, which is made up exclusively of adult cows and calves but never any bulls similar to patterns seen in other herd minded large mammals such as Bighorners and Bramin. When travelling in a herd the animals form a column to protect the elderly and young from predators like Cave Lions and Great Roc. They are said to have eidetic memories much like crows, allowing them to remember paths, individuals and techniques.
"I don't trust em' tings... Youse know the NCRs oldies thought they was gods right?"
-Johesa Ki'mar of the Kamen Cartel
Young males typically act like any other herding animal up until they turn 14 wherein they begin there first madness, tribals on the island prepare for this as the males second set of tusks appear usually about 2 months before musthing. After the madness starts the male is abandoned to the jungle by the herd and will become bloodthirsty and carnivorous up to cannibalizing its own kind until the hormones in their bodies level, wherein it lives out the rest of its existence alone save for a mating season in the cloud-sin valley every 3-4 years. Note, the madness is a temporary affliction that happens periodically every ten years or so at random intervals making male Eliphantez still useful if not slightly unnerving.
Diet[]
Like most prewar pachyderms the Eliphantez eat a selection of wild grasses and tree foliage and bark with domesticated specimens having a special fondness of razor grain chaff and the islands native bar-berries. Although like many large herbivores the occasional rat or small bird carcass may be eaten if the animal needs the nutrients. In the annals of the Romans, there is a story about an elephant being forced into eating red meat in an attempt to induce a madness before a battle if this is true the stories recently about legion commanders fielding rampaging beasts in Utah similar to the Eliphantez maybe pressing the much-feared idea that the Mexicans and legion have been breeding these animals for war.
Habitat[]
Eliphantez are found all over SantaRosaes landmass from the arid mesa peaks all the way down into the under the canopy and onto the mired beaches. If unconfirmed sources are to be believed they also may exist in the similar forested regions of Baja and the savannas and brush forests of Arizona and New Mexico.