Pliny: Natural History, Vol. III

With these, the dragons are in perpetual discord, being of such a size that they easily encircle them and bind them with a twisted knot. Both perish in this struggle, and the vanquished elephant, in falling, crushes with its weight the snake that is coiled around it.

33 XII. Every species of animal is marvellously cunning for its own interests, as are these. The serpent has but one difficulty: that of climbing to such a height. Consequently, it keeps watch on the track worn by the elephant going to pasture and drops upon it from a lofty tree. The elephant knows that it is badly handicapped in fighting against the coils, and therefore it seeks to rub the snake against trees or rocks. The dragons are on their guard against this, and for that reason they begin by shackling the elephant's feet with their tails. The elephants untie these knots with their trunks. But the snakes poke their heads right into the elephants' nostrils, hindering their breathing and at the same time lacerating their most tender parts. When caught in the path of the elephants, they also rear up against them, aiming especially for the eyes. Thus it comes about that elephants are frequently found blind and exhausted by hunger and wasting misery.

34 What other cause could anyone adduce for such a quarrel, except for Nature arranging a match between a pair of combatants to provide herself with a show? There is also another account of this contest: that elephants have very cold blood, and for that reason, in very hot weather, they are especially sought after by the dragons. For this cause, they submerge

themselves in rivers, and the dragons lie in wait for them as they drink. The dragons rise up, coil around the elephant’s trunk, and imprint a bite inside the ear, because that is the only place the elephant cannot protect with its trunk. It is said that the dragons are so large that they can drain the entire blood supply of the elephant; therefore, the elephants are drunk dry by them and collapse from exhaustion, while the intoxicated dragons are crushed by the elephants and die with them.