BLACK-EARED MARMOSET.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.BLACK-EARED MARMOSET.These are among the prettiest of small tropical monkeys from the New World. They are insect-feeders, and very delicate.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.BLACK-EARED MARMOSET.These are among the prettiest of small tropical monkeys from the New World. They are insect-feeders, and very delicate.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
BLACK-EARED MARMOSET.
These are among the prettiest of small tropical monkeys from the New World. They are insect-feeders, and very delicate.
HUMBOLDT'S WOOLLY MONKEY.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.HUMBOLDT'S WOOLLY MONKEY.This is the most popular monkey in England. He looks for all the world like a Negro, and has a most beautiful, soft, woolly coat. He is very tame, and loves nothing better than being petted.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.HUMBOLDT'S WOOLLY MONKEY.This is the most popular monkey in England. He looks for all the world like a Negro, and has a most beautiful, soft, woolly coat. He is very tame, and loves nothing better than being petted.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
HUMBOLDT'S WOOLLY MONKEY.
This is the most popular monkey in England. He looks for all the world like a Negro, and has a most beautiful, soft, woolly coat. He is very tame, and loves nothing better than being petted.
In spite of all the varieties oftemperamentin the monkey tribe, from the genial little Capuchins to the morose old baboon, they nearly all have one thing in common—that is, the monkey brain. The same curious restlessness, levity, and want of concentration mark them all, except the large anthropoid apes. Some of these have without doubt power of reflection and concentration which the other monkeys do not possess. But in all the rest, though the capacity for understanding exists, the wish to please, as a dog does, and the desire to rememberand to retain what it has learnt, seem almost entirely wanting. Egoism, which is a sign of human dementia, is a very leading characteristic of all monkeys. There is no doubt that the baboons might be trained to be useful animals if they always served one master. Le Vaillant and many other travellers have noted this. But they aretoo clever, and at the bottom too ill-tempered ever to be trustworthy, even regarded as "watches," or to help in minor manual labour. Baboons would make an excellent substitute for dogs as used in Belgium for light draught; but no one could ever rely on their behaving themselves when their master's eye was elsewhere.
Taken as a family, the monkeys are a feeble and by no means likeable race. They are "undeveloped" as a class, full of promise, but with no performance.
PIG-TAILED MONKEY CATCHING A FLY.Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.PIG-TAILED MONKEY CATCHING A FLY.Most of the smaller monkeys, as well as the baboons, are fond of eating insects. Beetles, white ants, and flies are eagerly sought and devoured.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.PIG-TAILED MONKEY CATCHING A FLY.Most of the smaller monkeys, as well as the baboons, are fond of eating insects. Beetles, white ants, and flies are eagerly sought and devoured.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.
PIG-TAILED MONKEY CATCHING A FLY.
Most of the smaller monkeys, as well as the baboons, are fond of eating insects. Beetles, white ants, and flies are eagerly sought and devoured.
THE LEMURS.
The South American monkeys, with their squirrel-like forms and fur, are followed by a beautiful and interesting group of creatures, called theLemurs, with their cousins the Lorises, Maholis, and Pottos. Their resemblance to monkeys is mainly in their hands and feet. These are real and very highly developed hands, with proper thumbs. The second toe on the hind foot nearly always terminates in a long, sharp claw. "Elia," the Indian naturalist, who kept them as pets, noticed that they used this to scratch themselves with. Some of them have the finger-tips expanded into a sensitive disk, full of extra nerves. Lemur means "ghost." Unlike the lively squirrels and monkeys, they do not leave their hiding-places till the tropical darkness has fallen on the forest, when they seek their food, not by descending to the ground, but by ascending to the upper surface of the ocean of trees, and again, at the first approach of dawn, seek refuge from the light in the recesses of some dark and hollow trunk. TheRing-tailed Lemuris as lively by day as night; but most of the race are so entirely creatures of darkness that the light seems to stupefy them. When wakened, they turn over like sleeping children, with the same inarticulate cries and deep, uneasy sighs. But at night most are astonishingly active; they fly from tree to tree, heard, but invisible; so that the natives of Madagascar doubt whether they are not truelemures, the unquiet ghosts of their departed dead.
Though the lemurs are here treated apart from the other animals of Madagascar, it will be obvious that they are a curious and abnormal tribe. This is true of most of the animals of that great island, which has a fauna differing both from that of the adjacent coast of Africa and from that of India or Australia. In theFossa, a large representative of the Civets, it possesses a species absolutely unlike any other. The Aye-aye is also an abnormal creature. Nor must it be forgotten that Madagascar was until recently the home of some of the gigantic ground-living birds. But, after all, none of its inhabitants are more remarkable than its hosts of lemurs, some of which are to be met with in almost every coppice in the island. There are also many extinct kinds.
Exquisite fur, soft and beautifully tinted, eyes of extraordinary size and colour (for the pupil shuts up to a mere black line by day, and the rest of the eye shows like a polished stone of rich brown or yellow or marble-grey), are the marks of most of the lemurs. But there are other lemur-like creatures, or "lemuroids," which, though endowed with thesame lovely fur, like softest moss, have no tails. The strangest of all are two creatures called theSlender Lorisand theSlow Loris. The slender loris, which has the ordinary furry coat of the lemurs, and no tail, moves on the branches exactly as does a chameleon. Each hand or foot is slowly raised, brought forward, and set down again. The fingers then as slowly close on the branch till its grasp is secure. It is like a slow-working mechanical toy. Probably this is a habit, now instinctive, gained by ages of cautiously approaching insects. But the result is to give the impression that the creature is almost an automaton.
RING-TAILED LEMUR.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.RING-TAILED LEMUR.This lemur is often kept as a domestic animal, and allowed to run about the house like a cat.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.RING-TAILED LEMUR.This lemur is often kept as a domestic animal, and allowed to run about the house like a cat.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
RING-TAILED LEMUR.
This lemur is often kept as a domestic animal, and allowed to run about the house like a cat.
A DWARF LEMUR.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.A DWARF LEMUR.These tiny animals take the place of the dormouse in Madagascar.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.A DWARF LEMUR.These tiny animals take the place of the dormouse in Madagascar.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.
A DWARF LEMUR.
These tiny animals take the place of the dormouse in Madagascar.
Madagascar is the main home of the lemurs, though some of the related animals are also found in Africa and in the East Indies. But the dense forests of the great island are full of these curious nocturnal beasts, of which there are so many varieties presenting very slight differences of form and habit, that naturalists have some difficulty in giving even a complete list of their species. Add to this that nearly all of them are intensely and entirely nocturnal, and the scarcity of data as to their habits is easily accounted for. When seen by us, their faces all lack expression—that is to say, the eyes, which mainly give expression, seem entirely vacant and meaningless. But this is due to their special adaptation to seeing in the dark tropical night. By day the pupil of the eye almost disappears. If only we could also see in the dark, the eyes of the lemur might have as much expression as those of a faithful dog. The change which night makes in their general demeanour is simply miraculous. By day many of them are like hibernating animals, almost incapable of movement. When once the curtain of night has fallen, they are as active as squirrels, and as full of play as a family of kittens. TheRing-tailed Lemuris often kept as a pet, both in Madagascar and in the Mauritius. It is one of the very few which are diurnal in their habits. When in a hurry it jumps along, standing on its hind feet, like a little kangaroo, but holding its tail upright behind its back. It will follow people upstairs in this way, jumping from step to step, with its front paws outstretched, as if it were addressing an audience. The French call these day lemursMakis. The ring-tailed lemur lives largely among rocks and precipices. Most of these creatures live upon fruit, the shoots and leaves of trees, and other vegetable food. But, like the squirrel, they have no objection to eggs and nestlings, and also kill and eat any small birds and insects. Some of the smaller kinds are almost entirely insect-feeders. The largest kind of lemur belongs to the group known as theIndris. TheBlack-and-white Indrimeasures about 2 feet in length. It has only a rudimentary tail, large ears, and a sharp-pointed nose. The amount of white colouring varies much in different individuals. This variation in colouring—a very rare feature among wild mammalia, though one of the first changes shown when animals are domesticated—is also found in the next three species, calledSifakas. TheDiademed Sifaka,theWoolly Indri, and theBlack Indriall belong to this group. TheSifakas, as some of these and the allied forms are called, are venerated by the Malagasys, who never kill one intentionally. Mr. Foster observes that "they live in companies of six or eight, and are very gentle and inoffensive animals, wearing a very melancholy expression, and being as a rule morose, inactive, and more silent than the other lemurs. They rarely live long in captivity. In their native state they are most alert in the morning and evening, as during the day they conceal themselves under the foliage of trees. When asleep or in repose, the head is dropped on the chest and buried between the arms, the tail rolled up on itself and disposed between the hind legs. The sifakas live exclusively on vegetable substances, fruits, leaves, and flowers, their diet not being varied, as in the other lemurs, by small birds, eggs, or insects. Their life is almost entirely arboreal, for which the muscles of their hands and feet, as well as the parachute-like folds between their arms and bodies, and their peculiar hooked fingers, are well fitted. The young one is carried by the mother on its back, its hands grasping her armpits tightly."
BLACK LEMUR.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.BLACK LEMUR.Found on the coast of Madagascar.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.BLACK LEMUR.Found on the coast of Madagascar.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
BLACK LEMUR.
Found on the coast of Madagascar.
This is not the universal way of carrying the young among lemurs. TheCrowned Lemur, a beautiful grey-and-white species, often breeds at the Zoo. The female carries its young one partly on its side. The infant clings tightly with arms and tail round the very slender waist of the lemur, and pushes out its sharp little face just above the thigh of the mother. TheWoolly Indrihas more woolly fur than the others of its tribe, a shorter nose, and a longer tail.
COQUEREL'S LEMUR.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.COQUEREL'S LEMUR.A lemur which strongly objects to being awakened in the daytime.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.COQUEREL'S LEMUR.A lemur which strongly objects to being awakened in the daytime.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.
COQUEREL'S LEMUR.
A lemur which strongly objects to being awakened in the daytime.
RUFFED LEMUR.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.RUFFED LEMUR.Another of the nocturnal lemurs. It lives mainly on fruit and insects.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.RUFFED LEMUR.Another of the nocturnal lemurs. It lives mainly on fruit and insects.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
RUFFED LEMUR.
Another of the nocturnal lemurs. It lives mainly on fruit and insects.
The True Lemurs
Of these there are several species, all confined to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. One of the best known is theRing-tailed Lemur, mentioned above. It is calledLemur Catta, the Cat Lemur, from being so often kept in domestication. TheWeaselLemur, theGrey Lemur, theMouse Lemur, theGentle Lemur, theSportive Lemur, theCrowned Lemur, andCoquerel's Lemur, all represent various small, pretty, and interesting varieties of the group. TheBlack-and-white Lemur, one of the larger kinds, is capable of domestication. A specimen kept in a London house, where the present writer saw it, was always called "Pussy" by the children. The other small kinds are very like squirrels, mice, weasels, and other creatures, with which they have no connection. It seems as though the curiously limited and primitive fauna of Madagascar tried to make up for its want of variety by mimicking the forms of other animals, and something of the same kind is seen in Australia, where the marsupials take the place of all kinds of ordinary mammals. There are marsupial rats, marsupial wolves, marsupial squirrels, and even marsupial moles. The small squirrel and rat-like lemurs are calledChirogales.Coquerel's Lemuris really a chirogale. It is a quaint and by no means amiable little animal, sleeping obstinately all day, and always ready to growl and bite if disturbed. Its colour is brownish grey and cream-colour. A pair of these, rolled up tightly into balls in a box of hay, will absolutely refuse to move, even when handled. They only feed by night.
The Galagos.
GARNETT'S GALAGO.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.GARNETT'S GALAGO.One of the squirrel-like lemuroids.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.GARNETT'S GALAGO.One of the squirrel-like lemuroids.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
GARNETT'S GALAGO.
One of the squirrel-like lemuroids.
MAHOLI GALAGOPhoto by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.MAHOLI GALAGOThis little animal is a native of East Africa. It has very large eyes, and fur as soft as the chinchilla's.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.MAHOLI GALAGOThis little animal is a native of East Africa. It has very large eyes, and fur as soft as the chinchilla's.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
MAHOLI GALAGO
This little animal is a native of East Africa. It has very large eyes, and fur as soft as the chinchilla's.
An allied group, confined to tropical Africa, is that of theGalagos. They are most beautiful little creatures, whose nearest relatives are the Malagasy lemurs. Generally speaking, they have even more exquisite fur than the lemurs. It is almost as soft as floss silk, and so close that the hand sinks into it as into a bed of moss. The colour of the fur is rich and pleasing, generally some shade of brown. The head is small, the nose pointed, and the ears thin, hairless, and capable of being folded up, like the wings of a beetle. But the most beautiful feature of the galagos is their eyes. These are of immense size, compared with the head. The eye is of the richest and most beautiful brown, like a cairngorm stone, but not glassy or clear. Though quite translucent, the eye is marked with minute dividing-lines, like the grain in an agate—a truly exquisite object. When handled or taken in the arms, the little galago clasps the fingers or sleeve tightly, as if it thought it was holding a tree, and shows no disposition to escape. A family of three or four young ones, no larger than mice, with their large-eyed mother attending to them, forms an exquisitely dainty little group. The galagos vary from the size of a squirrel to that of a small cat. The kind most often seen in England is the MaholiGalagofrom East Africa. Another species comes from Senegal, and others from Calabar and the forests of the Gold Coast.Garnett's Galago, another species, is shown above. They may be regarded as nocturnal tropical lemuroids, analogous to the chirogales of Madagascar. It has been suggested, with great probability, that the intensely drowsy sleepof many of the lemuroid animals corresponds to the hibernation of many northern mammals. Tropical animals often become torpid to avoid the famine caused by the hot season, just as creatures in cold countries hibernate to avoid the hunger which would otherwise come with winter.
The Slow Lemurs or Lorises, and Tarsiers.
Another group of lemuroids is distinguished from the foregoing by having the second finger of the fore paws either very short or rudimentary. The thumb and great toe are also set very widely apart from the other fingers and toes. A far more striking distinction to the non-scientific eye is their astonishingly deliberate and slow movements. They have no tails, enormous eyes, and very long, slender legs.
TheSlow Lorisis found in Eastern India and the Malay countries, where it is fairly common in the forests. The Bengali natives call itsharmindi billi("bashful cat"), from its slow, solemn, hesitating movements when in pursuit of insects. Of a slow loris kept by him, Sir William Jones, in the "Asiatic Researches," wrote: "At all times he seemed pleased at being stroked on the head and throat, and he frequently allowed me to touch his extremely sharp teeth. But his temper was always quick, and when he was unseasonably disturbed he expressed a little resentment, by an obscure murmur, like that of a squirrel.... When a grasshopper or any insect alighted within his reach, his eyes, as he fixed them on his prey, glowed with uncommon fire; and having drawn himself back to spring on his prey with greater force, he seized it with both his fore paws, and held it till he had devoured it. He never could have enough grasshoppers, and spent the whole night in prowling for them."
SLENDER LORIS.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.SLENDER LORIS.This extraordinary creature has the habits of a chameleon when seeking insects for food. The photograph is unique.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.SLENDER LORIS.This extraordinary creature has the habits of a chameleon when seeking insects for food. The photograph is unique.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
SLENDER LORIS.
This extraordinary creature has the habits of a chameleon when seeking insects for food. The photograph is unique.
TheSlender Loris, an equally curious creature, is only found in Southern India and Ceylon. Its food consists entirely of insects, which it captures by gradual, almost paralysed approach. It has been described as a "furry-coated chameleon." A group of slow lemurs, living in Western Africa, are known as Pottos. They are odd little quadrupeds, in which the "forefinger" never grows to be more than a stump. The tail is also either sharp or rudimentary. They are as slow as the lorises in their movements.
In the Malay islands a distant relative, even more curiously formed, is found in theTarsier. It has the huge eyes, pointed ears, and beautiful fur of the galagos, but the tail is long, thin, and tufted. The fingers are flattened out into disks, like a tree-frog's. These creatures hop from bough to bough in a frog-like manner in search of insects. They are not so large as a good-sized rat. Our photograph does not give an adequate idea of the size of the eyes.
SLOW LORIS.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.SLOW LORIS.Another of the slow-moving loris group. These animals are not shown to the general public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially warmed room.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.SLOW LORIS.Another of the slow-moving loris group. These animals are not shown to the general public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially warmed room.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.][North Finchley.
SLOW LORIS.
Another of the slow-moving loris group. These animals are not shown to the general public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially warmed room.
The Aye-aye.
Last, and most remarkable of all these weird lemuroids, is theAye-aye. It is placed in a group by itself, and has teeth like those of the Rodents, a large bushy tail, and most extraordinarily long, slender fingers, which it probably uses for picking caterpillars and grubs out of rotten wood. It is nearly as large as an Arctic fox, but its habits are those of a lemur. In Madagascar it haunts the bamboo forests, feeding on the juice of sugar-cane, grubs, and insects. The fingers of its hands are of different sizes and lengths, though all are abnormally long and slender. The second finger seems to have "wasted," but is said to be of the utmost value to its owner in extracting grubs and insects from the burrows in which they dwell, or the crannies in which they may have taken refuge. Very seldom is this animal seen alive in captivity. Although commonly called Aye-aye in this country, it is doubtful if this is really its native name. The aye-aye was long a puzzle to naturalists, but is now classed as a lemuroid.
TARSIER.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.TARSIER.These little animals hop about in the trees like frogs. They are nocturnal, and seldom seen.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.TARSIER.These little animals hop about in the trees like frogs. They are nocturnal, and seldom seen.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
TARSIER.
These little animals hop about in the trees like frogs. They are nocturnal, and seldom seen.
Theliving races of animals have thus far been reviewed along the completed list of the first great order—the Primates. Even in that circumscribed group how great is the tendency to depart from the main type, and how wonderful the adaptation to meet the various needs of the creatures' environment! The skeletons, the frames on which these various beings are built up, remain the same in character; but the differences of proportion in the limbs, of the muscles with which they are equipped, and of the weight of the bodies to be moved are astonishing. Compare, for instance, the head of the male Gorilla, with its great ridges of bone, to which are attached the muscles which enable it to devour hard tropical fruits and bite off young saplings and bamboos, with the rounded and delicate head of the Insect-eating Monkeys of South Africa; or set side by side the hand of the Chimpanzee with that of the Aye-aye, with its delicate, slender fingers, like those of a skeleton hand. What could be more diverse than the movements of these creatures, whose structure is nevertheless so much alike? Some of the lemuroids are as active as squirrels, flying lightly from branch to branch; in others, as the Slow Lorises, the power of rapid movement has disappeared, and been replaced by a creeping gait which cannot be accelerated. Already, in a single order, we see the rich diversity of nature, and its steady tendency to make all existing things serviceable by adapting other parts of creation to their use or enjoyment.
HEAD OF AYE-AYE.Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., N. Finchley.HEAD OF AYE-AYE.The aye-aye lives mainly in the wild sugar-cane groves, and feeds on insects and grubs, as well as on the Juice of the sugar-cane.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., N. Finchley.HEAD OF AYE-AYE.The aye-aye lives mainly in the wild sugar-cane groves, and feeds on insects and grubs, as well as on the Juice of the sugar-cane.
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., N. Finchley.
HEAD OF AYE-AYE.
The aye-aye lives mainly in the wild sugar-cane groves, and feeds on insects and grubs, as well as on the Juice of the sugar-cane.
AFRICAN LION AND LIONESS.Photo by Charles Knight, Aldershot.AFRICAN LION AND LIONESS.These animals are so numerous in the new British Protectorate of East Africa that they are exempted from protection.
Photo by Charles Knight, Aldershot.AFRICAN LION AND LIONESS.These animals are so numerous in the new British Protectorate of East Africa that they are exempted from protection.
Photo by Charles Knight, Aldershot.
AFRICAN LION AND LIONESS.
These animals are so numerous in the new British Protectorate of East Africa that they are exempted from protection.
AFRICAN LION.Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.AFRICAN LION.This lion is almost in the attitude of those sculptured by Sir Edwin Landseer for the Nelson Monument, but the feet are turned in, and not lying flat.
Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.AFRICAN LION.This lion is almost in the attitude of those sculptured by Sir Edwin Landseer for the Nelson Monument, but the feet are turned in, and not lying flat.
Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.
AFRICAN LION.
This lion is almost in the attitude of those sculptured by Sir Edwin Landseer for the Nelson Monument, but the feet are turned in, and not lying flat.
THE CAT TRIBE.
Though only one species is entirely domesticated, and none of the Cats have flesh edible by man, except perhaps the puma, no group of animals has attracted more interest than this. Containing more than forty species, ranging in size from the ox-devouring tiger or lion to the small wild cats, they are so alike in habit and structure that no one could possibly mistake the type or go far wrong in guessing at the habits of any one of them. They are all flesh-eaters and destroyers of living animals. All have rounded heads, and an extraordinary equipment of teeth and of claws, and of muscles to use them. The blow of the forearm of a lion or tiger is inconceivably powerful, in proportion to its size. A stroke from a tiger's paw has been known to strike off a native's arm from the shoulder and leave it hanging by a piece of skin, and a similar blow from a lion to crush the skull of an ox. The true cats are known by the power to draw back, or "retract," their claws into sheaths of horn, rendering their footsteps noiseless, and keeping these weapons always sharp. The hunting-leopard has only a partial capacity for doing this.
AN UNWILLING PUPIL.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.AN UNWILLING PUPIL.This is one of Herr Hagenbeck s famous performing tigers.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.AN UNWILLING PUPIL.This is one of Herr Hagenbeck s famous performing tigers.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.
AN UNWILLING PUPIL.
This is one of Herr Hagenbeck s famous performing tigers.
The characteristics of the Cats and their allies are too well known to need description. We will therefore only mention the chief types of the group, and proceed to give, in the fullest detail which space allows, authentic anecdotes of their life and habits. The tribe includes Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Pumas, Jaguars, a large number of so-called Tiger-cats (spotted and striped), Wild Cats, Domestic Cats, and Lynxes. The Hunting-leopard, or Cheeta, stands in a sub-group by itself, as does the Fossa, the only large carnivore of Madagascar.This closes the list of the most cat-like animals. The next links in the chain are formed by the Civets and Genets, creatures with more or less retractile claws, and long, bushy tails; the still less cat-like Binturong, a creature with a prehensile tail; and the Mongooses and Ichneumons, more and more nearly resembling the weasel tribe.
THE LION.
Recent intrusions for railways, sport, discovery, and war into Central and East Africa have opened up new lion countries, and confirmed, in the most striking manner, the stories of the power, the prowess, and the dreadful destructiveness to man and beast of this king of the Carnivora. At present it is found in Persia, on the same rivers where Nimrod and the Assyrian kings made its pursuit their royal sport; in Gujerat, where it is nearly extinct, though in General Price's work on Indian game written before the middle of the last century it is stated that a cavalry officer killed eighty lions in three years; and in Africa, from Algeria to the Bechuana country. It is especially common in Somaliland, where the modern lion-hunter mainly seeks his sport. On the Uganda Railway, from Mombasa to Lake Victoria, lions are very numerous and dangerous. In Rhodesia and the Northern Transvaal they have killed hunters, railway officials, and even our soldiers near Komati Poort. It has been found that whole tracts of country are still often deserted by their inhabitants from fear of lions, and that the accounts of their ravages contained in the Old Testament, telling how Samaria was almost deserted a second time from this cause, might be paralleled to-day.
LIONESS AROUSED.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.LIONESS AROUSED.The pose of the animal here shows attention, but not anger or fear.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.LIONESS AROUSED.The pose of the animal here shows attention, but not anger or fear.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
LIONESS AROUSED.
The pose of the animal here shows attention, but not anger or fear.
The African Lion.
BY F. C. SELOUS.
When, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, Europeans first settled at the Cape of Good Hope, the lion's roar was probably to be heard almost nightly on the slopes of Table Mountain, since a quaint entry in the Diary of Van Riebeck, the first Dutch governor of the Cape, runs thus: "This night the lions roared as if they would take the fort by storm"—the said fort being situated on the site of the city now known as Cape Town.
At that date there can be little doubt that, excepting in the waterless deserts and the dense equatorial forests, lions roamed over the whole of the vast continent of Africa from Cape Agulhas to the very shore of the Mediterranean Sea; nor was their range very seriously curtailed until the spread of European settlements in North and South Africa, and the acquisition of firearms by the aboriginal inhabitants of many parts of the country, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, steadily denuded large areas of all wild game.
ALGERIAN LIONESS.Photo by M. Geiser][Algiers.ALGERIAN LIONESS.This lioness, sitting under an olive-tree, was actually photographed in the Soudan by the intrepid M. Geiser.
Photo by M. Geiser][Algiers.ALGERIAN LIONESS.This lioness, sitting under an olive-tree, was actually photographed in the Soudan by the intrepid M. Geiser.
Photo by M. Geiser][Algiers.
ALGERIAN LIONESS.
This lioness, sitting under an olive-tree, was actually photographed in the Soudan by the intrepid M. Geiser.
As the game vanished, the lions disappeared too; for although at first they preyed to a large extent on the domestic flocks and herds which gradually replaced the wild denizens of the once-uninhabited plains, this practice brought them into conflict with the white colonists or native herdsmen armed with weapons of precision, before whom they rapidly succumbed.
A FOSTER-MOTHER.A FOSTER-MOTHER.This is a remarkable photograph of a setter suckling three lion cubs which had lost their mother. It is reproduced here by permission of the Editor of the Irish Field.
A FOSTER-MOTHER.This is a remarkable photograph of a setter suckling three lion cubs which had lost their mother. It is reproduced here by permission of the Editor of the Irish Field.
A FOSTER-MOTHER.
This is a remarkable photograph of a setter suckling three lion cubs which had lost their mother. It is reproduced here by permission of the Editor of the Irish Field.
A PERFORMING LION.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A PERFORMING LION.Lions, it would seem, are capable of being taught almost anything, even tricycle-riding.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A PERFORMING LION.Lions, it would seem, are capable of being taught almost anything, even tricycle-riding.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
A PERFORMING LION.
Lions, it would seem, are capable of being taught almost anything, even tricycle-riding.
To-day lions are still to be found wherever game exists in any quantity, and their numbers will be in proportion to those of the wild animals on which they prey.
The indefinite increase of lions must be checked by some unknown law of nature, otherwise they would have become so numerous in the sparsely inhabited or altogether uninhabited parts of Africa, that they would first have exterminated all the game on which they had been wont to prey, and would then have had to starve or to have eaten one another. But such a state of things has never been known to occur; and whenever Europeans have entered a previously unexplored and uninhabited tract of country in Africa, and have found it teeming with buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes, they have always found lions in such districts very plentiful indeed, but never in such numbers as to seriously diminish the abundance of the game upon which they depended for food.
LIONESS AND CUB.Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.LIONESS AND CUB.Lion cubs thrive both in Dublin and Amsterdam, but not so well at the London Zoo.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.LIONESS AND CUB.Lion cubs thrive both in Dublin and Amsterdam, but not so well at the London Zoo.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.
LIONESS AND CUB.
Lion cubs thrive both in Dublin and Amsterdam, but not so well at the London Zoo.
It is easy to understand that the increase of a herd of herbivorous animals would be regulated by the amount of the food-supply available, as well as constantly checked by the attacks of the large carnivora, such as lions, leopards, cheetas, hyænas, and wild dogs; but I have never been able to comprehend what has kept within bounds the inordinate increase of lions and other carnivorous animals in countries where for ages past they have had an abundant food-supply, andat the same time, having been almost entirely unmolested by human beings, have had no enemies. Perhaps such a state of things does not exist at the present day, but there are many parts of Africa where such conditions have existed from time immemorial up to within quite recent years.
Since lions were once to be found over the greater portion of the vast continent of Africa, it is self-evident that these animals are able to accommodate themselves to great variations of climate and surroundings; and I myself have met with them, close to the sea, in the hot and sultry coastlands of South-east Africa; on the high plateau of Mashonaland, where at an altitude of 6,000 feet above sea-level the winter nights are cold and frosty; amongst the stony hills to the east of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi; and in the swamps of the Chobi. In the great reed-beds of the latter river a certain number of lions appeared to live constantly, preying on buffaloes and lechwe antelopes. I often heard them roaring at nights in these swamps, and I once saw two big male lions wading slowly across an open space between two beds of reeds in water nearly a foot in depth.
A YOUNG LIONESS.Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.A YOUNG LIONESS.The sole of the hind foot shows the soft pads on which the Cats noiselessly approach their prey.
Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.A YOUNG LIONESS.The sole of the hind foot shows the soft pads on which the Cats noiselessly approach their prey.
Photo by Fratelli Alinari][Florence.
A YOUNG LIONESS.
The sole of the hind foot shows the soft pads on which the Cats noiselessly approach their prey.
Although there are great individual differences in lions as regards size, general colour of coat, and more particularly in the length, colour, and profuseness of the mane with which the males are adorned, yet as these differences occur in every part of Africa where lions are met with, and since constant varieties with one fixed type of mane living by themselves and not interbreeding with other varieties do not exist anywhere, modern zoologists are, I think, now agreed that there is only one species of lion, since in any large series of wild lion skins, made in any particular district of Africa or Asia, every gradation will be found between the finest-maned specimens and those which are destitute of any mane at all. Several local races have, however, been recently described by German writers.
In the hot and steamy coastlands of tropical Africa lions usually have short manes, and never, I believe, attain the long silky black manes sometimes met with on the high plateaux of the interior. However, there is, I believe, no part of Africa where all or even the majorityof male lions carry heavy manes, the long hair of which does not as a rule cover more than the neck and chest, with a tag of varying length and thickness extending from the back of the neck to between the shoulder-blades. Lions with very full black manes, covering the whole shoulders, are rare anywhere, but more likely to be encountered on the high plateaux, where the winter nights are extremely cold, than anywhere else. In such cases, in addition to the tufts of hair always found on the elbows and in the armpits of lions with fair-sized manes, there will probably be large tufts of hair in each flank just where the thighs join the belly; but I have never yet seen the skin of a lion shot within the last thirty years with the whole belly covered with long, thick hair, as may constantly be observed in lions kept in captivity in the menageries of Europe. There is, however, some evidence to show that, when lions existed on the high plains of the Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony, where the winter nights are much colder than in the countries farther north where lions may still be encountered, certain individuals of the species developed a growth of long hair all over the belly, as well as an extraordinary luxuriance of mane on the neck and shoulders.
A HAPPY FAMILY.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A HAPPY FAMILY.Here is a group of animals and their keeper from Herr Hagenbeck's Thierpark. The animal in front is a cross between a lion and a tigress; he lives on quite friendly terms with his keeper, and also with lions, tigers, and leopards, as seen in the photograph.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A HAPPY FAMILY.Here is a group of animals and their keeper from Herr Hagenbeck's Thierpark. The animal in front is a cross between a lion and a tigress; he lives on quite friendly terms with his keeper, and also with lions, tigers, and leopards, as seen in the photograph.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
A HAPPY FAMILY.
Here is a group of animals and their keeper from Herr Hagenbeck's Thierpark. The animal in front is a cross between a lion and a tigress; he lives on quite friendly terms with his keeper, and also with lions, tigers, and leopards, as seen in the photograph.
A CROSS BETWEEN LION AND TIGRESS.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A CROSS BETWEEN LION AND TIGRESS.This unique photograph shows a remarkable hybrid and its proud parents. The father (on the right) is a lion, and the mother (on the left) a tigress. The offspring (in the centre) is a fine, large male, now four years old; it is bigger than an average-sized lion or tiger.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.A CROSS BETWEEN LION AND TIGRESS.This unique photograph shows a remarkable hybrid and its proud parents. The father (on the right) is a lion, and the mother (on the left) a tigress. The offspring (in the centre) is a fine, large male, now four years old; it is bigger than an average-sized lion or tiger.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
A CROSS BETWEEN LION AND TIGRESS.
This unique photograph shows a remarkable hybrid and its proud parents. The father (on the right) is a lion, and the mother (on the left) a tigress. The offspring (in the centre) is a fine, large male, now four years old; it is bigger than an average-sized lion or tiger.
From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that wild lions, having as a rule much less luxuriant manes than many examples of their kind to be seen in European menageries, are ordinarily not so majestic and dignified in appearance as many of their caged relatives. On the other hand, the wild lion is a much more alert and active animal than a menagerie specimen, and when in good condition is far better built and more powerful-looking, being free from all appearance of lankiness and weakness in the legs, and having strong, well-formed hindquarters. The eyes of the menagerie lion, too, look brown and usually sleepy, whilst those of the wild animal are yellow, and extraordinarily luminous even after death. When wounded and standing at bay, with head held low between his shoulders, growling hoarsely, and with twitching tail, even if he is not near enough to be observed very closely, a lion looks a very savage and dangerous animal; but should he be wounded in such a way as to admit of a near approach—perhaps by a shot that has paralysed his hindquarters—his flaming eyes will seem to throw out sparks of living fire.
A HUNGRY LION.Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.A HUNGRY LION.Notice that the mane, as in most wild lions, is very scanty.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.A HUNGRY LION.Notice that the mane, as in most wild lions, is very scanty.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz][Berlin.
A HUNGRY LION.
Notice that the mane, as in most wild lions, is very scanty.
LIONESS AND TIGER.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.LIONESS AND TIGER.The straightness of the lioness's tail is here shown. It is not in the least like that of the tiger or of the cat.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.LIONESS AND TIGER.The straightness of the lioness's tail is here shown. It is not in the least like that of the tiger or of the cat.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
LIONESS AND TIGER.
The straightness of the lioness's tail is here shown. It is not in the least like that of the tiger or of the cat.
Speaking generally, there is little or no danger in meeting a lion or lions in the daytime. Even in parts of the country where firearms are unknown, and where the natives seldom or never interfere with them, these animals seem to have an instinctive fear of man, and even when encountered at the carcase of an animal freshly killed, and at a time when they may be supposed to be hungry, they will almost invariably retreat before the unwelcome presence, sometimes slowly and sulkily, but in districts where much hunting with firearms has been going on at a very rapid pace. However, I have known of two cases of Europeans mounted on horseback having been attacked by lions in broad daylight, and Dr. Livingstone mentions a third. In one of the instances which came within my own knowledge, a lion sprang at a Boer hunter as he was riding slowly along, carrying an elephant-gun in his right hand and followed by a string of natives on foot. The lion attacked from the left side, and with its right paw seized my friend from behind by the right side of his face and neck, inflicting deep gashes with its sharp claws, one of which cut right through his cheek and tore out one of his teeth. My friend was pulled from his horse, but, clutching the loosely girthed saddle tightly with his knees, it twisted round under the horse's belly before he fell to the ground. Instead of following up its success, the lion, probably scared by the shouting of the Kaffirs, trotted away for a short distance, and then turned and stood looking at the dismounted hunter, who, never having lost his presence of mind, immediately shot it dead with his heavy old muzzle-loading elephant-gun. Besides these three instances of Europeans having been attacked in the daytime by lions, I have known of a certain number of natives having been killed in broad daylight. Such incidents are, however, by no means every-day occurrences, and, speaking generally, it may be said that the risk of molestation by lions in Africa during daylight is very small. It is by night that lions roam abroad with stealthy step in search of prey; and at such times they are often, when hungry, incredibly bold and daring. I have known them upon several occasions to enter a hunter's camp, and, regardless of fires, to seize oxen and horses and human beings.
During the year following the first occupation of Mashonaland in 1890, a great deal of damage was done by lions, which could not resist the attractions of the settlers' live stock. For the first few months I kept as accurate an account as I could of the number of horses,donkeys, oxen, sheep, goats, and pigs which were killed by lions, and it soon mounted up to over 200 head. During the same time several white men were also mauled by lions, and one unfortunate man named Teale was dragged from beneath the cart, where he was sleeping by the side of a native driver, and at once killed and eaten. Several of the horses were killed inside rough shelters serving as stables. In the following year (1891) over 100 pigs were killed in one night by a single lioness. These pigs were in a series of pens, separated one from another, but all under one low thatched roof. The lioness forced her way in between two poles, and apparently was unable, after having satisfied her hunger, to find her way out again, and, becoming angry and frightened, wandered backwards and forwards through the pens, killing almost all the pigs, each one with a bite at the back of the head or neck. This lioness, which had only eaten portions of two young pigs, made her escape before daylight, but was killed with a set gun the next night by the owner of the pigs.