HEAD OF MALE WART-HOG.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.HEAD OF MALE WART-HOG.Profile showing the large conical warty growths on the side of the face so characteristic of these animals.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.HEAD OF MALE WART-HOG.Profile showing the large conical warty growths on the side of the face so characteristic of these animals.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
HEAD OF MALE WART-HOG.
Profile showing the large conical warty growths on the side of the face so characteristic of these animals.
The Babirusa.
Quitting the true pigs, we come now to perhaps the very strangest and most singular of all the great tribe of swine. This is the Babirusa, that curious and grotesque creature found in the island of Celebes, in the Malay Archipelago. The name Babirusa signifies "pig-deer." It is of course a misnomer, and the animal has no kinship whatever with the cervine race. The babirusa is a wild swine, having a dark slate-grey skin, very sparsely covered with hair along the ridge of the spine. This skin is very extraordinarily wrinkled. The ears are much smaller than is the case with other members of the swine group, while the tail is short, straight, and lacks any semblance of tuft. The females have small tusks. In the boars the tusks are most singularly and abnormally developed. From the upper jaw, instead of curving from the side of the lips, the tusks grow from the centre of the muzzle, penetrate right through the skin, and curve backwards often till they touch the forehead. The lower tusks have also a strong curve, but are not so long as those of the upper jaw. Although thus superabundantly provided with tushes, the babirusa is, as regards the rest of its teeth, less well off, having only thirty-four, as against the forty-four of the European wild boar. In their habits these singular pigs much resemble other wild swine, going in herds and frequenting forest, jungle, and the banks of rivers. They are excellent swimmers. The young are, unlike other wild swine in the infant state, unstriped. These animals are often found domesticated about the dwellings of native chiefs in Celebes. The weight of a good male is as much as 128 lbs.; height at shoulder, 27½ inches. The longest tusk recorded measures 17 inchesover the curve. These animals are driven into nets and speared by the natives of Celebes, and afford excellent sport, the boars especially charging viciously at their assailants.
The Wart-hogs.
If the babirusa of the Malay Archipelago is a sufficiently bizarre-looking creature, the wart-hog of Africa yields to none of the wild pigs in sheer, downright hideousness of aspect.The Wart-hog of South Africa, theVlakte-vark(Pig of the Plains) of the Boers, has long been familiar to hunters and naturalists. Standing some 30 inches in height, this wild swine is distinguished by the disproportionate size of the head, extreme length, breadth, and flatness of the front of the face and muzzle, smallish ears, huge tusks, and the strange wart-like protuberances from which it takes its name. Three of these wen-like growths are found on each side of the face. The tusks of the upper jaw, unlike the teeth of the true pigs, are much larger than those protruding from the lower jaw. The lower tusks seldom exceed 6 inches in length; those of the upper jaw occasionally reach as much as 20 inches over the curve. A pair from North-east Africa (Annesley Bay, on the Abyssinian littoral) measure respectively 27 and 26 inches—truly gigantic trophies. The skin of this wild hog is nearly naked, except upon the neck and back, where a long, coarse main of dark bristly hair is to be observed. Wart-hogs, as their Dutch name implies, in the days when game was plentiful, were often found in open country, on the broad grass-plains and karroos. At the present day they are less often seen in the open. They run in small family parties, usually two or three sows and their litters. The old boars, throughout a great part of the year, prefer a more solitary existence. These animals, when pursued, usually betake themselves to an open earth, not of their own making, and, slewing round sharply just as they enter, make their way in hind end first. They afford no great sport to the hunter, and are usually secured with a rifle-bullet. The flesh is fairly good eating, especially that of a young and tender specimen. Speaking generally, wart-hogs are nothing like such fierce and determined opponents as the wild boars of Europe and India, or even the bush-pig. They will, however, charge occasionally, and have been known to attack and rip up a horse. A northern species—Ælian's Wart-hog—is found in Abyssinia, Somaliland, and other parts of East Africa, where—especially in Abyssinia—it roams the mountains and their vicinity, occasionally to a height of 9,000 or 10,000 feet. There is little difference between this and the southern form. Wart-hogs produce usually three or four young, and the sow makes her litter in a disused burrow. Unlike those of the majority of wild swine, the young of the wart-hog are uniformly coloured, having no white stripes or spots.
COLLARED PECCARY.Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.COLLARED PECCARY.Peccaries are the New World representatives of the Swine, and are characterised by a large gland on the back.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.COLLARED PECCARY.Peccaries are the New World representatives of the Swine, and are characterised by a large gland on the back.
Photo by W. P. Dando][Regent's Park.
COLLARED PECCARY.
Peccaries are the New World representatives of the Swine, and are characterised by a large gland on the back.
The Peccaries.
Peculiar to the American Continent, thePeccariesdiffer considerably from the wild swine of the Old World. They are of small size; the dentition is not the same, the stomach is more complicated in structure, and the hind feet have three instead of four toes. In general appearance peccaries are not unlike small dark-coloured pig, well covered with bristles, and having, as well as a prominent mane, a deep fringe of hair beneath the throat. They are essentially forest-loving animals, roaming over large tracts of country and making considerable migrations in search of food. Two species have been distinctly identified by naturalists—theCollared Peccary, and theWhite-lipped Peccary. Of these, the former species is found from Texas, in North America, as far south as the Rio Negro, in Patagonia. The habitat of the white-lipped peccary is more circumscribed, and the animal is seldom found except in that part of South and Central America lying between British Honduras and Paraguay. No members of the Pig Family are fiercer or more tenacious of their sanctuaries than the white-lipped peccary, which roams the dense forests of Brazil and Paraguay in large herds. A human being, attacked and surrounded by a herd of these savage little creatures, would indeed stand but a poor chance of his life, and many a hunter and traveller has been compelled to seek refuge in a tree and sustain some hours of siege. Of the two species, the white-lipped peccary is somewhat the larger, standing from 15 to 17½ inches in height. The collared peccary averages from 13½ to 15½ inches. The flesh of these wild swine is not in much repute, and unless the back-gland is at once cut out a freshly killed specimen will become quickly spoiled as a human food-supply. Young peccaries appear to be easily tamed, fierce as is their nature in the wild state. In contrast with the abundant litters of other pigs, wild and domesticated, only one offspring is ordinarily produced at birth. In fighting, the peccary does not rip like the wild boar, but inflicts savage and severe bites.
"Untrained dogs," says President Roosevelt, "even those of a large size, will speedily be killed by a single peccary, and if they venture to attack a herd will be literally torn into shreds. A big trained dog, however, can, single-handed, kill a peccary, and I have known the feat performed several times."
Azara, the eminent Spanish naturalist of the end of the eighteenth century, had considerable experience of the peccaries of Central and Southern America, where the Indians are much addicted to taming wild animals, and keep both the peccary and the tapir in a state of semi-domestication. The peccary he found to be domesticated more easily than might be expected. Though so fierce in its wild state, it soon becomes troublesome from its familiarity.
Mr. Schomburgk, the explorer of Central America, whose travels were so constantly quoted during the Venezuelan arbitration, saw much of the white-lipped species in the forests. He found the animals in large troops under the leadership of an old boar. When attacked, they were ready to surround man, dog, or jaguar; and if there were no means of escape, the enemy was certain to be cut to pieces. He himself had a narrow escape from an infuriated herd, the leader of which he shot in the act of rushing at him. As the herd approached the sound was like that of a whirlwind through the bushes.
A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY.Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY.In this specimen the white collar from which the species takes its name is very clearly displayed.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY.In this specimen the white collar from which the species takes its name is very clearly displayed.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.][Parson's Green.
A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY.
In this specimen the white collar from which the species takes its name is very clearly displayed.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
BY F. C. SELOUS.
Two species of the Hippopotamus Family exist on the earth to-day, both of which are inhabitants of Africa, and are not found in any other country; but the remains of many extinct forms of this genus which have been discovered in various parts of Europe and Asia show that in Pleistocene and Pliocene times these strange and uncouth animals must have been widely distributed throughout the greater part of the Old World. The fossil remains of the large form of hippopotamus which once frequented the lakes and rivers of England and Western Europe cannot be distinguished from the bones of the common African species of to-day, which latter is possibly the only animal in the world which has undergone no change in form or structure since the prehistoric savages of the Thames Valley threw stone-headed spears at their enemies.
TheCommon Hippopotamus, though it has long been banished from the Lower Nile, and has more recently been practically exterminated in the British colonies south of the Limpopo, was once an inhabitant of every lake and river throughout the entire African Continent from the delta of the Nile to the neighbourhood of Cape Town. Now it is not found below Khartum, on the Nile; but in Southern Africa a few hippopotamuses are said still to exist in the lower reaches of the Orange River. When Van Riebeck first landed at the Cape, in 1652, he found some of these animals in the swamp now occupied by Church Square, in the centre of Cape Town, and the last in the district was only killed in the Berg River, about seventy miles north of that city, as recently as 1874. This animal, which had been protected for some years, was at last shot, as it had become very savage, and was in the habit of attacking any one who approached it. In my own experience I have met with the hippopotamus in all the large rivers of Africa where I have travelled, such as the Zambesi, Kafukwe, Chobi, Sabi, Limpopo, and Usutu, and also in most of the many large streams which take their rise on the plateau of Matabililand and Mashonaland, and flow north, south, and east into the Zambesi, the Limpopo, or the Sabi. I have also seen them in the sea, at the mouth of the Quillimani River, and have heard from natives that they will travel by sea from the mouth of one river to another.
A THREE-YEAR-OLD HIPPOPOTAMUS.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.A THREE-YEAR-OLD HIPPOPOTAMUS.In this specimen the great lower tusks are not yet developed.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.A THREE-YEAR-OLD HIPPOPOTAMUS.In this specimen the great lower tusks are not yet developed.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg.
A THREE-YEAR-OLD HIPPOPOTAMUS.
In this specimen the great lower tusks are not yet developed.
Hippopotamuses live either in families of a few individuals or in herds that may number from twenty to thirty members. Old bulls are often met with alone, and cows when about to calve will sometimes leave their companions and live for a time in seclusion, returning, however, to the herd soon after the birth of their calves. Although, owing to the shortness of its legs, a hippopotamus bull does not stand very high at the shoulder—about 4 feet 8 inches being the average height—yet its body is of enormous bulk. A male which died some years ago in the Zoological Gardens of London measured 12 feet in length from the nose to the root of the tail, and weighed 4 tons; and these dimensions are probably often exceeded in a wild state.
HIPPOPOTAMUS DRINKING.Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.HIPPOPOTAMUS DRINKING.The enormous breadth of the muzzle, as well as the small nostrils, which can be closed at will, are clearly displayed in this posture.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.HIPPOPOTAMUS DRINKING.The enormous breadth of the muzzle, as well as the small nostrils, which can be closed at will, are clearly displayed in this posture.
Photo by J. W. McLellan][Highbury.
HIPPOPOTAMUS DRINKING.
The enormous breadth of the muzzle, as well as the small nostrils, which can be closed at will, are clearly displayed in this posture.
The huge mouth of the hippopotamus (seeColoured Plate), which the animal is fond of opening to its widest extent, is furnished with very large canine and incisor teeth, which are kept sharp by constantly grinding one against another, and thus enable their possessor to rapidly cut down great quantities of the coarse grass and reeds upon which these animals exclusively feed when living in uninhabited countries. When, however, their haunts are in the neighbourhood of native villages, they often commit great havoc in the corn-fields of the inhabitants, trampling down as much as they eat; and it was their fondness for sugar-cane which brought about the destruction of the last herd of hippopotamuses surviving in Natal.
The lower canine teeth or tusks of the hippopotamus grow to a great size, and in bulls may weigh from 4 lbs. to 7 lbs. each. They are curved in shape, and when extracted from the jaw form a complete half-circle, and have been known to measure upwards of 30 inches over the curve. In life, however, not more than a third of their length protrudes beyond the gums.
During the daytime hippopotamuses are seldom met with out of the water. They lie and doze all day long in the deep pools of the rivers they frequent, with only their eyes, ears, and nostrils above the surface, or else bask in the sun on the tail of a sandbank, looking like so many gigantic pigs with their bodies only partially submerged. Sometimes they will lie and sleep entirely out of water amongst reeds. I have seen them feeding in the reed-beds of the great swamps of the Chobi just at sundown, but as a rule, they do not leave the water until after dark. At night they often wander far afield, especially in the rainy season, in search of suitable food; and after having been fired at and frightened, I have known a herd of hippopotamuses to travel at least five-and-twenty miles along the course of a river during the ensuing night, in order to reach a larger and deeper pool than the one in which they had been molested.
HIPPOPOTAMUSES BATHING.Photo by Lord Delamere][Northwich.HIPPOPOTAMUSES BATHING.A hippopotamus stays under water for about 2½ minutes at a time, and then just shows part of its head above water while it draws a fresh breath.
Photo by Lord Delamere][Northwich.HIPPOPOTAMUSES BATHING.A hippopotamus stays under water for about 2½ minutes at a time, and then just shows part of its head above water while it draws a fresh breath.
Photo by Lord Delamere][Northwich.
HIPPOPOTAMUSES BATHING.
A hippopotamus stays under water for about 2½ minutes at a time, and then just shows part of its head above water while it draws a fresh breath.
Although the hippopotamus is thoroughly at home in the hottest parts of Africa, and appears to thrive in the tepid waters of all the rivers which flow through the malarious coast regions of the tropical portions of that continent, it is also found at a considerable altitude above the sea, and in quite small streams where the temperature of the water during the winter months cannot be many degrees above freezing-point. I have personally met with hippopotamuses in the Manyami River, not far from the present town of Salisbury, in Mashonaland. The country there has an altitude of about 5,000 feet above sea-level; and the water was so cold on the last occasion on which I came across the animals in question—July, 1887—that, if a basinful was left out during the night, ice quite an eighth of an inch in thickness would be formed over it before morning. There was, however, never any ice on the river itself. During the rainy season, when the grass and reeds are green and succulent, hippopotamuses become enormously fat, especially in the higher and colder portions of their range, and retain a good deal of their fat right through the driest season of the year. Old bulls are usually very lean; but I have seen cows the greater part of whose carcases, after the skin had been stripped off, was covered with a layer of fat from 1 inch to 2 inches in thickness. The meat of these animals is dark red in colour, and more like beef than pork. To my mind, that of a young animal is most excellent in flavour, and far preferable to that of a lean antelope. The fat, when prepared, is as good as the best lard, from which, indeed, it is hardly distinguishable. The skin of the hippopotamus is smooth and hairless, and in adult animals quite 1½ inch in thickness on the upper parts of the body.
A HIPPOPOTAMUS GAPING.Photo by J. W. McLellan, Highbury.A HIPPOPOTAMUS GAPING.The position of the animal displays the enormous capacity, and likewise the powerful lower tusks; the shortness of the limbs is also well exhibited.
Photo by J. W. McLellan, Highbury.A HIPPOPOTAMUS GAPING.The position of the animal displays the enormous capacity, and likewise the powerful lower tusks; the shortness of the limbs is also well exhibited.
Photo by J. W. McLellan, Highbury.
A HIPPOPOTAMUS GAPING.
The position of the animal displays the enormous capacity, and likewise the powerful lower tusks; the shortness of the limbs is also well exhibited.
BABY HIPPOPOTAMUS, AGED SIX MONTHS.By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.BABY HIPPOPOTAMUS, AGED SIX MONTHS.The flesh of a young hippopotamus is said to have an excellent flavour. Natives often follow shooting expeditions in order to secure some of its meat.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.BABY HIPPOPOTAMUS, AGED SIX MONTHS.The flesh of a young hippopotamus is said to have an excellent flavour. Natives often follow shooting expeditions in order to secure some of its meat.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck][Hamburg.
BABY HIPPOPOTAMUS, AGED SIX MONTHS.
The flesh of a young hippopotamus is said to have an excellent flavour. Natives often follow shooting expeditions in order to secure some of its meat.
Hippopotamuses are said to be capable of remaining under water for ten or twelve minutes. Should, however, a herd of these animals be watched but not fired at from the bank of a river in which they are passing the day, they will all sink below the surface of the water as soon as they become aware of and more or less alarmed by the presence of the intruder, but each member of the herd will come up to breathe at intervals of from one to two minutes. I have seen hippopotamuses so tame and unsuspicious of danger that they allowed me—the first human being probably with any kind of hat or clothes on him that they had ever seen—to take up a position within fifty yards of them on the edge of the deep rock-bound pool in which they were resting without showing any signs of alarm. They simply stared at me in an inquisitive sort of way, raising their heads higher out of the water, and constantly twitching their little rounded ears; and it was not until a number of natives came up and began to talk loudly that they took alarm, and, sinking out of sight, retreated to the farther end of the pool. I once took the length of time with my watch for more than an hour that a hippopotamus which I was trying to shoot remained under water. This animal, a cow with a new-born calf, had made an attack upon one of my canoes. It first came up under the canoe, tilting one end of it into the air and almost filling it with water. Then it made a rush at the half-swamped craft, and, laying its huge head over it, pressed it down under the water and sank it. There were four natives in the canoe at the time of the attack, all of whom swam safely to an island in the river—the Zambesi. After the accident—which caused me a good deal of loss and inconvenience—I tried to shoot this unprovoked aggressor, but unsuccessfully, as the river was too broad to allow me to get anything but a long shot at her. The shortest time she remained under water during the seventy minutes I was paying attentionto her was forty seconds, and the longest four minutes and twenty seconds—the usual time being from two to two and a half minutes. She always remained a long time under water after having been fired at.
The capsizing of canoes by these animals is quite a common occurrence on most African rivers, and the great pains the natives will take in certain districts to give these animals a wide berth seem to prove that they have good reason to dread them. Solitary bulls and cows with young calves are the most feared. Such animals will sometimes, I have been assured by the natives, tear out the side of a canoe with their teeth, and even crunch up some of its occupants whilst they are trying to save themselves by swimming. Sipopo, a chief of the Barotse tribe, who was deposed by his nephew Mona Wena in 1876, was said to have been attacked and killed by a hippopotamus whilst lying wounded amongst the reeds on the southern bank of the Zambesi, but I cannot vouch for the truth of the story.
Bull hippopotamuses must be rather quarrelsome, as I have shot several whose hides were deeply scored with wounds, no doubt inflicted by the tusks of their rivals. Once I killed a hippopotamus in a shallow lagoon amongst the swamps of the Chobi, whose enormously thick hide had been literally cut to pieces from head to tail. The entire body of this animal was covered with deep white scores, and we were unable to cut a single sjambok from its skin. We found, on examination, that this poor beast had been wounded by natives, and then in its distress most cruelly set upon by its fellows, and finally expelled from their society. It was in the last stage of emaciation, and a bullet through the brain must have been a welcome relief. On another occasion a hippopotamus bull, which I had wounded in the nose, became so furious that it dived down and attacked one of its fellows which had already been killed and was lying dead at the bottom of the pool. Seizing this latter animal by the hind leg, it brought it to the surface of the water with such a furious rush that not only half the body of the dead animal it had attacked was exposed, but the whole of its own head and shoulders came above the water. A bullet through the brain killed it instantly, and it sank to the bottom of the pool, still holding its companion's hind leg fast in its jaws.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. I.DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. I.This and the next two photographs probably constitute the most remarkable series of animal photographs ever seen. No 1 shows a hippopotamus about to be trapped, preparatory to having its teeth attended to.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. I.This and the next two photographs probably constitute the most remarkable series of animal photographs ever seen. No 1 shows a hippopotamus about to be trapped, preparatory to having its teeth attended to.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. I.
This and the next two photographs probably constitute the most remarkable series of animal photographs ever seen. No 1 shows a hippopotamus about to be trapped, preparatory to having its teeth attended to.
When a hippopotamus is killed in the water, the carcase sinks to the bottom, and in the cold water of the rivers of Mashonaland will not rise to the surface till six hours after death. In the warmer water of the Lower Zambesi a dead hippopotamus will come up in about half that time. When it rises, the carcase comes up like a submerged cork, with a rush as it were, and then settles down, only a small piece of the side showing above the surface. As decomposition sets in, it becomes more and more swollen, and shows higher and higher above the water. When the body of a dead hippopotamus has been taken by the wind or current to the wrong side of a river, I have often climbed on to it and paddled it with a stout stick right across the river to a spot nearer camp. A dead hippopotamus is not the easiest or thepleasantest thing to sit on in deep water with crocodiles about, especially in a wind, as it is very much like sitting on a floating barrel, and unless the balance is exactly maintained one is bound to roll off.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. II.DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. II.This shows the process of filing one of the lower tusks.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. II.This shows the process of filing one of the lower tusks.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. II.
This shows the process of filing one of the lower tusks.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. III.DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. III.Sawing off one of the lower tusks.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. III.Sawing off one of the lower tusks.
DENTAL OPERATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS—NO. III.
Sawing off one of the lower tusks.
Although it is often necessary for an African traveller to shoot one or more of them in order to obtain a supply of meat for his native followers, there is not much sport attached to the killing of these animals. The modern small-bore rifles, with their low trajectory and great penetration, render their destruction very easy when they are encountered in small lakes or narrow rivers, though in larger sheets of water, where they must be approached and shot from rickety canoes, it is by no means a simple matter to kill hippopotamuses, especially after they have grown shy and wary through persecution. As these animals are almost invariably killed by Europeans in the daytime, and are therefore encountered in the water, they are usually shot through the brain as they raise their heads above the surface to breathe. By the natives hippopotamuses are killed in various ways. They are sometimes attacked first with harpoons, to which long lines are attached, with a float at the end to mark the position of the wounded animal, and then followed up in canoes and finally speared to death. Sometimes they are caught in huge pitfalls, or killed by the fall of a spear-head fixed in a heavy block of wood, which is released from its position when a line, attached to the weight and then pegged across a hippopotamus's path a few inches above the ground, is suddenly pulled by the feet of one of these animals striking against it. A friend of mine once had a horse killed under him by a similar trap set for buffaloes. His horse's feet struck the line attached to the heavily weighted spear-head, and down it came, just missing his head and entering his horse's back close behind the saddle. Where the natives have guns—mostly old muzzle-loading weapons of large bore—they often shoot hippopotamuses at close quarters when they are feeding at night. The most destructive native method, however, of killing these monsters with which I am acquainted is one which used to be practised by the natives of Northern Mashonaland—namely, fencing ina herd of these animals and starving them to death. As there is a very rapid fall in the country through which all the rivers run to the Zambesi from the northern slope of Mashonaland, these streams consist of a series of deep, still pools (called "sea-cow holes" by the old hunters), from a hundred yards to more than a mile in length, connected with one another by shallow, swift-flowing water, often running in several small streams over the bed of the river. A herd of hippopotamuses having been found resting for the day in one of the smaller pools, all the natives in the district, men, women, and children, would collect and build strong fences across the shallows at each end. At night large fires would be kept blazing all round the pool and tom-toms beaten incessantly, in order to prevent the imprisoned animals from escaping. Day after day the fences would be strengthened, and platforms sometimes built to command naturally weak places, and from these points of vantage the poor animals were speared when in their desperation they tried to leave the pool. Gradually the whole herd would be speared or starved to death.
FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.Exhibits a very characteristic attitude of the animal.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.Exhibits a very characteristic attitude of the animal.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.
Exhibits a very characteristic attitude of the animal.
A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY—FATHER, MOTHER, AND YOUNG.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY—FATHER, MOTHER, AND YOUNG.Hippopotamuses are very sociable animals, and are often to be met with in large herds.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY—FATHER, MOTHER, AND YOUNG.Hippopotamuses are very sociable animals, and are often to be met with in large herds.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY—FATHER, MOTHER, AND YOUNG.
Hippopotamuses are very sociable animals, and are often to be met with in large herds.
Once, in August, 1880, I came upon a native tribe engaged in starving to death a herd of hippopotamuses in a pool of the Umniati River, in Northern Mashonaland. When I came on the scene, there were ten hippopotamuses still alive in the pool. Eight of these appeared to be standing on a sandbank in the middle of the river, as more than half their bodies were above the water. They were all huddled up together, their heads resting on each other's bodies. Two others were swimming about, each with a heavily shafted assegai sticking in its back. Besides these ten still living hippopotamuses two dead ones were being cut up on the side of the pool, and many more must already have beenkilled, as all round the pool festoons of meat were hanging on poles to dry, and a large number of natives had been living for some time on nothing but hippopotamus-meat. Altogether I imagine that a herd of at least twenty animals must have been destroyed. Much as one must regret such a wholesale slaughter, it must be remembered that this great killing was the work of hungry savages, who at any rate utilised every scrap of the meat thus obtained, and much of the skin as well, for food; and such an incident is far less reprehensible—indeed, stands on quite a different plane as regards moral guilt—to the wanton destruction of a large number of hippopotamuses in the Umzingwani River, near Bulawayo, within a few months of the conquest of Matabililand by the Chartered Company's forces in 1893. These animals had been protected for many years by Lo Bengula and his father Umziligazi before him; but no sooner were the Matabili conquered and their country thrown open to white men than certain unscrupulous persons destroyed all but a very few of these half-tame animals, for the sake of the few paltry pieces of money their hides were worth!
HIPPOPOTAMUS.Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.HIPPOPOTAMUS.The skin of the hippopotamus is often as much as an inch and a half in thickness on the upper parts of the body.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.HIPPOPOTAMUS.The skin of the hippopotamus is often as much as an inch and a half in thickness on the upper parts of the body.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.][Aberdeen.
HIPPOPOTAMUS.
The skin of the hippopotamus is often as much as an inch and a half in thickness on the upper parts of the body.
Gradually, as the world grows older, more civilised, and, to my thinking, less and less interesting, the range of the hippopotamus, like that of all other large animals, must become more and more circumscribed; but now that all Africa has been parcelled out amongst the white races of Western Europe, if the indiscriminate killing of hippopotamuses by either white men or natives can be controlled, and the constant and cruel custom of firing at the heads of these animals from the decks of river-steamers all over Africa be put a stop to, I believe that this most interesting mammal, owing to the nature of its habitat, and the vast extent of the rivers, swamps, and lakes in which it still exists in considerable numbers, will long outlive all other pachydermatous animals. Hideous, uncouth, and unnecessary as the hippopotamusmay seem when viewed from behind the bars of its den in a zoological garden, it is nevertheless true that, when these animals have been banished from an African river by the progress of civilisation, that river has lost one of its highest charms and greatest ornaments.
ThePygmyorLiberian Hippopotamusis confined to Upper Guinea, and, compared with its only existing relative, is a very small animal, not standing more than 2 feet 6 inches in height, and measuring less than 6 feet in length. In weight a full-grown specimen will scale about 400 lbs. But little is known of the habits of this rare animal, specimens of which, I believe, have never been obtained, except by the German naturalists Herrn Büttikofer and Jentink. When alive, the colour of the skin of the pygmy hippopotamus is said to be of a greenish black, changing on the under-parts to yellowish green. The surface of the skin is very shiny. This species, unlike its giant relative, does not congregate in herds, nor pass its days in rivers or lakes, but lives in pairs in marshes or shady forests. It sleeps during the day, and at night wanders over a great extent of country, eating grass, wild fruits, and the young shoots of trees. Its flesh is said to be very succulent and much esteemed by the natives.
MALE AND FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.MALE AND FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.A hippopotamus is almost inseparable from the water; it never goes farther away than possible from a river or lake.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.MALE AND FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.A hippopotamus is almost inseparable from the water; it never goes farther away than possible from a river or lake.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
MALE AND FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES.
A hippopotamus is almost inseparable from the water; it never goes farther away than possible from a river or lake.
A hippopotamus, apparently of the same species as that now found in Africa, formerly inhabited the Thames Valley. Great quantities of fossil remains of another species are also found in the island of Sicily. The bones found in England are mainly in the river gravel and brick earth of the south and midland districts of England. This seems to show that at the time when the animal existed our rivers must have been open all the year, and not ice-bound, for it is certain that no hippopotamus could live in a river which froze in winter. Yet among the remains of these animals are also found those of quite arctic species like the Musk-ox and the Reindeer, together with those of the Saiga Antelope, an inhabitant of the cold plateau of Tibet. The problem is: How could these creatures, one a dweller in warm rivers and the others inhabitants of cold arctic or sub-arctic regions, have existed together, apparently on the same area of ground? The answer, which does not seem to have occurred to naturalists who have discussed the question, seems to be plain enough. Any one who knows the conditions of the great rift valleys of Central Africa has the key to the solution of the puzzle. There was probably a very great difference in the vertical plane. Deep in the rift was probably a warm river, while above it may have been mountains from 10,000 to 20,000 feet high, with snow on the summits and glaciers in their valleys. On these cold and arctic heights the reindeer and the musk-ox would find congenial homes. Thousands of feet below, in the hot and narrow valley, the hippopotamus would revel in a warm and steamy climate. This is what actually occurs in the rift valleys of Central Africa, where the hippopotamus swims in rivers that are at no great distance from snow-covered and ice-capped mountains.
THE DUGONG, MANATEES, WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS.
BY F. G. AFLALO, F.Z.S.
The Dugong and Manatees.
These curious creatures, which seem to have been the basis of much of the old mermaid legend, have puzzled many eminent naturalists. Before they were placed in an order by themselves, Linnæus had classed them with the Walrus, Cuvier with the Whales, and another French zoologist with the Elephants. They are popularly regarded as the cows of the sea-pastures. Their habits justify this. I have often watched dugongs on the Queensland coast browsing on the long grasses, of which they tear up tussocks with sidelong twists of the head, coming to the surface to breathe at short intervals.
Omitting the extinct Rhytina, otherwise known as Steller's Sea-cow, which was exterminated in the Bering Strait not very long after civilised man had first learnt of its existence, we have to consider two distinct groups, or genera, of these sirenians. TheDugongis the representative of the first, and the twoManateesbelong to the other.
DUGONG.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.DUGONG.A vegetable-feeding sea-mammal from the Indian Ocean and North Australian waters.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.DUGONG.A vegetable-feeding sea-mammal from the Indian Ocean and North Australian waters.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
DUGONG.
A vegetable-feeding sea-mammal from the Indian Ocean and North Australian waters.
The dugong is found on the coasts of Northern Australia, in many parts of the Indian Ocean (particularly off Ceylon), and in the Red Sea. It is easily distinguished, by even superficial observation, from the manatees. Its tail is slightly forked, somewhat like that of the whales: the tail of manatees, on the other hand, is rounded. The dugong's flippers, to which we also find a superficial resemblance in those of the whale, show no traces of external nails: in those of the manatees, which show projecting nails, there is a considerable power of free movement (the hands being, in fact, used in manipulating the food), which is not thecase in the limbs of the whale. The body of the dugong is almost smooth, though there are bristles in the region of the mouth: that of the manatees is studded with short hairs. The male dugong has two large tusks: in neither sex of the manatees are such tusks developed. Finally, a more detailed examination of the skeletons would reveal the fact that, whereas the dugong has the usual seven bones in the neck, that of the manatees has only six.
AMERICAN MANATEE.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.AMERICAN MANATEE.Found in the Amazons River. The Manatees differ remarkably from the Dugong in the number and structure of their teeth.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.AMERICAN MANATEE.Found in the Amazons River. The Manatees differ remarkably from the Dugong in the number and structure of their teeth.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
AMERICAN MANATEE.
Found in the Amazons River. The Manatees differ remarkably from the Dugong in the number and structure of their teeth.
When we come to the Whales, we shall encounter that very characteristic covering known as "blubber"; and, though it is present in smaller quantity, these sirenians have blubber as well. Complex stomachs they also have, like the whales, only in their case both the nature of the food and the structure of the teeth point clearly to a ruminating habit, which, for reasons that will be given in the right place, seems inadmissible in the whales. In both dugong and manatees the mouth is furnished with singular horny plates, the precise use of which does not appear to have been satisfactorily determined; and the upper lip of the manatee is cleft in two hairy pads that work laterally. This enables the animal to draw the grass into its mouth without using the lower lip at all.
In their mode of life the dugong and manatees differ as widely almost as in their appearance; for the former is a creature of open coasts, whereas the manatees hug river-estuaries and even travel many miles up the rivers. Of both it has been said that they leave the water at night, and the manatees have even been accused of plundering crops near the banks. The few, however, which have been under observation in captivity have always been manifestly uncomfortable whenever, by accident or otherwise, the water of their tank was run off, so that there is not sufficient reason for believing this assertion.
This group of animals cannot be regarded as possessing any high commercial value, though both natives and white men eat their flesh, and the afore-mentioned rhytina was, in fact, exterminated solely for the sake of its meat. There is also a limited use for the bones as ivory, and the leather is employed on a small scale,—a German writer has, in fact, been at great pains to prove that the Tabernacle, which was 300 cubits long, was roofed with dugong-skin, and the Red Sea is certainly well within the animal's range.
The Whales, Porpoises, and Dolphins.
Although anatomists have good reason for suspecting that all the members of the Whale Tribe are directly descended from river-dwelling forms, if not indeed, more remotely, from some land animal, there is something appropriate in the fact of the vast ocean, which covers something like three-quarters of the earth's surface, producing the mightiest creatures which have ever lived. There should also be some little satisfaction for ourselves in the thought that, their fish-like form notwithstanding, these enormous beings really belong to the highest, or mammalian, class of animal life.
One striking feature all these many-sized cetaceans have in common, and that is their similarity of form. Though they may vary in length from 70 to 7 feet, their outline shows a remarkable uniformity. Important internal and even external differences there may be. A whale may be toothed or toothless; a dolphin may be beaked or round-headed; either may be with or without a slight ridge on the back or a distinct dorsal fin; but no cetacean could well be mistaken for an animal of any other order. It is as well to appreciate as clearly as possible this close general resemblance between the largest whale and the smallest dolphin, as the similarity is one of some interest; and we may estimate it at its proper worth if we bear in mind that two species of cetaceans, outwardly alike, may not, perhaps, be more closely allied than such divergent ruminant types as the elephant, the giraffe, and the gazelle.
NARWHAL.Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.NARWHAL.An Arctic whale, with one or rarely two long spears of bone projecting from the head.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.NARWHAL.An Arctic whale, with one or rarely two long spears of bone projecting from the head.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
NARWHAL.
An Arctic whale, with one or rarely two long spears of bone projecting from the head.
Reference has already been made to the fact that the whales are true mammals, and we must now clearly set before us the justification for separating them from the Fishes—to which any one with a superficial knowledge of their habits and appearance would unhesitatingly assign them—and raising them to the company of other mammals. Let us first separate them from the Fishes. The vast majority of fishes, with some familiar exceptions like the conger-eel, are covered with scales: whales have no scales. The tail of fishes, often forked like that of whales, is set vertically: in whales the tail is set laterally, and for this a good reason will presently be shown. Fishes have anal fins: whales not only have no anal fins, but their so-called pectoral fins differ radically from the fins of fishes. Fishes breathe with the aid of gills: whales haveno gills. Fishes, in the vast majority of cases, reproduce their young by spawning, the eggs being left to hatch out either in gravel-beds or among the water-plants, lying on the bottom (as in the case of the herring), or floating near the surface (as in that of the plaice): whales do not lay eggs, but bear the young alive. This brings us to the simple points of resemblance between them and other mammals. When the young whale is born, it is nourished on its mother's milk. This alone would constitute its claim to a place among the highest class. Whales breathe atmospheric air by means of lungs. Hair is peculiarly the covering of mammals, just as scales are characteristic of fishes and feathers of birds. Many whales, it is true, have no hair; but others, if only in the embryonic stage, have traces of this characteristic mammalian covering. It must, moreover, be remembered that in some other orders of mammals the amount of hair varies considerably—as, for instance, between the camel and rhinoceros.