Deer and Antelope
The buffalo has many relatives among other animals which also have
_horns_. In fact, all animals that have horns are some relation to
each other--first cousin, second cousin, third cousin, and so on.
The buffalo's nearest relatives are the ordinary cows and bulls that
you see in the fields.
"But the sheep and the goat also have horns," you may say. "Are they
also cousins?"
Yes, they are. In the same way the _deer_ and the _antelope_ are also
cousins to each other. I am now going to tell you about them.
The deer and the antelope are not exactly the same kind of animal, as
you might perhaps think. As I said, they are only cousins. If you look
at them carefully in the pictures on pages 103 and 109 you will see
which is the antelope and which is the deer--just as you can tell a
sheep from a goat.
[Illustration: Antelope
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]
First see the picture on page 103. These are _antelope_. Look at the
horns carefully. They are something like a cow's horns; only, a
cow's horns are sometimes bent and twisted in different ways. But the
antelope's horns point upward, and are much longer than a cow's horns.
They sometimes look almost like a pair of long and thick spikes,
pointed at the top.
Now look at the picture on page 109. These are _deer_. Look at the
horns carefully--only, they are not called horns when the animal is a
deer, but _antlers_, which is a special name. So take a good look at
the deer's antlers. There are two of them, and they grow from the top
of his head, like the antelope's horns.
But look again. The antlers _start_ from the head as _two_ spikes, but
higher up each antler branches out into _many_ parts. In fact, near
the top each antler looks something like the branches of a small tree
without leaves.
So now you can always tell which is an antelope and which is a deer:
the antelope's horns have no branches, but the deer's antlers have
many branches.
_Horns and Antlers Different in Three Ways_
The antelope's horns and the deer's antlers are also different in
other ways, which you cannot see in the pictures. So I shall tell you
about them:
1. The antelope's horns are _hollow_ inside, and made of the same kind
of thing as the _hoofs_ or _nails_ of an animal, only they are thicker
and harder. But a deer's antlers are _solid_, and made of _bone_.
2. Both the Papas and the Mammas among antelopes have horns. But among
most kinds of deer, only the Papas have the antlers; the Mammas have
none.
3. Among antelopes, when once the Papas and the Mammas have grown
their horns, they keep them always. But among deer, the Papas throw
away their antlers every year, and grow _new ones_. That seems very
wonderful! I shall tell you more about it soon.
But now I shall tell you, little by little, all the wonderful things
the deer and the antelope can do. I shall begin with the deer, as
there are many kinds of deer in America.
Of course, in America there are not such wild jungles as in countries
which are hot all the year round. Still, there are many places in the
West and a few other parts of America where there is some kind of
jungle and plenty of forest. A forest is a kind of jungle, only it has
more trees, and fewer thickets; but wild animals can live there just
the same.
_Elk and Other American Deer_
The biggest kind of deer in America is the _moose_; in fact, it is the
biggest kind of deer in the world. The second biggest is the _elk_; he
is nearly as big as the moose. Some people think that the moose and
the elk are exactly the same kind of deer, but that is not quite
correct. In this book I must not make it too hard for you to
understand, by telling you how they are different. So I shall tell you
all about the elk, as his picture is on page 109.
Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have
been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in
the Far West.
The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and
is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of
forest--that is, plenty of trees. Why trees? Because he needs them in
winter--for then the bark is his food!
In summer he has plenty to eat--leaves, twigs, and grass. But when the
winter comes, and the leaves fall, and the ground is covered with
snow, the poor elk would starve and die, if he did not have at least
the bark of trees to eat. And very little bark he gets for many days
at a time.
Here I must tell you that some kinds of deer are among the most _hardy
animals_; that means that at times they can live on very little. There
is a kind of deer, called the _reindeer_, that lives in the frozen
North, where there is snow and ice almost all the year round; and the
reindeer has nothing more to eat for many days than a little bit of
moss or seaweed.
But there is another animal, not a deer, that is still more hardy: he
can go a whole week without eating or drinking--and do work all the
time! That seems very wonderful. But I shall tell you about that
animal in another chapter.
Now about the elk. His antlers are fine! You can see in the picture
how huge they are. And yet, would you believe it, he grew them in only
five months! I told you a little while ago that a deer throws off his
antlers every year, and grows new ones. I shall now tell you how the
elk does that.
[Illustration: Elk
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]
In the middle of the winter, the elk's antlers break off bit by bit.
In a few weeks they have all fallen off, leaving the elk's head
bare, with just a ridge or rough stump on it. Then, early in the
spring the new antlers start growing from the top of the stump. They
grow very fast, and in five months are as huge as ever.
But while the new antlers are growing, they are not hard. As yet they
are soft and tender, and all that time they have an outside covering
like hairy leather, to guard them from harm. But as soon as the elk
feels that his antlers are quite grown, and are strong and hard, he
strips off the outside covering by rubbing the antlers against trees.
Of course, while his antlers are still growing, and are soft and
tender, the elk cannot use them to fight another animal; so during
that time he hides in the bushes. But as soon as his new antlers have
become hard and strong, he is very brave again, and is ready to fight!
Does the elk fight much? He does! He fights most awfully when he has
his new antlers. What he fights about, and with whom he fights, I
shall tell you in another book.
There are a few other kinds of deer in America, but the funniest of
them is called the _mule deer_, which lives along the Rocky Mountains.
He is called the mule deer because he has very long ears, like a
mule's ears. And perhaps you have seen a mule bucking--that is,
jumping about while holding his legs quite stiff. Well, the mule deer
can buck just like that.
And while he is running at a gallop, he will often jump off the ground
with stiff legs, and then hop on and on many times like that, with
stiff legs, finishing up with another gallop.
That makes him look very funny, and because he jumps like that people
in Canada sometimes call him the _jumping deer_.
_Other Kinds of Deer_
I must now tell you about some other kinds of deer that live in
jungles and forests in other countries.
The _fallow deer_ lives in Europe. When he is wild, he lives in a
forest; but when he is tame, he lives in a park. He is a small deer,
about the size of a donkey. His coat is very soft and glossy and
beautiful. In winter his coat looks dark brown, and his legs and the
under part of his body are light brown. But in summer his coat becomes
a lovely light red in color, with white spots jotted all over it. Then
he is very handsome.
In India also there is a handsome deer, which the people call the
_lion deer_. He looks quite gentle and mild. Then why do the people
call him the lion deer? Because he has a lovely coat, golden yellow in
color. You could see him far across the open field, if he only stood
there. But he is so timid that he does not often come out in the open.
And why has he a yellow coat? Because he lives in a place where there
is plenty of yellow grass; and if he stood right in the middle of the
grass, and did not move, nobody could see him. Even if a tiger were
looking for him, and the deer stood quite still in the grass, the
tiger could not find him.
In another chapter I shall tell you how other animals have on their
bodies the _color of the place where they live, or where they want to
hide_.
_Barking Deer--One of the Wonders of Nature_
Now I am coming to one of the nicest kinds of deer in the world, and I
am sure you will just love him! He lives in India, and is called the
_barking deer_; only, he is not exactly a deer, but an antelope. You
remember what I have told you before, about an antelope having a
different kind of horns? Still we must call him the barking deer, as
people have already given him that name.
He is very small, about the size of a goat. If there is any danger
from an enemy, the barking deer is small enough to hide in any little
bush or behind a fallen tree or log; or else he can run away very
quietly through the under bushes. And he runs so quickly that his
enemy soon loses sight of him.
He is called the barking deer, because he can bark or yap almost like
a dog. But, you may ask, why does he want to bark at all, if he is
afraid of some enemy? Will not the enemy hear him, and then catch him?
Yes, that is quite true. And yet the fact that he does bark is one of
the most wonderful things in the jungle. It is so wonderful that in
another book I shall tell you more about it. But now I shall tell you
just this:
There are some animals which are so deadly that they could kill off
many, many other animals. So, as the only way to save the other
animals from being all killed, _God has made some special animals to
fight those deadly animals_.
There is the _cobra_, which is a snake, and which has such a deadly
poison that it could kill almost all other animals in the jungle by
just biting them. So, to save the other animals from being killed by
the cobra, God made the _mongoose_. He is a plucky little creature,
about the size of a cat. And he will fight and kill every cobra he
sees! But really he is such a wonderful animal that I must keep him
for another book, when you are old enough to know him better and to
love him.
But sometimes the deadly animal is too strong to be killed himself.
There is the tiger. He can kill and eat many kinds of animals. But who
can kill _him_? No animal! At least, the elephant and the buffalo
could kill the tiger if the tiger should let them _catch_ him and
trample on him. But the tiger does not let any animal catch him. Then
how can the other animals be saved from the tiger?
God made two special animals to save the others from the tiger. The
first is the buffalo, of which I have already told you, and which is
the Knight of the Jungle. The second animal is the barking deer. How
the barking deer saves the other animals from the tiger, I shall now
tell you:
When the tiger is prowling about, all other kinds of deer and antelope
just run away, and are glad enough if they escape being eaten. But
not the plucky little barking deer! He too runs away, but as soon as
he gets a little ahead of the tiger, he stops under a bush and lets
out that bark or yap--then runs on at once to another bush.
The tiger is furious, and jumps on the bush where he heard the
bark--but the deer is not there now! The deer barks from that second
bush--and runs to another one. In this way the barking deer leads the
tiger on and on through the jungle from bush to bush.
And why does he bark like that? To tell the other animals in good time
that the tiger is coming, and then to tell them exactly _where_ the
tiger is.
"Look out, here's a tiger!" That is the meaning of his first bark.
"Here he is! He is coming after me--this way!" That is what he means
by the next bark.
"He is chasing me this way! You run the other way!" And that is what
the barking deer keeps on saying, as he runs from bush to bush, so
that all the other animals know exactly where the tiger is at each
minute.
In this way the barking deer runs through the jungle, _warning all the
other animals_, and so spoiling the tiger's dinner all the way.