[Illustration: A BATTLE BETWEEN THE LION AND TIGER.]
Our Animal Friends.
OUR animal friends are usually supposed to be included in the home pets,
and the domestic animals which are useful to us in so many ways; but
when we learn how closely some of the wildest and fiercest of animals
are of the greatest benefit to mankind, how they resemble us in the
formation of their bodies, and in the care and love for their little
ones, how the many different kinds of animals scattered all over the
world are related to each other, and how they are divided into families,
we will have a more friendly feeling toward all the wonderful creatures
which are often looked upon as the enemies of mankind, and a greater
interest in their habits and lives in their native homes.
In this little volume of Natural History we will not only study our
animal friends as individuals, but will learn of their relationship to
each other, carefully arranged and classified, but much more easily
understood, than the classification found in the numerous great volumes
of encyclopedia of Natural History.
We are always interested in the relatives of our human friends; even
their distant relations living in far off countries soon have a special
interest for us when they are closely connected to our friends, and we
are constantly learning of their manner of living and their doings in
distant lands. In the same manner we find new interest in the fierce
wild animals of other countries when we learn how they are related to
our domestic animals and home pets.
We find that not only the Wild Cats, but the fierce Lions, Tigers,
Panthers, Leopards, Lynxes, Pumas, Jaguars, and many smaller animals,
belong to the same family as our pet Cats. The Wolf, Jackal, Hyena, and
many different kinds of Foxes are all closely related to our good
friends, the Dogs. The Sheep and Cows have some very fierce relations in
distant countries, as the Gnu and Yak and Bison, and also some very
accommodating and useful relations, like the Camel, Dromedary, Llama and
Paca, who are as helpful to their masters and owners as the domestic
animals of this country. We would not suppose at first thought that our
Horses belong to the same family as the Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus,
Elephant, and the Tapir and many smaller animals which are classified
with them, besides the different kinds of Ponies, Donkeys, and the Dauw
and Quagga and Zebra.
It is this classification into families, by the use of Latin words, that
makes the study of Natural History so difficult to many who are
interested in our animal friends, but do not know just how to find out
about them without first wading through quantities of long, hard names,
that seem to have very little use, except to puzzle the reader. As one
of these interested readers recently remarked while delving away at an
encyclopedia to learn something of an animal in which he was especially
interested: “I believe the writer of that article just used all those
big words to show off, and try to make people believe he knows more than
any one else.”
This does seem to be the case at times, but many of these hard Latin
words are often really necessary to make us acquainted with particular
kinds of animals and their families; and we will use only the absolutely
necessary ones in this book, and master them together, with the
different scientific terms explained and made easy to understand, even
in the index. Then after mastering these general terms for dividing
animals into families, the study of scientific works on Natural History
will not be so difficult; for the animals are as carefully classified
here, from the works of famous Naturalists, as in those larger volumes,
although the Latin names are used only when it is necessary to
distinguish different animals that are very much alike, or to divide
them into families.
There is a very good reason for the hard words and sometimes whole
sentences of unpronounceable Greek and Latin, often used to describe a
single little animal—the Greek and Latin language is studied and
understood by scholars of every other language. If the great Naturalist,
Linnaeus, had written in Swedish or German, only a Swede or a German
could have understood his meaning. To talk to a Spaniard or a Frenchman
about a “River Horse,” giving its English name, would not give him any
idea of the animal described, but call it a Hippopotamus (which is
derived from two Greek words meaning horse and river,) and he would at
once understand the nature of the animal.
It is the same with the classification of the different animals. The
English and French and German Naturalists differ in their manner of
arranging into families—according to the formation of the bodies of
various animals, their manner of moving, what they eat, the number of
their teeth, the shape of their feet, etc., but it was from the Latin
and Greek terms that the names of these divisions were taken for all the
different languages in which works of Natural History have been written.
Take the first great division—the Mammalia—and it is found that the term
is used by Naturalists in all languages, and that it comes from the
Latin word mamma, meaning “the breast.” And we find that all animals
grouped under this great class are fed on their mother’s milk while they
are too small to eat the vegetable and animal food on which the father
and mother live. This is very different from the birds who carry the
same food that the father and mother eat (the worms and insects) and
place it in the mouth of the baby bird; and the fowls who teach their
little ones to scratch and pick up their food from the ground. And while
the little ones of the birds and fishes and the smaller orders of
creation develop rapidly and are soon able to take care of themselves,
the babies of some of the larger animals are almost as helpless as human
babies, and feed on their mother’s milk for many months before their
teeth are well formed and they are strong enough for other food. We
often see pictures of Lions and other fierce beasts tearing dead animals
to pieces to feed their little ones, but this is only after their teeth
begin to grow, and like the babies of the human family they are old
enough to feed at the same table and eat the same kind of food as older
members of the family.
Many do not realize what a great number of our animal friends belong to
this great family of Mammals or Mammalia, from the Moles and the Bats to
the huge Mastodons of past ages. Even some of the large water animals
are included in it, like the Seals, the Whales and their numerous
relatives—the Dolphins, Porpoises, Narwhals, etc. The latter are usually
called fishes by those who do not understand this division into orders
and families; they are not fishes, however, but belong to the Water
Mammalia. And in dividing this book into Animals, Birds and Fishes, all
these members of the Whale family will be found where they belong with
the great family of Mammalia.
Then after classifying all Mammals both of land and water under the one
great family, or order, the Latin terms help to sub-divide them into
smaller families, more closely related, in such a manner that all the
readers of different languages may understand the meaning of the words
because of their Greek or Latin origin. Thus we know that a quadruped is
a four footed animal because the term comes from the Latin words
quatuor, four, and pes, pedis, a foot. And the term quadrumane comes
from quatuor, four, and manus, a hand, which makes it easy to understand
that all the animals classified under “Quadrumana” belong to the monkey
family, who have four hands instead of four feet, with regular thumbs
and fingers on the hind hands (which are usually known as feet) as well
as on the front ones. Thus the word Quadrumana distinguishes this whole
four-handed family from the Bimanes, or two-handed family, to which
mankind belongs (making an order by itself) and the Quadrupeds, or the
great four-footed family.
In the same manner the family to which the Horses belong are not only
quadrupeds, but they have very thick skin. They are, therefore,
classified under the term Pachydermata, made up of two Greek words
meaning thick and skin. We often find many of the Mammalia arranged in
orders, or large groups, before being divided and sub-divided into
families and smaller groups. Thus the Dog family and the Cat family are
both included under the order of Carnivora, or carnivorous quadrupeds,
which is derived from the two Latin words caro, carnis, flesh, and
vorare, to devour; and we know that the animals found under this order
prefer a diet of flesh food, and devour other animals in their wild
state.
Thus we might continue with explanations of terms, but it requires only
a few such words and their derivations to make us understand how easy it
is, after all, to keep in mind the main families and orders and groups
under which all the different animals are classified. And we will soon
become so well acquainted with our numerous animal friends in their
native homes, and grouped in their proper families, that we can easily
recognize many of the animals that must be crowded out of a book of this
size. Because we know the meaning of the term used to describe a
particular animal, we can place him in the family to which he belongs,
and then understand something of his life and habits by comparing them
with those of his well-known relatives.
[Illustration: FLYING SQUIRRELS.]
Quadrumana—The Four-Handed Mammals.
WE will begin with the Monkey family in learning about our animal
friends, because they resemble mankind more closely than any other
animal. Although Darwin and other Naturalists have spent years of their
lives in tracing the resemblances between the Human and the Monkey
family we had much rather trace the points of difference, for it is not
pleasant to claim a very close relationship to some of the hideous
monsters who make their homes in the dense forests or distant countries.
Although the formation of the body, especially the skull, and the
features, are more like ours, than are those of other animals, the first
great point of difference is their four hands, those of the legs being
formed the same as those of the arm, with thumbs and long flexible
fingers, which enables them to climb trees quickly and swing from branch
to branch with fearless activity, because they can grasp the limbs of
the trees with any one of their four hands. Some of them also use their
tails to assist them in climbing, and the Monkeys are sometimes
classified under the “prehensile tailed” and the “non-prehensile” tailed
according to whether the tails are formed for seizing or grasping the
limbs of the trees. And there is still another family of tailless
Monkeys.
But while many of the different Monkeys are very active in trees, in
which they spend the greater part of their time, when in their native
homes, this formation of hands instead of feet on their legs, makes them
very awkward when standing erect or walking. Even in the most man-like
Apes, these hands that serve as feet, are not placed at right angles to
the legs, so as to come flat upon the ground like ours; but when the
legs are extended, the soles nearly face each other, so that, when
erect, the whole weight of the body rests upon the outer edge of the
sole of this strange foot, or as it should be more properly called, the
palm of the hand. In addition to this peculiarity, the legs are bent
inwards to enable them firmly to grasp the boughs of the trees, and this
makes them very awkward when trying to walk upright on the ground.
Their arms are also very much longer than ours, in proportion to the
rest of the body, and in some families the fingers will almost touch the
ground when the large animal is standing erect.
While the majority of the Monkey family have their faces covered with
hair like the rest of the body, others have what are known as “naked
faces,” with only a beard, or a fringe of whiskers about the chin and
throat, and some of these are comically like a human face.
The great family of Quadrumana is divided in various ways by different
Naturalists; but the easiest classification to keep in mind is the
grouping of five distinct Orders, each made up of small families.
The first order—The Tailless Apes—includes the Gorilla, the
Orang-Outang, and the Chimpanzee, and is called by some, Troglodytidae,
from the Greek word troglodytes, meaning one who hides in caverns.
Although this is a peculiarity of these Apes, this does not seem so good
a classification as that given by another Naturalist who calls these the
Anthropomorphous Monkeys because they so closely resemble the human
species; the word Anthropomorphous comes from two Greek words meaning
man and form, and signifies that which has the form of man.
The second order is the Simiadae—The Ape Monkeys—and the term comes from
the Greek word simos, meaning flat-nosed; these have oblong heads and
flat nostrils, and the same number of teeth as man, and many of them
have cheek pouches in which they stow away food for future use. A few of
the Simiadae are without tails, others have tails (of different lengths
in the different families), but none of them have prehensile tails, that
can be used to help them in climbing. All the different families
belonging to this order are natives of the Old World, and the most of
them are found in the forests and the mountainous districts of Western
Africa.
The third order—Cebidae—includes the American Monkeys; and they are
distinguished from the Monkeys of the Old World by having four more
grinding teeth, making thirty-six in all instead of thirty-two. These
American Monkeys have long tails and no cheek-pouches.
The fourth order—Lemuridae—includes the different Lemurs, and the word
comes from Latin lemur, a sprite, a night-walker, so called from their
habits of roaming about at night.
Some naturalists include in this order the Flying Cat, or Flying Lemur.
Others make a distinct fifth order of this species. Although they
resemble both a weasel and an ape, they have one peculiar formation that
does not belong to either of these; the long slender limbs are connected
by a broad, hairy membrane, which looks like a cloak when folded up, but
which expands and gives the appearance of wings when the animal is
springing from tree to tree.
Although each one of these orders contain many small families, until the
different Monkeys seem numberless, yet they can all be classified in
some one of these groups, and it is not so hard to remember the long
names when we understand the meaning of the words from which they are
derived.