THE CIVETS, THE AARD-WOLF, AND THE HYENAS
Between the great tribes of the dogs and the cats come three small but
rather important families, one of which contains the civets, while the
aard-wolf belongs to the second, and the hyenas to the third. We must
tell you a little about each.
CIVETS
First of all, then, come the civets; and first among the civets is the
fossa, which is found in Madagascar.
This is a very curious animal. It is about five feet long from the end
of its snout to the tip of its tail, and has a body shaped much like
that of a weasel. Its fur is pale reddish brown in color, and reminds
one of the coat of a dachshund dog. But the oddest thing about the fossa
is its way of walking. Some animals walk on the tips of their toes, like
the cats and the dogs. We call these digitigrades. Others plant their
feet flat upon the ground, like the bears. We call these plantigrades.
But the fossa does neither, for its feet have half-soles only, the front
part being quite bare underneath, while the hind part is covered with
hair. And as it walks the animal places the bare part of its feet upon
the ground, while the hind part is lifted up; so that it is half a
digitigrade and half a plantigrade.
Then it has claws just like those of a cat, which are drawn back into
sheaths while not in use, so that their sharp points may not be worn
down by rubbing against the ground. No doubt this is the reason why the
animal is able to climb so well. If you go to look at the fossa in a zoo
you will be quite surprised at its activity. In its double cage, with
one compartment above the other, and two or three stout branches on
which it can take exercise, it goes running up and down from one to the
other, and backward and forward from the branches to the walls, and
from the walls to the branches, with such wonderful swiftness that it is
really not at all easy to follow its movements.
But don't be tempted to stroke the animal, if it happens to be lying
quietly near the bars, for although it looks very gentle it is in
reality a most savage creature, and has hardly ever been tamed. And
partly for this reason, and partly because it only comes out to hunt for
prey by night, we know very little about its habits.
The true civets have much stouter bodies than the fossa. Their heads are
long and narrow, with the muzzle drawn out almost into a point, their
legs are quite short, and along the back runs a crest of stiff hairs,
which can be raised and lowered at will, just like the spines of the
hedgehog.
CIVET PERFUME
Six different kinds of civets are known, five of them being found in
Asia, and one in Africa, and they are chiefly remarkable for producing a
most powerful perfume. This perfume is obtained in a very curious way.
It is secreted in a kind of double pouch under the body, close to the
root of the tail, and as it is continually being formed, the animal is
much too valuable to be killed in order that its pouch may be emptied.
At the same time, its teeth and claws are so sharp and strong, and it
knows so well how to use them, that it would be a most dangerous
creature to handle. So when the perfume has to be taken, the animal is
forced into a long and very narrow cage, in which it is held so close a
prisoner that it can neither scratch nor bite. Then the contents of the
pouch are scraped out by means of a long, slender spoon, which is passed
through a hole under the cage.
Each side of this pouch is about as big as an almond, and the contents
are thick and greasy in character, almost like butter. When the animal
is at liberty the perfume is dropped from time to time, in lumps about
as big as an ordinary hazelnut.
INDIAN CIVET
The best known of these animals is the Indian civet, which is about four
feet in length, including the tail. The general color of its fur is dark
gray, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, and on the chest, shoulders, and
thighs are a number of dark stripes. The crest of hairs along the back
is glossy black, and the tail is marked with six black rings and five
white ones. It is a solitary animal, and is hardly ever seen during the
daytime, which it spends in hiding among bushes, or in long, thick
grass, coming out after dark to search for the lizards, frogs, birds,
and other small creatures upon which it feeds.
GENETS
The genets may be described as small civets, with narrower bodies,
shorter legs, and longer tails, and without the curious pouch for
producing perfume.
One of these animals, the common genet, is found in Spain and the south
of France, as well as in Southwest Asia, and the northern parts of
Africa. It is between three and four feet in total length, and is
yellowish gray in color, with blotches of dark brown scattered all over
the body. It is a very gentle creature, and is easily tamed, being often
kept in houses to destroy rats and mice, just as we keep cats.
The palm-civets live in trees, chiefly in palm-trees, and they are so
fond of drinking the sweet juice, or toddy, which the natives collect in
small vessels suspended on the trunks, that they are often known as
toddy-cats.
One of these animals is very common in many parts of India, where it is
in the habit of taking up its abode in the thatched roofs of the native
huts. It is often tamed by Europeans, and after roaming about the house
all night in search of mice and cockroaches will come up to its master's
bedroom, jump up on his bed, snuggle away under his pillow, and there
sleep soundly until late in the following day. But if it finds a chance
it will get into the poultry-houses and kill some of the fowls, in order
to suck their blood; so that it has to be looked after very carefully.
There are ten or eleven different kinds of these animals, the commonest
of which is the Indian palm-civet. It is about as big as a rather big
cat, and is brownish gray in color, with very coarse and rather ragged
fur. It has an odd way of twisting up its tail into a very tight coil,
and for this reason is sometimes known by the name of paradoxure, a word
which signifies queer-tailed.
THE BINTURONG
The binturong, or bear-cat, as it is often called, may be recognized at
once by the long tufts of black hair upon its ears. Its fur, too, is
entirely black, without any gloss except upon the head, which is gray,
and its tail is very long and bushy, and is prehensile at the tip, like
that of a spider-monkey. When the animal is climbing it makes a great
deal of use of this organ, seldom moving unless it is tightly coiled
around a branch. But it seems hardly ever to hang from a bough by its
tail alone, as the spider-monkeys so often do.
The binturong is a native of Assam, Siam, and some of the larger islands
in the Malay Archipelago. It is not at all an uncommon animal, but is
seldom seen, for it not only lives in the thickest and darkest parts of
the forests, which are scarcely ever trodden by the foot of man, but
spends the whole of the day fast asleep in some snug retreat, with its
head completely buried beneath its big bushy tail. And even if it is
found and disturbed it only gives an angry snarl and shows its teeth,
and then goes to sleep again.
MONGOOSES
Of course you have heard of the mongooses. They look somewhat like
weasels with very long tails, which are thickly covered with hair. The
head is pointed, with a rather sharp nose, the ears are small and
rounded, the legs are very short, and the claws cannot be drawn back
into sheaths, so that they are always projecting like those of a
dog. The general color of the body is either brownish or reddish gray.
But the fur has a peculiar speckled appearance, which is due to the fact
that all the longer hairs are marked with alternate rings of black and
white, like those upon a surveyor's measuring-pole.
At least sixteen kinds of mongooses are found in different parts of the
world, but we shall only be able to tell you about two.
The first of these is the Indian mongoose, which is common in almost all
parts of the great country from which it takes its name. And it is one
of the most useful of all animals, for although it will feed upon mice,
small birds and their eggs, lizards, and even upon insects and fruit
when it is really hungry, there is nothing of which it is so fond as a
snake.
Now snakes are more plentiful in India, perhaps, than in any other
country in the world. Many of them are terribly poisonous, and kill at
least twenty thousand people every year; so that an animal which
destroys them is very useful. Many people keep tame mongooses in their
houses just as we keep cats, knowing that if a snake should find its way
indoors they are sure to find it and kill it.
When a mongoose attacks a snake it dances about in front of the reptile,
and pretends to be about to spring upon it, until the snake strikes.
Then, like lightning, it leaps over the snake's head, or underneath its
open jaws, or round to one side, and gives it a sharp bite just at the
back of its neck. This renders the snake quite harmless, paralyzing it
so that it cannot use its fangs. Then the mongoose crunches up its head,
eats a little of the body also if it is very hungry, and goes off to
look for another.
Rats, too, are killed in great numbers by the mongoose. So in the year
1871, when these animals swarmed in some of the West Indian Islands to
such an extent that it was feared that the sugar-cane plantations would
be wholly destroyed by them, nine mongooses were set free in Jamaica.
Very soon they began to multiply, and the rats began to decrease, till
in about two years' time the mischievous little animals were almost
entirely destroyed. So mongooses were turned down in other islands, with
equally satisfactory results. Unfortunately, however, the mongooses soon
found out that fowls and chickens were even nicer than rats, and began
to visit the hen-roosts at night. Then they took to killing young lambs,
and even small pigs, while they also did a great deal of damage to
mangoes and yams.
So now the planters had to turn their attention to destroying mongooses,
and on one estate alone more than fourteen hundred were trapped in about
two months.
The Egyptian mongoose is a rather larger animal, being about three feet
in length from the head to the tip of the tail. Like its Indian
relation, it preys upon snakes; but it also feeds very largely upon
crocodile's eggs, which it digs out of the sand on the banks of the
rivers. For this reason it was venerated by the ancient Egyptians, who
used to treat it with the greatest reverence while it lived, and to
embalm its body and bury it in the tombs of the kings when it died, just
as they did with the cat and the sacred baboon.
MEERKATS
The last of the civet-like animals about which we can tell you is the
meerkat, sometimes known as the suricate. It is found in South Africa,
and is a small, slender-bodied animal of a light grizzled gray color,
with a number of black stripes running across its back, while the ears
are black, and the tail is yellowish with a black tip.
Meerkats live in large colonies, almost like rabbits, each animal
scratching out for itself a deep hole in the ground. If you were to
drive across the South African veldt, you would very likely come across
one of these curious meerkat warrens, and would see several hundred of
the little animals sitting upright on their hind legs with their front
paws hanging down, just like so many small dogs "begging." Until you
came quite close they would remain quietly watching you. But the moment
that you stopped and attempted to seize one of them there would be a
sudden whisk of hundreds of tails, and down they would all pop into
their burrows as if by magic.
As they are gentle creatures, and very clean in their habits,
meerkats are often kept as pets, and in many parts of Cape Colony there
is scarcely a single house without them. You would think that the dogs
would be very jealous of them, wouldn't you, and that they would be very
much afraid of the dogs? But, strange to say, the two are nearly always
the best of friends, and may often be seen trotting about after their
master together.
THE AARD-WOLF
This is such a very odd animal that it has been placed in a family all
by itself, though there can be no doubt that it is related to the civets
on the one side and to the hyenas on the other. In size it is about as
big as a fox, but with very much longer legs; and in general appearance
it certainly resembles a half-grown striped hyena. But then its skull
and teeth are not at all like those of a hyena; they are like those of a
very big mongoose. So the aard-wolf evidently forms a connecting link
between the two creatures.
The name aard-wolf means earth-wolf, and has been given to this animal
because the Dutch people in South Africa thought that it really was a
kind of wolf, and because it lives in deep burrows which it digs in the
ground. Strange to say, although each aard-wolf digs its own burrow,
several of these tunnels often unite in one large central chamber--a
common sitting-room, as it were--which is used by all the animals alike.
But each always goes in and out by its own front door.
During the daytime the aard-wolf is nearly always fast asleep
underground, so that it is hardly ever seen except by those who go out
to hunt it. But it is not often hunted, being so timid and cowardly that
when it is turned out of its burrow its only idea is to run away as fast
as it possibly can, so that it affords very poor sport.
This animal is not a creature of prey, but feeds chiefly on carrion. But
it is rather fond of insects, and will sometimes break a hole in the
side of a termites' nest and lick up the inmates by thousands as they
come hurrying up to repair the breach in the walls.
HYENAS
These are not very pleasant-looking animals, for their sloping hind
quarters give them a very slinking and cowardly appearance. In their
habits, too, they are disgusting. Nevertheless they are most useful
creatures in the countries in which they live; for they belong to that
vast group of animals which we may call "nature's dustmen," because
their great work in life is to clear away the rubbish from the world.
There are millions upon millions of these natural scavengers, and some
of them have to clear away carrion, some to clear away skins, and some
to clear away decaying vegetable matter. But the principal duty of the
hyenas is to clear away bones, and very thoroughly they do it.
Their jaws and teeth are immensely strong. A hyena will seize the
thigh-bone of an ox, and crush it up into splinters as easily as a dog
will crush a chicken-bone. And when a lion or a tiger kills a victim, he
always leaves a great part of the carcass lying on the ground. Some of
it he has no time to eat because the jackals come and steal it while he
is fast asleep after the big meal which he always takes as soon as he
has killed his victim. Some of it neither he nor the jackals can eat
because their teeth are not nearly strong enough to crush the larger
bones. So they have to leave these for the hyenas, which come up in
numbers to the kill, and quarrel and fight over it, until nothing even
of the skeleton remains.
Although the hyena is a much stronger animal than the aard-wolf, it is
quite as cowardly, and will hardly ever show fight, even when it is
driven to bay. The Arab hunters despise it for its want of courage, and
if they find it hiding in a burrow will never condescend to kill it
themselves. Neither will they use any weapon against it. They just fling
a handful of wet mud into its face, drag it out by its hind feet, and
hand it over to be stoned to death by the women. But sometimes, after
all, it contrives to escape, for it is so cunning that it will pretend
to be dead when it is not really injured, allowing itself to be pulled
about, or even to be severely beaten, without moving a limb. Then
suddenly, when the attention of its captors is taken off for a moment,
it will jump up and run away.
Perhaps you wonder why they should want to kill the hyena if it is such
a useful creature and never attacks human beings. The reason is that it
is fond of prowling about the outskirts of villages in order to prey
upon the cattle. It is much too cowardly to attack them openly, and
always tries to frighten them and make them run away, so that it can
leap upon them from behind. It generally does this by creeping as close
to them as it can, and then springing up suddenly just under their eyes.
But if they stand and face it, instead of running away, it just looks at
them for a few moments and then slinks off without attempting to touch
them.
THE STRIPED HYENA
Three different kinds of these animals are known, the commonest being
the striped hyena, which is found in India, Syria, Persia, Arabia, and
Northern Africa. It is about as big as a collie dog, and is brownish
gray in color, with a number of black stripes running across the body
and round the legs. The ears are long and pointed, the tail is big and
bushy, and a kind of mane of long hairs runs down the neck and along the
middle of the back.
In some parts of Africa these animals roam about by night in large
packs, entering the native villages, and searching the streets for the
offal which has been thrown out from the huts. And more than once, when
very hungry, they have been known to enter a house and carry off a
sleeping man.
Sometimes they will set a kind of snare for a dog. One hyena will lie in
wait behind a bush, while another will run boldly up to within two or
three hundred yards of the village and utter a series of loud howls. A
dog is almost sure to hear him and to rush out in pursuit. Then the
hyena, pretending to be dreadfully frightened, runs away past the bush
where his companion is hiding, and the dog is pounced upon and killed
almost before he realizes that he has two enemies to deal with instead
of only one.
THE BROWN HYENA
This kind of hyena, found in South Africa, is not nearly so numerous as
that just described. It is about the same size as the striped hyena, but
may be recognized at once by the great length of its mane, which hangs
down on each side below the body. In fact, the animal looks just as if
it were wearing a mantle of thick, shaggy fur. It lives chiefly in rocky
ground, on the lower slopes of the mountains, but is fond of visiting
the sea-shore by night, and prowling about in search of the dead bodies
of fishes and other creatures flung up by the waves.
THE SPOTTED HYENA
The tiger-wolf, as the spotted hyena is also called, is much more
dangerous than the other hyenas. It is a larger and more powerful animal
than either of its relations, and is not near so cowardly. It will enter
a sheepfold, or cattle-pen, for instance, under cover of darkness, and
boldly attack and carry off one of the animals. But even an unarmed man
need not be afraid of it, for though it will come quite close, and will
follow him for a long distance, it will never venture to spring upon
him.
This animal is often known as the laughing hyena, because of the
extraordinary sounds it utters when very much excited. These sounds are
not in the least like a yell or a howl, but resemble a peal of strange,
unearthly laughter, and while they are being uttered the hyena dances
about on its hind legs, nods its head up and down, runs to and fro, and
twists itself into all sorts of singular positions, just as though it
had suddenly gone mad. Travelers tell us that sometimes for nights
together sleep is rendered impossible by the hideous outcry of these
creatures, which surround the camp as soon as darkness sets in, and
never cease from their horrible din till sunrise.
The spotted hyena is found throughout Southern Africa, and may be known
from the other two species by its larger size, and also by the
dark-brown spots with which the body and the limbs are marked.