they awake in the morning there is nothing for them to do but play or
wander about. This is a mistaken belief, for they have to dress
themselves, and this not only means a bath in many cases, but a
smoothing out of their fur and hair. Some are shy and seek the darkest
places to dress themselves, others, like the dog and cat, seek the
hearth. Every one has possibly seen a cow and horse licking each other,
and it is generally believed that this implies special friendship
between the two, but this idea is incorrect; it only implies mutual aid
in making their toilettes. They have a beauty parlour, and thus aid each
other. In no way are animals better prepared to teach man than in their
methods of personal cleanliness, and this means health. Their
utilisation of clay, dust, mud, water, and even sunshine to keep their
health, far exceeds that of mankind. In fact, man's first knowledge of
simple, natural health remedies came from animals. This wisdom they have
acquired by ages of instinct and reason, for theirs has been the normal
life, whereas man's is often abnormal. Each animal is his own
specialist. However, when an animal becomes too ill to doctor himself,
he is treated by another. I have seen a horse licking the wound of one
of his fellows to stop the pain.
[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_
WATER-LOVING ANIMALS, LIKE THE BEAVERS, SEEMINGLY TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN
THEIR TOILETTES. THEIR FUR IS ALWAYS SLEEK AND CLEAN.]
[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_
GREAT FOREST PIGS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. LIKE THE COMMON DOMESTICATED HOGS,
THEY WILL SEEK A CLAY BATH TO HEAL THEIR WOUNDS.]
Animals know better than man what kind of food they need, for the simple
reason that their tastes are natural, while man has allowed his to
become perverted. In times of sickness absurd practices have been
observed. Ice-cream and buttermilk, for example, were for ages refused
to typhoid fever patients, while to-day they are generally used under
such circumstances. But the natural desire for sour and cold things was
always in evidence; animals have always depended upon these desires.
Among them are skilled dietitians, who restrict their diet in case of
illness, keep quiet, avoid all excitement, seek restful places where
there is plenty of fresh air and clean water. If a dog loses his
appetite, he eats "dog grass," while a sick cat delights in catnip.
Deer, goats, cows, and sheep, when sick seek various medicinal herbs.
When deer or cattle have rheumatism, they invariably seek a health
resort where they may bathe in a sulphur spring and drink of the healing
mineral waters. They also know the full value of lying in the warm sun.
Cats are skilled physicians, and have various home remedies, such as
dipping a feverish foot into cold water, or lying before a warm fire, if
they have a cold. Many animals know how to treat a sore eye--by lying in
the dark, and repeatedly licking their paws and placing them over the
afflicted member.
How wonderful would the human race become, if it had the strength of a
lion, the power of a bear, the wisdom of an elephant, the cleverness of
a fox, and the health of the wild boar! But these qualities are found
chiefly among the animals because of the marvellous knowledge of the
laws of health and self-preservation.
John Wesley claimed, in his directions on the art of keeping well, that
many of the medicines which were used among the common people of his
time were first discovered by watching animals in their medical
practices to cure their ills and pains. "If they heal animals, they will
also heal men," he claimed. The American Indians learned most of their
cures from watching animals, especially the cure of such diseases as
fever, rheumatism, dysentery, and snake-bites. A rheumatic old wolf
would bathe in the warm waters of a sulphur spring; a sick and feverish
deer would eat the fresh leaves of healing ferns, while a wounded hog or
bear would always seek a red-clay bath to heal the wounds. Sick dogs
will invariably eat certain weeds, and an unwell cat will seek healing
mints and grasses.
Old hunters tell us that a deer after having been chased for several
hours by dogs, and after having escaped them by swimming a cold stream,
will, upon reaching safety, lie down in the ice and snow. If a man did
such a thing, he would immediately die. But not so with the deer, for he
will arise about every hour and move around to exercise himself, and on
the morrow he is perfectly well. The same animal, shut up in a warm barn
for the night, as has many times been demonstrated with circus animals,
will be dead by morning.
From this natural method of healing, mankind may learn much, and
especially as it pertains to the treatment of extreme heat, cold,
exhaustion, and paralysis of the muscles, and most especially sores and
wounds. I have seen a wounded hog that had been badly bitten by a dog,
wallow in rich red mud to stop the flow of blood.
It is a common practice for a raccoon actually to amputate a diseased
leg, or one that has been wounded by a gunshot, and wash the stub in
cool flowing water. When it is healing, he licks it with his tongue to
massage it, and also to stop the pain and reduce the swelling. This
wisdom is often classed by the unknowing under the term instinct,
whereas it displays no less skill and knowledge than that of our modern
surgery. The intelligence of the raccoon stands very high in the animal
world.
Foxes, when caught in a trap, will very often gnaw off a limb. This
requires a special power and a moral energy that few men possess.
William J. Long, in the _Outlook_, tells of an unusual proof of animal
surgery in the case of an old muskrat that had cut off both of his
forelegs, probably at different times, and had grown very wise in
avoiding man-made traps, and when found, had covered the wound with a
sticky vegetable gum from a pine tree. "An old Indian who lives and
hunts on Vancouver Island told me recently," said Mr. Long, "that he had
several times caught beaver that had previously cut their legs off to
escape from traps, and that two of them had covered the wounds thickly
with gum, as the muskrat had done. Last spring the same Indian caught a
bear in a deadfall. On the animal's side was a long rip from some other
bear's claw, and the wound had been smeared thickly with soft spruce
resin. This last experience corresponds closely with one of my own. I
shot a bear years ago in northern New Brunswick that had received a
gunshot wound, which had raked him badly and then penetrated the leg. He
had plugged the wound carefully with clay, evidently to stop the
bleeding, and then had covered the broken skin with sticky mud from the
river's brink, to keep the flies away from the wound and give it a
chance to heal undisturbed. It is noteworthy here that the bear uses
either gum or clay indifferently, while the beaver and muskrat seem to
know enough to avoid the clay, which would be quickly washed off in the
water."
Animals not only know how to doctor themselves when they are sick, but
some of them, such as the fox, have learned how to make artificial heat
by covering green leaves with dirt. And while they do not make fire,
their homes are often heated in this practical way, and thus sickness
avoided. Domestic horses and dogs wear hats in summer, and possibly in
the future they will learn the enormous importance of wearing clothes!
Trained monkeys already take great delight in dressing up, and dogs
like smart suits.
Monkeys show the greatest interest and brotherly love when one of their
number is injured. Watson tells of a female monkey that was shot and
carried into a tent. Several of her tribe advanced with frightful
gestures, and only stopped when met with a gun. The chief of the tribe
then came forward, chattering and remonstrating vigorously. But as he
came nearer, there was every evidence of grief and supplication for the
body. As he was given the body, he affectionately took it in his arms
and slowly moved to his companions, and like a silent funeral procession
they all walked away.
Nor does their interest cease with life, for we are told by no less
authority than Col. Theodore Roosevelt of a large grizzly bear that was
discovered lying across the trail in the woods. The hunter shot her as
she was preparing to charge him, and later he examined the spot where
she was lying, and found that it was the newly made grave of her cub.
Evidently some animal had killed the cub in her absence, and she, in her
grief, was determined to avenge the wrong by lying in wait for the
enemy.
Public meetings for civic council and religious worship are not confined
to man alone. In Macgrave's _History of Brazil_ we are told of a
species of South American monkey known as the ouraines, which the
natives call preachers of the woods. These highly intelligent creatures
assemble every morning and evening, when the leader takes a place apart
from the rest and addresses them from his pulpit or platform, Having
taken his position, he signals to the others to be seated, after which
he speaks to them in a language loud and rapid, with the gestures of a
Billy Sunday, the audience listening in profound silence. He then
signals again with his paws, when all cry out together in apparently
confused noises, until another signal for silence comes from their
leader. Then follows another discourse, at the close of which the
assembly disperses. Macgrave attempts no explanation as to the object of
these addresses; but if his accounts be true, surely they must have as
much meaning for the monkeys as many of our public lectures and church
services have for us! No doubt much of the advice imparted concerns the
personal and collective welfare of the tribe members.
IX
SELF-DEFENCE AND HOME-GOVERNMENT
_"In the days of yore, when the world was young,
Sages of asses spoke, and poets sung;
In God's own book we find their humble name,
Some enrolled upon the scroll of fame."_
There is no phase of animal life which is more interesting than that
through which Nature governs and protects her children. Each and every
species of animal possesses the method of self-defence and protection
best adapted to it. Most of the larger animals are of themselves so
powerful that they need no protection other than that afforded by their
strength, while most of the weaker and less aggressive animals are
provided with some special method of defence.
The tiger, lion, panther, and wolf have formidable claws and teeth;
while the shark has such immense jaws that he can sever the head of a
goat at one bite. And most of them are in reality tyrants. They rule by
tyranny--the oppression of the weak by the strong, whether that strength
be physical or mental,--a trait as common in animals as in man. Among
the animals it takes the commonest form, and they not only oppress the
weak, but actually kill and eat them, even though they oftentimes are
members of the same family. They are exactly like human cannibals, no
better and no worse.
Flight is perhaps the simplest and most natural method of defence. The
swifter animals, however, such as deer, gazelles, and hares, which may
easily escape by running their fastest, do not always use this method,
but have other means so ingenious as to be real arts. Wolves, when they
see that they are outnumbered, will sometimes escape by following the
exact tracks of a single leader through the snow, and from all
appearances only one has passed the way over which a hundred may have
gone. Hares will separate and run in opposite directions, while
gazelles, if too closely pursued, will jump to one side and lie flat on
the earth to escape notice, and as soon as the enemies have passed, run
in the opposite direction.
It oftentimes happens that aggressively disposed animals, like cowardly
men, are apt to try battle with the unlikeliest adversaries. A
missionary from India tells the story of an alligator who was enjoying a
noonday sleep on the bank of a river, when an immense tiger emerged
from the jungle, made straight for the sleeping saurian until within
leaping distance, when he sprang on the alligator's back, and gained a
strangle hold before the sleeping monster could awake. At first the
tiger was master, for the alligator could not bring his huge jaws into
action, and while lashing viciously at the tiger with his tail, he was
dragged into the jungle. What happened there no one could see, but in a
few moments the tiger dashed out of the jungle and disappeared in the
cane brakes, and the alligator reappeared and crawled into the water.
The ape and the baboon are the most skilled of all animals in making
their flight. They use every method known to man, and because of their
swiftness of action excel man in certain ways. Like man, in the face of
danger, they show great bravery and never lose their presence of mind.
The ape is fast disappearing before man, but against other animals and
Nature he can well protect himself. He is even braver than the lion, who
in captivity allows himself to be petted, but rarely is this true of the
ape, and then only when conditions seem insurmountable.
In making his escape from an enemy, the ape directs his flight in the
most self-possessed and human-like way, never losing his head, and
taking advantage of the first shelter or protection that he meets; if
the young, or females, or aged linger behind, a strong army of males
bravely returns to rescue them at the danger of losing their own lives.
Many of their brave deeds, if recorded in history, would compare
favourably with those of mankind! Too often has a poor, sickly ape,
which by his very feebleness allowed himself to be captured and placed
in a zoo, been compared to human beings. Even in spirit and movements he
has been considered as a human caricature and heaped with ridicule. We
have continually considered his defects, without noticing his better
qualities. We would have a much higher idea of his great family, if we
would take a human derelict and compare him to an ape ruler! This
comparison would be more just.
Certain of the baboon tribes which live among the rocks of high
mountains and cliffs, if pursued by enemies, protect themselves by
ingeniously rolling immense stones down upon their foes. They also hurl
with great force small stones about the size of one's hand. As these
tribes have each from one hundred to three hundred members, they
constitute a formidable grenade army!
In addition to their skilled methods of flight, the baboons, apes, and
monkeys come next to certain of the cat tribes as the greatest fighters
in the animal world. This is astonishing when we remember that these
animals are not professional warriors, nor do they have to fight to
obtain their food. Their greatest defence is their quickness and powers
of biting. When they are attacked by a dog, they usually bite off a foot
or an ear, or leave him minus a tail!
One of the bravest and fiercest of fighters is the bull-dog. Three of
these animals together have been known to capture and hold a large bull.
Deer, when fighting among themselves, often play more than anything, and
are not serious. Red deer seldom injure one another with their long
antlers, but they could easily kill a dog or even a man. Stags, however,
often fight to death, in some instances locking horns and tumbling over
a precipice.
The most ingenious of all the horned fighters is the sable antelope,
whose clever system of self-defence might well be taught in war-schools.
His horns are long, sharp-pointed, and bend backwards. When wounded, or
attacked by wolves or dogs, he lies down, and scientifically covers his
back by rapid fencing with his pointed horns. He can quickly kill any
dog that attacks him in this way.
Occasionally great battles take place between a buffalo and a lion, or
more often two or three lions attack a buffalo, who rarely escapes them.
The strength of a lion is almost beyond our comprehension when we
remember that one can actually carry a cow over an ordinary-sized fence.
[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT HAS MANY MEANS OF DEFENCE, NOT THE LEAST OF
WHICH IS HIS AGILITY IN CLIMBING TO INACCESSIBLE PLACES.]
[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History, New York_
WILD BOARS ARE AMONG THE MOST FEROCIOUS OF ANIMALS. BY MEANS OF THEIR
GREAT STRENGTH ALONE THEY ARE WELL ABLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES.]
A most unique fighter is the giraffe. He has neither claws nor sharp
teeth with which to defend himself; so, if he gets angry with one of his
kind, he deliberately uses his long neck like a pile driver would use a
sledge hammer. Swinging it round and round, he lets his head descend
upon his adversary like a heavy ax! The two animals use the same kind of
tactics, and bracing themselves so as to stand the blows, they fight
until one has to give in. Their heads are furnished with two small
knob-like horns which only protect them from the heavy blows without
serving as offensive weapons.
Most singular and amusing of all methods of self-defence are those which
entirely depend for their efficiency upon bluff, or pretence. The
chameleon, for example, erects his snake-like hood, though he is
harmless, and at the most could scarcely injure the smallest animal.
Equally curious are the methods of skunks and polecats, which project
against enemies a highly disagreeable fluid.
Passive modes of defence are as many and varied as are the active; one
of the strangest and most inexplicable of these is that known as
spontaneous amputation, technically termed autotomy. The lizard, for
example, when captured, will abruptly break loose his tail in order to
escape; and certain wood rats, when caught, loosen the skin on their
tails and deliberately slip away. Autotomy not only permits flight, but
also defends the animal against the most adverse conditions. Nearest
akin to this--defence by means of amputation--is the practice of bears
and raccoons of amputating their limbs when caught in steel traps.
Mimicry, which is treated under another chapter, comes under the head of
passive defence, and form and colour play an important part in it.
Strangely enough, animals which have never resorted to mimicry as a
means of protection, when associated with others who practice it, take
on the habit themselves. This may possibly be due to the fact that new
enemies are constantly arising.
As human sharpshooters dress in garments of the same colour as the woods
in which they hunt, so many animals use this principle of imitation. The
colour of most animals is very similar to their surroundings. This
enables them to lie in wait for prey, a practice as old as the hillsides
with animals. They have learned the extreme value of silence, and that
they must remain at times motionless. This is especially noticeable with
crocodiles, which wait for whole days without moving, concealed in the
water or deep grass, until their prey comes within striking distance,
when they pounce upon it. The same is true of the python snake, which
hangs from a tree so immovable that he appears like a vine or a branch
of the tree. If an animal attempts to pass, he drops upon it.
Perhaps the most unique and successful method of passive defence is the
feigning of death, or "playing 'possum" met with in several animals,
such as the red fox, the opossum, occasionally the elephant, and several
of the snakes. On many occasions I have been 'possum hunting in the
South and found my dog barking at an apparently dead 'possum. As soon as
these animals are approached by larger and stronger enemies, they drop
absolutely motionless on the ground and close their eyes as though they
were dead. Here they remain until the enemy either destroys them,
carries them away, or leaves them alone. If left alone for a few
moments, they immediately spring to their feet and make their escape.
Elephants often feign death when captured, in order to gain their
liberty. Animal catchers tell many interesting tales of elephants
feigning weakness from which they fall to the earth and later apparently
die. In many instances the fastenings are removed from their legs and
head and the carcass is abandoned as useless, when to the utter
astonishment of all--before the captors get out of sight--the animal
springs up and dashes away to the forest, screaming with joy at the
triumph of its deception.
Many animals deliberately assume a frightful, terrifying or grotesque
appearance. This they do by inflating their bodies, by erecting hair,
skin, or folds, or by unusual poses. Darwin speaks of the hissing of
certain snakes, the rattle of the rattle-snake, the grating of the
scales of the echis, each of which serves to frighten or terrify the
enemy.
Bluffing is another form of defence that many animals use. The cobra,
for example, when disturbed, raises its immense hood in a most
terrifying attitude! Many of the lizards use the same tactics; while the
horned toads of America when disturbed actually eject blood from their
eyes. Every one is familiar with the cat's habit of raising the fur on
his back when molested by a dog. All bluffing animals, when in danger,
try to assume a pose that will make them look most dangerous and
impressive to their enemies, and there is little doubt that in most
cases they succeed very well, for we have all seen a dog slink away from
a menacing cat.
The elk or moose, whose home is in the northern part of America and
Europe, is a powerful and large animal, sometimes seven feet in height,
and is able to endure much cold. He has many enemies among animals and
mankind, and during the summer season he is quite able to protect
himself, but in winter there is considerable danger from hordes of
wolves. This is especially true just after a heavy snowstorm, if the
snow is wet and melting. When it is dry and frozen, he can travel over
it with great speed, and this he does by a most unusual trot which
carries him along much faster than the trotting gait of a horse. Thus he
is able to escape the hungry, carnivorous wolves, whose courage
increases with appetite. If crowded too close, he is able also to
protect himself by the most terrific blows of his fore-feet.
But when the spring weather sets in, and the snows begin to melt
underneath, leaving the upper crust sufficiently strong to support the
weight of lighter and smaller animals, such as wolves, especially when
they travel swiftly, he is in great danger. For with every step he sinks
to the belly in the snow, while his enemies can walk right up to his
head and shoulders without his being able to strike or paw them with his
dangerous hoofs. The advantage seems to be with the wolves, and if ever
they bring the moose to bay in the snow, his life is doomed. For they
care little for his arrow-like horns, but boldly jump at his throat and
kill him. Herein comes the elk's wisdom--he deliberately sets to work,
before the snow melts, and builds for himself and family an elk-yard,
which is nothing more than a large space of ground on which the snow is
smoothed or trampled down until it becomes a hard surface on which he
can walk; it is also surrounded by a high wall of snow, through which
are certain exits that allow him to pass out, if he desires. All the
enclosed space is not smoothed down, but parts of it only are cut up
into roads through which he may pass very swiftly. Woe unto the daring
wolves that enter his snowy fortification--his "No Man's Land"--- for
sure death awaits them!
A sense of law, order, government; the sacredness of family ties--all
these aid in the protection of animals. Family life with them originated
just as it did in the human world. The social instinct and the moral
sentiments which arise from social relations in man and animal are the
same. Moral obligations, especially in relation to family ties and
conjugal unions of animals, are in many cases sacred binders to such
ties. The bear, for example, is proverbial for his conjugal
faithfulness. The married life of most animals is strictly moral, and
most of them are monogamists and have reached the highest form of family
association and life.
In those places where they live promiscuously, it gives them the same
protection in herds as it does among our lower savages. Cattle, sheep,
and horses unite for mutual protection; wolves band together in packs;
and after they have been domesticated there is still not only a strong
desire to band together for social purposes, but also to hold courts of
justice. It sometimes happens that an angered husband takes the law in
his hands, like uncivilised men, and beats his wife.
In the development and organisation of social and civil life the horse
and the goat hold the foremost position. It corresponds to that of man
among the lower animals. They do not believe in monarchies, but strictly
in republics, or rather, a democracy where all power comes from the
working class. The claims of the working class to the exercise of
supreme control in all political affairs are practically realised. Among
a herd of wild Arabian horses, the leading stallion, or so-called king,
is really only the father of the tribe; his functions are paternal
rather than regal. If he may be said to reign in a certain sense, the
true workers rule, and his scouts and sentinels obey his wishes which
the workers have influenced and formulated.