recklessness in man, are as distinctly marked characters among the
_Felidæ_ as their peculiar dentition or retractile claws; yet the
author was informed by Colonel W. H. Harness that last summer (1893) a
very large panther, as the animal is called in West Virginia, walked
into an extensive logging camp near the town of Davis at midday;
traversed one wing of the long building in which the men employed
slept, and without making any demonstration of hostility towards those
who fled before him, entered their dining-room and helped himself to
the meat on the table; after which he quietly passed out of a side
door, and was shot from a window. If this beast had been broken down
with age or disabled by accident so that it could not hunt, or if the
season and weather had been such as to banish game from the vicinity,
its conduct might be comprehensible. This happened with an animal in
perfect physical condition, and at a season when the mountains were
full of game. The brute also must necessarily have connected all the
men it knew anything about with death-dealing firearms, and that it
then should have walked into a crowd, and lost its life in this act of
seemingly idiotic bravado, simply sets at naught everything that is
known of the creature’s character and habits.
Pumas, like Asiatic panthers, are easily caught in traps, but
independently of this form of incapacity, they are far from being
wanting in sagacity. Cougars are most accomplished hunters, and it has
been explained how much that means. One of them, for example, will
sometimes trail a human being for a day’s journey without finding what
it considers to be a suitable opportunity for making an attack.
The best and most intimate acquaintance with the character of a wild
beast comes from those associations involved in domestication. When
you have brought up an animal and been with it constantly day by day,
the chances of finding out what it is like are better than they could
be under any other conditions whatever. Prince Maximilian of Nieuwied,
states that the puma is “peculiarly susceptible of domestication.”
It does not appear, however, that he made any experiments in this
direction, and it may be suspected that if he had, certain reasons for
modifying his views upon the animal’s character would have suggested
themselves during their course. A cougar is a cat, and in virtue of
that fact is, as has been said, of all animals the least susceptible
of radical change. Sanderson and Barras make a wide distinction
between feline species, considered as amenable or refractory to such
influences; and nothing is offered in the way of disparagement to their
opinions, provided it be admitted that a young tiger may be a much
more amiable and interesting infant than a panther cub, and, according
to Gérard, a lion whelp attaches all hearts by its good qualities.
But there soon comes a time at which traits inherent in them all are
developed, and when they become strikingly alike in all their essential
characteristics.
The writer bears in affectionate remembrance a pet “panther” who, from
earliest life until his complete and splendid maturity, lived with
him upon terms of the closest companionship. Every one who seriously
studies anecdotes of brute intelligence and character must necessarily
distrust them. Their authors always, either directly or by implication,
put inference in the place of observation, or they start with a
hypothesis, the tendency of which is to assimilate evidence, and often,
no doubt unconsciously, fit facts to their own preconceptions. It is
hoped that the records of daily observation here made use of for the
purpose of sketching traits of character, may not prove to be without
some interest and value, and that their fragmentary and incomplete
form will witness to the fact that nothing is given which seemed to be
either speculative or unauthentic.
One sultry morning as the author sat at ease in his sala, an Indian
entered and said he had heard that the Señor delighted in wild beasts,
so that having by the help of God, some saints, and several friends,
slain the mother of this little lion in the Golden Mountains, he had
brought it there as a mark of respect, and would like to have seven
Spanish dollars. Here he unrolled his _serape_ and deposited a ball of
indistinctly striped and spotted fur upon the floor. In that manner
this puma of pumas came into the keeping of his guardian.
The latter impressed with a sense of the responsibilities attaching to
the position in which he was placed, at once sprinkled the cub with
red wine and called it Gato,--a procedure it resented as if the spirit
of Constantine Capronymus himself had entered into its sinful little
body. The rage of infancy, however, does not endure, and Gato shortly
“serened himself,” to use the idiom of the country, where these things
took place. He inspected his new acquaintance, rubbed up against him,
had his head scratched with much complacency, and graciously ate as
much as he could hold. Thus we made friends, and the compact was ever
after kept by both parties, each in his own way.
The panther’s way was a very simple one. It consisted in looking to
the being he had come in contact with for everything he wanted, and
resolutely refusing to enter into intimate communications with any one
else. Nobody who knew him could say that the least feeling of affection
ever warmed his heart, but it was plain enough that while he contemned
the human race, one man was tolerated, and a distinction made between
him and all others. Some individuals he detested at first sight, and
resented the slightest approach to familiarity. For the remainder he
entertained a quiet contempt; but as for fearing them, nothing was
further from his thoughts. So far as that went, it is very doubtful
whether he ever felt any real dread of his guardian. Some feeling akin
to respect may have existed in his mind. His powers of observation
were keen and quick, he saw that this particular person differed in
appearance from those about him, acted differently, and was somehow
or other not the same as they. If he got into difficulties, and was
likely to suffer the consequences of misconduct, hostilities against
him ceased when his friend appeared upon the scene; he understood this
perfectly, and took refuge with him when danger threatened. As was
said, Gato had no affectionate impulses so far as could be certainly
known. When he wanted to be stroked, or was hungry, or wished to play,
or felt insecure, he came to his guardian, followed him about, and lay
beside him. Moreover, the little savage was jealous. If he beheld a
dog it always put him in a passion to see it coming towards his master
to be caressed. He would fly to get ahead, dance about, jump on his
knee, and growl and show his teeth with every sign of anger against the
intruder upon his rights.
Colonel Julius Barras (“India and Tiger Hunting”) speaks of the
jealousy shown by tiger cubs in his possession, but whereas he was
satisfied that this was an expression of tenderness towards himself,
the writer thinks it more likely to have been an exhibition of
selfishness. Gato manifested at a very early age an appreciation of
his own possessions, and a determination to do things after his own
fashion. So far from checking this by force, his guardian encouraged
it, and after having come to a clear understanding with him on the
subject of biting and clawing, left him alone to follow his own
devices. He was a very sagacious personage, and there was not a drop of
cowardly blood in his whole body. When he was a baby there was little
to distinguish him, while at rest, from some domestic cats, but he no
sooner began to move about than his free wild air, the unmistakable
style of savagery that stamped every action, showed him in another way.
It may be added that, being left free to exhibit his individuality,
and not having his family and personal characteristics marred or
masked by enforced restraint until the creature grew dull, apathetic,
and half imbecile, he was as pretty a specimen of feline peculiarity
as any one could expect to see. Nothing was clearer to him than that
the many-colored rug he was accustomed to lie on was his own. He had
favorite places in which to sleep, meditate, and make observations.
It would have been disagreeable indeed for any servant about the
establishment to take off his bright silver collar after he grew to
any size, and when he captured anything and put it away, that article
became his private property, and he had no notion of giving it up.
Candor compels the admission that flattering as would have been some
tokens of disinterested affection, he never gave any. What he did
was to please himself. When he had no desire to be taught, which was
often the case, a more stupid, sulky, and unsatisfactory pupil could
not be imagined; but when his interest happened to be excited he was
quickness itself, and he seldom forgot. One might as well have caressed
a stuffed cat, or tried to romp with a dead one, as to have expected
any recognition of advances in these directions when Señor Gato felt
disposed to contemplation, and if compelled, as of course was the case
sometimes, to do anything against his humor, he was not accustomed to
leave any doubt about the disgust and anger which possessed him. From
first to last, always, and under all circumstances, he like Richard,
was “himself alone,” and never stooped to the snobbishness of pretence.
Thus it happened that although under fostering care and paternal rule
the creature grew in grace continually, he never became fitted to adorn
general society. The asperity of his nature easily showed itself; the
wild beast broke through the habitual dignity of his demeanor on small
provocation. Not even that to him, extraordinary person with whom he
was most intimate, and whose resources so powerfully impressed his
mind, might pull his ears or twist his tail after he grew up. This was
to pass the proper limits of familiarity, and whenever it happened he
crouched and glared with glistening fangs. That was all, however; no
act of hostility followed.
Gato began to stalk his guardian at an early age, but soon learned
that a statue of St. John the Evangelist was not alive, and gave
up his practices against the Apostle. He discovered likewise the
illusory character of shadows, which at one time were taken to be
substantialities, and somehow or other satisfied his mind about his own
reflection in a fountain when the wind ruffled its surface. This gave
him much concern for a while. Being accustomed to look at himself in a
glass, and to stand with his fore-paws on the edge of the basin and see
his reflection in still water, what perplexed and excited him was the
fact that it sometimes looked as if it moved while he was motionless.
Whether he found out about the ripple, nobody knows, but he stopped
tearing round the fountain and peering into it to see this thing from
different positions.
It was not until he was quite a good-sized animal that the pretence
of killing his guardian was given up. As the gravity of age grew
upon him, and those engaging pastimes of his childhood gave way
before the development of inherent traits, these playful hunts became
more rare and finally ceased. Both of us fully understood that this
stalking business was nothing but fun. In fact, Gato never fully
entered into the spirit of his part or displayed his powers to their
greatest advantage, unless he was closely watched. Then, however,
his acting was perfect. He got as far off as possible in the long,
gallery-like room, fastened his glowing eyes upon the pretended
victim, and from first to last showed how complete are the teachings
of heredity, both in all that he did and avoided doing. Nothing that
could favor his approach was neglected, no mistake was made. The
furniture might be differently arranged with design, lights and shadows
changed, new places of concealment, from which he could make his
mimic attack, constructed; but the animal’s tactics never failed to
alter in accordance with these arrangements, and to be the best that
circumstances admitted of. There is no doubt that he admired himself
greatly, and, so far as it was possible to judge, commendation was very
pleasing. He always expected to be complimented and caressed after
darting from an ambush which had been reached with much precaution, and
he reared up and rubbed his head against his friend, asking for praise
as plainly as possible.
This account is not intended to convey any principles of zoöpsychology,
but to record special facts relating to an animal whose family the
author looks upon as exceptional in respect to their savagery, and
who was himself, so far as the closest observation will warrant one
in making a sweeping statement about a wild beast, not recognizably
different in his characteristics from other members of the race he
belonged to, or average individuals of allied species. “_Magnum
hereditatis mysterium_” is a truth relating to the _process_ of
heredity alone; it has nothing to do with the fact that like produces
like, or that traits, from the most generalized to those which are
special, are undoubtedly transmitted. Here was a creature developed
through immemorial generations into a typical state of body and
mind. So far as the result is concerned, it does not make the least
difference whether this end was attained in the manner pointed out by
Darwin, or Galton, or Weismann. In Gato the whole personality, every
faculty and feeling, the functional and structural peculiarities of all
his tissues and tissue elements, were stamped with that impress which
the entire life of his savage ancestry entailed. On what grounds can it
be supposed that such perfectly superficial influences, as were brought
to bear upon him while under restraint, produce any radical change?
The alteration in demeanor manifested towards one person, and probably
effected through that self-interest which, in its general aspect, is
exhibited by all the higher animals, did not show that he had been, so
to speak, inoculated with civilized sentiments. On the contrary, he
gave a flat denial to that opinion every day, and was as essentially
a puma, pure and simple, at the hour of his death, as if he had never
seen a man.
It would, however, be a singular course of reasoning by which the
inference that all pumas were the same was drawn from this statement.
Besides the congenital variation that, to conceal our ignorance, we
say is involved in the plasticity of life, every organism has certain
acquired differences. Life is no more than a state dependent upon
continuous adjustments, and it can never exist in an identical degree
in separate beings, because neither the conditions themselves, nor
the power to fit body or mind to circumstances, is ever the same in
different individuals. Evolved structures, functions, and qualities
in groups, will be similar; for animals of all kinds must resemble
their direct progenitors; but individuality is not extinguished, and
as the race rises in capacity, or its members vary from an average,
personal traits become salient, and those dissimilarities produced by
alterations in the process by which existence is maintained, appear
more prominently.
Almost the entire body of emotions which Gato possessed as a beast
of prey, as well as his moral and intellectual traits, were beyond
the reach of any modifications that could be made artificially. He
was morose, cruel, treacherous, and blood-thirsty; but, it does not
follow that he was absolutely so, or that, when compared with other
pumas, these characteristics of his species were equally pronounced.
Observation enables the writer to say that this animal was more
intelligent, tractable, responsive, and reliable than any other beast
of the same kind with which he ever was brought into close association.
A direct parallel between men, even barbarous men, and brutes will
always fail. We do not know enough of the mental organization of either
even to apply terms justly; and more than this, the difference between
them in developmental states is so great that while the phenomena of
both are of the same order, and the language used in describing one
is applicable to the other, there are not close enough likenesses
between them to make comparisons possible. Those who have attempted
to frame psychological schemes, vitiated their work for the most
part by a false method, or invalidated the conclusions arrived at,
in consequence of preconceptions which biassed the temper in which
evidence was examined. Dr. W. L. Lindsay (“Mind in the Lower Animals
in Health and Disease”) recognized the relationship between psychical
manifestations wherever they took place, yet the influence, as in his
case, of this, among many other hypotheses, was almost certain to
make itself felt in the manner in which facts were regarded. On the
other hand, Professor Prantl (“Reformgedanken zur Logik”) excogitated
a metaphysical system for beasts from the standpoint of an assumption
that the chasm which separated them from humanity was impassable.
He admits their resemblance in essential nature. He agrees that the
dissimilarities which they exhibit are results of a difference in
evolutionary degree, and then his whole argument goes to show that
this is not the case, and that brute mind and human intellect are
radically distinct in structure and function. As this analysis of the
intelligence in mankind and inferior beings was made without reference
to facts, it is not surprising that they should be traversed by these
in all directions, and that almost everything which the Professor
asserts to be impossible, is well known to naturalists as a matter of
actual occurrence.
Gato himself set at naught many of his conclusions. He may not have
exhibited either love, gratitude, sense of duty, or that spirit of
self-sacrifice which dogs frequently, and other animals sometimes,
display, and there was no opportunity for judging of his social
instincts; but he certainly possessed the “time sense” that Prantl
attributes exclusively to man. His account of periods and seasons was
as accurate as possible; he measured intervals and knew when they came
to an end. Whether the ability to count beyond three existed, it
was impossible to determine. The three copper balls he used to play
with were exactly alike, and if one was missing, its absence never
failed to be noticed at once. If it occurred to him that it had been
taken away intentionally, he got angry or sulky, as the case might
be. During one part of his wardship, the periodical absences of his
only friend put him out greatly, because, so far as actions revealed
the creature’s feelings, they interfered with his comfort. He became
dangerous when grown, and occupied a room by himself, from which he was
not removed while his guardian was gone. Under ordinary circumstances
he was released for several hours every night, and when the time came,
if there was any delay, he began to call upon his comrade to let him
out, and grew fierce if not attended to. No one ever knew him to take
any violent exercise in this apartment, but the gymnastic performances
he went through outside were worth seeing. After being confined in
solitude a couple of days, which was the length of time his friend
generally remained absent, his eagerness to see him back became
excessive, according to all reports. He was restless, savage, and
sometimes refused to eat on the last evening. The servants said that
long before they themselves heard the horse’s tread, it might be known
from Gato that his liberator was coming. But he never welcomed him as a
dog or horse will do. He was full of exuberant vitality, endowed with
an intelligent interest in the strange things around him, which he
studied with continued interest, and inspired with an inherited passion
for liberty. This always showed itself first. No sooner was the door
opened than he darted out, intoxicated with being free, and it was not
until nervous tension had been relieved by violent muscular motion,
that he bethought himself of other matters.
To sit and watch a man take himself to pieces was pleasing but
puzzling. It was evident that boots were part of the body, because
his nose told him so. How could they be taken off, and why had these
feet their claws behind? A sword and pistol did not perplex his mind,
apparently, as much as the foot gear and spurs. The rapier he admired,
like all bright objects, but the firearm excited distrust as being,
perhaps, capable of going off spontaneously. He knew about revolvers,
but placed no confidence in them whatever. Having presided over
the strange process of taking off one skin and putting on another,
inspected the articles of clothing removed, and assured himself that
those assumed had really become part of the incomprehensible being who
did these things, he was ready for his own toilet, which was confined
to a gentle brushing of the head. This was expected, however, and was
suggested if it did not come soon enough. Then he was ready to go to
dinner, a pleasing interlude during which his manners were marked with
the greatest elegance and discretion. It was not appetite that moved
Gato--he had gratified that before; it was the performance itself.
Forks, for instance, those queer talons that were picked up and laid
down, excited his curiosity. He examined them, he ate from one with
propriety, their glitter attracted him, but he did not understand
the rationale of such devices, and their use never failed to fix
his attention. Moreover, on occasions when the amenities of social
intercourse were in order, he was peaceable enough; not affable by any
means, for he never noticed the attendants or appeared to be conscious
of their presence. Smoking afforded this observant creature much
satisfaction. Smoke itself, if puffed in his face, displeased him, but
the preliminaries, striking a match, and the wreaths that floated away
and vanished, all this he liked and pondered upon, as he did on certain
pictures hung around, and everything that for reasons which can only be
guessed at, excited wonder. Professor Prantl lays down the law that a
beast cannot think logically; nevertheless, and apart from other facts
which refute that decision, it was perfectly plain that Gato solved
some problems implying this power. After a course of observations and
experiments, it was discovered by him that shadows were not alive
because they moved, and then these ceased to be pursued. Much study
was requisite to arrive at a conclusion that the sunbeams reflected
from a mirror were of the same inanimate nature. This was settled to
his satisfaction only after great research. The creature saw this
thing done time and again before convincing himself of the resemblance
between those luminous shadows and the dark spectra which had formerly
deceived him.
Gato grew graver with age, and abandoned many amusements in which he
had at one time taken delight. It seemed to his guardian that there
was a steady development of his intellect, which showed itself in
everything he did. It would be too much to say that he was capable
of thinking about his own thoughts, but who shall decide that he was
not? With consciousness, memory, and a strong sense of personal
identity; filled with innate tendencies, through the medium of which he
interpreted external impressions; prone to contemplations that, as his
eye and changing attitudes indicated, were not vague, apathetic dreams,
no one can know that he did not revive mental states and meditate on
centrically initiated ideas.