numbers, though doubtless diminished by more than one-half within this
century, are probably to be counted by the hundred thousand.
Nevertheless, in less than a hundred years the field which they occupied
has been greatly reduced; and between the ivory hunter and the sportsman
of our brutal race armed with guns of ever-increasing deadliness, it
will certainly not require another century of free shooting to
annihilate the African species. In view of the present condition of the
life of these noble beasts, it seems in a high measure desirable that a
thorough-going effort should be made to extend the domestication to the
point where the form will not only be won from the wilds, but will be a
permanent element in our civilization, in the manner of our common
flocks and herds. It will be an enduring shame if, by neglect of our
opportunities, the utmost is not done to attain this end. It appears fit
that this task should be undertaken by the British Government, which in
modern days has displayed a skill and forethought in the administration
of its Indian provinces unexampled in the history of colonies. Owing to
the slow breeding-rate of the elephant, it may require more than a
century for experiments to attain any definite result, so that the task
is clearly beyond the limits of individual endeavor.
Among the humbler helpers of man, the pig holds an important place. He
has had no small share in the betterment of the estate of his masters.
One of the large questions which beset men in their unconscious
endeavors to lay the foundations of civilization was that of
food-supply. No sooner does a population become sedentary than the
wildernesses about its dwelling-place are rapidly cleared of the large
game, so that the chase affords but little save amusement. Therefore a
provision in the way of meat has to be obtained from domesticated
animals. The flocks and herds supply this need, though in a costly way.
Sheep have a value for their wool; horned cattle develop slowly, and
are, moreover valuable, the oxen for their strength and the cows for
their milk. Horses are too valuable to be used for food, save in times
of exceeding stress; and none but the lowest savages are willing to send
their faithful dogs to the pot. From the beginning of his experience
with man the pig has been found the cheapest and most serviceable
domesticated animal as a source of food-supply.
We can trace the origin of our domesticated pigs more clearly than in
the case of the most of the other subjugated animals. The creature is
evidently descended from the wild boar of Europe and Asia; and though
long under domestication and greatly varied from its primitive stock,
it readily reverts to something like its original form when allowed to
betake itself once more to the wilds. The domestication of the species
appears to have been accomplished at several different points in Asia
and Europe. The forms which are found in eastern Asia differ from those
which are kept in the western portion of the great continent, and may
have their blood commingled with that of another species which is
native in that part of the world.
Among our domesticated animals the pig is exceptional in the fact that
it has been bred for its flesh alone; for although the hide is
valuable and the hair serves certain purposes, as in the manufacture
of brushes, these uses are only incidental and modern. They have not
affected the plan of the breeder, whose aim has been to produce the
largest weight of flesh in the shortest time, and with the least
expenditure of food. In this peculiar task the success has been
remarkable, the creature having been made to vary from its primitive
condition in an extraordinary manner. In its wild state the species
develops slowly, requiring, perhaps, three or four years to attain its
maximum size. It never becomes very fat, but remains an agile,
swift-footed, and fierce tenant of the wilds. Under the conditions of
subjugation the pig has been brought to a state in which its qualities
of mind and body have undergone a very great change. In the more
developed breeds, even the males, when kept about the barnyard, are
quiet-natured and not at all dangerous. The creatures have become
slow-moving; they attain their full development in about half the time
required for the growth of their wild kindred, and when adult they may
outweigh them in the ratio of four to one.
The effect arising from the food-supply which our pigs afford is well
seen in the use which is made of their flesh in all the ruder work of
men, at least in the case of those of our race. Our soldiers and
sailors are to a great extent fed on the flesh of these creatures,
which lends itself readily to preservation by the use of salt. So
rapidly can these animals be bred, owing to the number of young which
they produce in a litter and the swiftness of their growth, that
sudden demands for an increase in the supply, such as occurred at the
outbreak of our civil war, can quickly be met. If the need should
arise, the quantity of pork produced in this country could readily be
doubled within eighteen months. This is the case with no other source
of flesh-supply, and this fact gives the pig a peculiar importance.
Owing to the remarkably complete domestication of this animal, and
also to the fact that it is omnivorous, the creature has ever been a
favorite with the cotter class. Those folk, who can afford neither
sheep nor horned cattle, can often provide the food for pigs, and
thus, in turn, be much better fed than they would otherwise be.
It is only within two centuries that our pigs have attained to
anything like the domestication in which we commonly find them. Of old
they were allowed to range the forests, much as they do in certain
parts of our Southern States at the present day. In some parts of
Europe, particularly in the southern portion of the continent, this
method of rearing and feeding is still common. It was and is
advantageous, for the reason that the creature, by its remarkably keen
sense of smelling and its singular capacity for overturning the
ground, is able to provide itself with abundant food in the way of
grubs and roots which are not at the disposition of any other animal.
It was only as the public forests disappeared that pigs came to
receive any considerable part of their provender from the products of
tilled fields. In this stage of our agriculture, when all the land was
possessed, the life of the pig was necessarily more restricted, and he
became the denizen of a pen. In the earlier state there was no cost
for his keeping; in the latter, except so far as he could be fed from
the waste of a household, he is an expensive animal.
It is with this last state of the pig, when he became the most housed
of our domesticated animals, that the work of the breeder really
began. The aim of those who have developed the pig has been, as we
have said, to obtain the most rapid growth along with the greatest
weight of fat, and to accomplish the results with the least
expenditure in the way of food. Although the animal has been subjected
to selective experiments, looking to these ends, for not more than a
century, or say about forty generations of the species, the amount of
variation which has been attained is singularly great, the form and
habits having been changed more rapidly, and in a larger measure, than
in the case of any other of our domesticated animals. It may fairly be
said that this creature is more obedient to the will of the practical
selectionist than any other with which we have experimented.
It is commonly assumed that our pigs are among the least intelligent
of the creatures which man has turned to his use. This impression is
due to the fact that the conditions in which these animals are kept
insure their degradation by cutting them off from all the natural
mental training which wild animals, as well as the other tenants of
the fields, receive. In the state of nature or in the condition of
domestication which existed before pigs became captives in their
pens, they were among the most alert and sagacious animals with which
man has come in contact. Their wits were quick and their sympathies
with their kind remarkably strong. Trainers have found these
creatures more apt in receiving instruction than any other of our
mammals, and the things which they can be made to do appear to
indicate a native intelligence nearer to that of man than is found in
any other species below the level of the apes.
As there is little in the books of anecdotes of animals concerning
pigs, I venture to give an account of a learned individual of this
species whose performances I had an opportunity of observing in much
detail. The creature, an ordinary specimen about three years old, had
been trained by a peasant in the mountain district of Virginia who
made his living by instructing animals for show purposes. He stated
that in selecting pigs for education it was his practice to choose
those characterized by a considerable width between the eyes and
whose skulls projected in this part of their periphery to a more than
usual degree. He said that from many experiments he was satisfied
that there was a very great difference in the capacity of the animals
to receive training, and that the above-mentioned indices afforded
him sufficient guidance in his choice.
In the exhibition about to be described there were but three persons
present, myself, another spectator, and the showman. A score of cards
were placed upon the ground, each bearing a numeral or the name of
some distinguished person. These cards were in perfect disorder. I was
allowed, indeed, repeatedly to change their position and to mix them
up as I pleased. The pig was then told to pick out the name of Abraham
Lincoln and bring it to his master. This he readily did. He was asked
in what year Lincoln was assassinated. He slowly but without
correction brought one by one the appropriate numerals and put them on
the ground in due order. Half a dozen other questions concerning names
and dates were answered in a similar way. Each success was rewarded
with a grain of corn, and for his failures the creature received a
reasonable drubbing. It was evident that the animal had to consider in
making his choice of the cards. At times he was evidently much puzzled
and would indicate his perplexity by squealing.
It seemed clear that the master of this learned pig did not guide the
movements of the animal by other indications than words. The questions,
in some cases, had to be reiterated in a loud voice in order to insure
attention. Several times during the performance the pig rebelled, broke
from the tent, and was with difficulty recaptured. The creature
disliked this task in the manner of a lazy school-boy, and at the end
of an hour of exercises seemed utterly overcome by his labor. He ran
into the box where he was ordinarily confined, and when dragged forth,
neither rewards nor punishments would quicken him to further work.
The above-described exhibition made it plain to me that the pig can be
taught to understand a certain amount of human speech and to associate
memories with phrases substantially as we do ourselves. It is perfectly
clear that the performance which I witnessed was not a mere routine
action, for I had a number of questions asked over again so as to make
it sure that the creature acted with reference to each separate inquiry.
The behavior of the animal during the performance seemed clearly to
indicate mental effort and not mere automatic memory. His attitude when
trying to determine which of two cards to take distinctly showed that he
was intently viewing the figures and endeavoring to come to a decision.
I am aware it has been suggested that learned pigs discriminate between
the cards by peculiarities of odor which have been given to these bits
of paper. I sought carefully to find if such was the case, and though I
have a very keen sense of smell I found nothing which led me to suspect
that this device was used. Even if such were the case, the rationality
of the animal's action would be none the less clear. The showman assured
me that he never used any such means in training pigs. He seemed,
indeed, to treat the suggestion with contempt.
Although experiments in the training of pigs show that they have rather
remarkable intellectual capacities, the most human feature in their
mental organization is found in the keen sympathy which they exhibit
with the sufferings of their own kind and the willingness with which
they encounter danger in protecting their comrades. It usually requires
close observation for the naturalist to determine the existence of this
motive among the other wild or domesticated mammals. In fact, the
traces of it are very slight indeed, and are generally to be
attributed to the care of parents for offspring or of the males for
their harem--a disposition which, though akin to the defence of the
kind, is nevertheless of a special and peculiar nature. Even among our
domestic dogs, whose sympathies have been developed in a remarkable
degree and who will sacrifice their lives to defend or rescue the
human beings with whom they are familiar, there appears to be but
little disposition to support members of their species who may be
assailed. With pigs, however, as is well known to all those who have
observed their habits, the characteristic cry of distress of their
fellows proves very exciting and stimulates all the adults, both male
and female, who hear it to hasten in defence of their kinsmen. It is a
noteworthy fact that while most other animals when in danger utter no
distinct or continuous cry, the pig gives voice in a vociferous and
insistent manner, as if he had a right to expect the sympathy and help
of his species. The cry goes with the custom of defence which in this
species has attained a better foundation in the sympathetic motives
than in any other mammal below the level of man.
It is perhaps due to their relatively high intellectual organization
that the excessively domesticated pigs are liable to suffer from
attacks of mania. This is most commonly exhibited by the sows, which at
times will destroy their young shortly after they are born. The sight
of their progeny seems to infuriate them in a curious manner. One sow
which I owned killed three successive litters; another fine animal of
the Berkshire breed, a very amiable, indeed affectionate, creature, was
carefully watched at the time she first bore young, precautions being
taken to prevent her from harming them; she would willingly allow them
to suckle, provided she did not see them, but the moment she laid her
eyes upon them she was seized with the strange fury.
Although this singular perversion of the natural instincts of maternity
sometimes occurs among the pigs which are allowed to roam together in
herds, it seems to be far more common in those conditions where the
animals are confined in pens without contact with their kind, and where
they have no chance to recognize the young as members of their species
or to acquire that interest in them which they would gain in the
society of the herd. It is also clear that this maniacal habit is
inherited; according to my observation it is common among the
Berkshire, and relatively rare in other less specialized varieties.
The intelligence of the pig is also shown in the readiness with which
the creature changes its habits to meet varied environments. Thus the
pigs which range the woods in the western and southern parts of the
United States have learned to catch the crawfish which abounds in the
shallow streams in those parts of this country. They will wade up a
brook, turning over the stones and driftwood as they go, catching with
a quick movement the crustaceans which they have thus dislodged from
their cover. Along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, the pigs, accustomed
to follow the tide out, picking the chance food which is thus exposed
to them, have learned carefully to avoid the risk of being caught by
the returning waters. With the first splash of the turning tide they
hasten inshore until they have attained safe ground.
One of the best evidences of the mental state of these animals is
found in their actions when assailed by dogs or other beasts of prey.
Pigs, though wary and sensible of danger, seem exempt from the
extreme fear which leads to panic, and fight, even before being
brought to bay by long chasing, in a discreet and valiant manner.
Where a number of them are attacked by dogs or other enemies, they
will form a circle with their heads out, each supporting the other
in such a manner that the ring cannot readily be broken. Their
thick-skinned forequarters and stout tusks provide them with
excellent instruments with which to resist an assault.
The sagacity of the pigs is probably, in part at least, to be
attributed to the fact that in their native state they are communal
animals, all the species of their family being accustomed to live
gregariously, so that for ages they have had the training which every
social organization, however simple, affords. They are, moreover,
omnivorous feeders, accustomed to subsist on a great variety of
food--a habit which seems in all cases to promote the development
of the intelligence in animals.
Although the pigs by their nature afforded the best opportunity for
developing an intellectual animal which has come to us through our
domesticated creatures, no effort whatever has been made by selection to
develop the latent mental capacities of this species. It is perhaps the
only form of those which man has subjugated which by his treatment he
tends to degrade. In the time to come, when men will be held to a better
accountability for the treatment of their captives, the condition of
these animals will afford a fair field for the reformer's care.
The geologist who is acquainted with the mammalian life of the Middle
Tertiary period readily notes the fact that the variety in genera and
species appears to be much greater than it is at the present time. A
great number of forms, differing somewhat widely from those now in
existence, then abounded in the Americas and the Old World. It may at
first sight seem unfortunate that man did not have the chance to essay
his domesticative arts on that older and apparently richer life. A
closer examination, however, leads us to see that the species of that
time, though more numerous than those of the present, were on the whole
less fitted for our use than the fewer but more completely
differentiated kinds with which we have had to deal. The multitude of
kinds which we find in the Mesozoic period indicates that the life was
in a state more experimental than that to which it has attained. A host
of forms on their way towards the specialization which has now been
attained have been removed from the sphere, in the manner of a
scaffolding from a completed structure. That which has been left remains
because it has successfully accomplished the task of reconciliation with
environment, or, in simpler phrase, because it has learned to do things
which were useful and profitable in a more perfect manner.
As an illustration of the fact that the animals of to-day are better
fitted to be the help-meets of man than were their ancestors of an
earlier time, we may note the state of the horse at the time when that
genus was undergoing its development in the region about the upper
waters of the Missouri. As may be imagined, the long and difficult
passage from the five-toed to the single-toed form was slowly
accomplished, and to its doing went a great many temporary forms, which
served, we may say, as stepping-stones for the ongoing. So far as we can
judge, these intermediate forms were small, rather frail creatures,
which probably could not have been made to serve any purpose useful to
man. It was not until the mechanical system of the large single toe with
the wonderfully developed nail, which makes up the foot and hoof of the
horse, had been attained, that the creature becomes fit for the
wonderful work we have persuaded him to do in our civilization.
A comparison of the skulls of the Tertiary mammals and those of our own
day indicates that in certain of the important series, and presumably in
them all, the brain has increased in size from the earlier to the later
times. This increase in brain capacity has doubtless been attended by a
decided gain in the measure of intelligence, a gain which has doubtless
served to make the modern representatives of the series fitter for man's
use than their ancestors were. For, while the number of our very useful
domesticated forms may seem at first sight to be dull of wit, none of
them are really low in the intellectual scale as we apply it to the
brute; in fact, a considerable measure of intelligence is absolutely
required as a condition for true subjugation. This is seen by the fact
that nothing like a real adoption into our social system has ever been
accomplished except with a few of the higher orders of mammals and
birds, species which have an intellectual capacity that we recognize as
akin to our own. Thus, so far as we can see, man's appearance on this
stage was, so far as it relates to the possibility of companionship with
the lower life, exceedingly well timed. He came at a period when the
life was ready to give him and to receive from him a large measure of
help. If his advent had been much earlier, he might have had less
trouble in his contests with the larger carnivora; but if there had been
a lack of beasts to obey his will, it is doubtful whether he could
himself have won his way above that primitive life.
DOMESTICATED BIRDS
Domestication of Animals mainly accomplished by the Aryan Race;
Small Amount of Such Work by American Indians.--Barnyard Fowl:
Mental Qualities; Habits of Combat.--Peacocks: their Limited
Domestication.--Turkeys: their Origin; tending to revert to the
Savage State.--Water Fowl: Limited Number of Species domesticated;
Intellectual Qualities of this Group.--The Pigeon: Origin and
History of Group; Marvels of Breeding.--Song Birds.--Hawks and
Hawking.--Sympathetic Motive of Birds: their AEsthetic Sense;
their Capacity for Enjoyment.
It is an interesting fact that about all the work of domestication which
has been done by man has been accomplished by the peoples of Asia and
mainly by the Aryan race. The American Indians tamed the llama and
alpaca and a few species of native plants; even where their habits were
prevailingly sedentary they domesticated no birds. It was left for
Europeans to make use of the wild turkey. Our primitive people had the
same chance to tame ducks and geese as the folk of the Old World. They
appear, however, to have lacked all capacity for such endeavors. The
same lack of disposition to capture and tame wild creatures is
noticeable among the characteristic peoples of Africa; all of which
serves to show that the domesticating art, at least as applied to
animals, is peculiar to the higher-grade folk of the Old World.
Of all the birds which have been domesticated, our common barnyard fowl
has been by far the most useful to man. It has become in a way
interwoven with his life to a degree found only in a few of our barnyard
animals. Next after the pigeons and the pigs it has been most deeply
impressed by the breeder's art. The wild species whence it sprang is a
small creature, laying but few eggs and with but a slight tendency to
accumulate fat. From this parent stock varieties have been bred which
attain in some cases to eight or ten times the weight of the ancient
form. They have, moreover, lost the fierce combative spirit which
characterizes their ancestors and which by selection has been preserved
and intensified in our breeds of game-cocks.
[Illustration: The Original Jungle Fowl (_Gallus bankiva_)
and Some of His Domestic Descendants]