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[Illustration: A GREEDY BOY'S THANKSGIVING DREAM.]
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=Relative Age of Animals.=--The average age of cats is 15 years; of
squirrels and hares, 7 or 8 years; rabbits, 7; a bear rarely exceeds 20
years; a dog lives 20 years, a wolf 20, a fox 14 to 16; lions are
long-lived, the one known by the name of Pompey living to the age of 70.
Elephants have been known to live to the age of 400 years. When
Alexander the Great had conquered Porus, King of India, he took a great
elephant which had fought valiantly for the king, and named him Ajax,
dedicated him to the sun, and let him go with this inscription,
"Alexander, the son of Jupiter, dedicated Ajax to the sun." The elephant
was found with this inscription 350 years after. Pigs have been known to
live to the age of 20, and the rhinoceros to 29; a horse has been known
to live to the age of 62, but they average 25 or 30; camels sometimes
live to the age of 100; stags are very long-lived; sheep seldom exceed
the age of 10; cows live about 15 years. Cuvier considers it probable
that whales sometimes live 1000 years. The dolphin and porpoise attain
the age of 30; an eagle died at Vienna at the age of 104; ravens have
frequently reached the age of 100; swans have been known to live to the
age of 300. Mr. Malerton has the skeleton of a swan that attained the
age of 200 years. Pelicans are long-lived. A tortoise has been known to
live to the age of 107 years.