The Dog Tribe
I have told you of several flesh-eating animals that are of the Cat
Tribe. But there are some flesh-eating animals that are of the Dog
Tribe. The most important one of these in the jungle is the _wolf_.
How can you tell the difference between the Cat Tribe and the Dog Tribe?
By the four qualities that the Cat Tribe has, and which the Dog Tribe
does not have.
I. The members of the Cat Tribe have four fangs. Those of the Dog Tribe
do not have fangs. They have special teeth of their own kind.
II. The members of the Cat Tribe have a rough tongue. Those of the Dog
Tribe have a tongue which is not quite so rough. They do not need a very
rough tongue, as they can scrape the meat from a bone with their teeth.
III. The members of the Cat Tribe have retractile claws. The Dog Tribe's
claws are rigid and stiff; that is, they are thrust out all the time.
The members of the Dog Tribe do not use their claws in seizing or
holding their prey; they hold the prey in their jaws.
IV. All of the Cat Tribe have padded paws: they have them for many
reasons, which I have mentioned on pages 71-72. But the paws of the Dog
Tribe are not so thickly padded with muscles. The Dog Tribe do not need
the thick padding of muscles, because:
1. They do not need to stalk their prey silently. They catch their prey
by running it down, as a greyhound catches a hare.
2. They do not strike down their prey with their paws, but seize it in
their jaws.
3. They do not need to give a _bound_ in catching their prey, so the
muscles under their feet need not act like _springs_.
The members of the Dog Tribe gain on their prey by moving their legs
_quickly_, not by covering a large amount of ground with each movement
of their legs. But the Cat Tribe do just the opposite: they do not move
their legs so quickly, but they cover a larger amount of ground at each
movement of their legs. As I have told you already, a dog _gallops_, but
a cat _bounds_. The dog's legs move much faster than the cat's, but the
cat gives a bigger jump than the dog each time.
_The American Gray Wolf_
I have said that the most important wild animal of the Dog Tribe is the
wolf. Wolves are found in every continent--Europe, America, Asia, and
Africa. And there are many species of wolves in these continents. I
shall tell you more about them in another book, but now I must tell you
about the American gray wolf.
There is in the United States one of the most wonderful animals in the
world--the American gray wolf. He is perhaps the only animal in the
world _that has beaten man_!
I mean this: Man has killed off many four-footed wild animals; that is,
he has killed so many of those animals in a place, that they have _died
out_ in that place. He has not succeeded in killing off the American
gray wolf.
In some places man has almost killed off certain animals, even when he
did not _want_ to do so. He killed the animal merely for sport or for
profit--but he did not want that species of animal to die out
altogether; for then he could not have any more sport or profit from it.
And yet, the hunter killed so many of that species of animal that it
has almost died out in some places. In this manner, as I have already
told you, almost all the elephants have been killed off in parts of
Africa, for the sake of sport or for the sake of the tusks. In the same
way, the buffalo has almost disappeared from the United States.
[Illustration: Gray Wolf
From a photograph copyrighted by the New York Zoological Society.]
But in the case of the American wolf, man _wanted_ to kill him off
altogether as a race of animals; and yet he has not been able to do so.
At first the hunter may have killed the wolf only for the sake of its
fur; but in the last few years the American farmer and the ranchman have
tried to wipe out the wolf altogether as a _pest_--because the wolf
kills their sheep and cattle. And yet, the wolf flourishes in the West.
He has beaten the farmer and the ranchman.
The wonderful part of it is that the American wolf has beaten man _by
his own efforts_. And for an animal to beat man in that manner is a
great achievement.
I have told you before that one animal has to use its gifts against
another animal, to protect itself from danger; for instance, the fish
has to look out for the jaguar, and the jaguar in his turn has to look
out for the alligator. But in that competition of the jungle, the
animal has generally to use its wits merely against another animal--not
against man. But the American wolf had to use his wits against man; and
he has beaten man, as I shall describe to you.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Gun_
About a hundred years ago, when people began to go West, they shot many
buffaloes, wolves, antelopes, and deer. They did that for sport or for
profit; they made a profit, because they sold the skins and other parts
of the animals' bodies. At that time the hunters did not want the
animals to be killed off altogether, but they actually killed so many of
these animals in a few years that the buffalo, the deer, and the
antelope became scarce. These particular animals, of course, tried to
use their wits to escape from the hunters. They did not succeed in doing
so. They fell as victims of the gun.
But not so the wolf. He began to use his wits against man and his gun.
He soon realized that man was his enemy and also that man could kill him
from a considerable distance. A wolf saw a man at a distance; then the
wolf heard a bang, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his body. That
wolf fell and died. But another wolf saw his brother die like that. He
set his wits to work. He concluded that the man had caused the bang
which made his brother fall and die. Hence the wolf realized that man
was dangerous to him, even at a distance. So after that the wolf
resolved to run away from man. And other wolves learned to do the same.
Of course, the whole race of wolves did not learn this lesson so
quickly. Many hundreds of wolves meanwhile fell victims to man's gun;
but a few wolves escaped. These few wolves also saw repeatedly that if
any of their brothers allowed a man to approach anywhere near him, he
was killed. So after seeing that happen many times, the surviving wolves
learned that they must always run away from the presence of man.
These few surviving wolves taught their children to do the same. Some of
these wolf children did not heed that lesson when they grew up; so they
too were killed. But a few of the wolf children remembered the lesson
when they grew up; so they escaped getting killed.
In turn these wolves also taught _their_ children to run away from the
presence of man. So in a few generations a race of wolves grew up in the
West that the hunter _did not even get the chance to shoot_.
That in itself was a great achievement for the wolf. Why? Because some
species of animals as a race do not learn so quickly to run away from
the mere presence of man; one or two animals personally may learn
quickly to do that, but not all the animals of a species. That is why
the buffaloes and some of the antelopes and deer in the West were wiped
out; they did not learn in those same few years to run away from the
presence of man. The wolves alone learned this, and they have survived
as a race.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Trap_
But the battle was not yet over. Seeing that his gun had now failed, man
used his wits to kill the wolf in another way. He set _traps_ for the
wolf; and he cunningly baited the traps with tempting food. Then the man
went away from the traps. He thought that because he was not himself
anywhere near the traps, the wolf would not be afraid to approach them.
Well, at first some wolves did go up to the traps, and were caught by
them.
But a few other wolves saw that fate of their unwary brothers. So those
surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover the cause of
this new danger. And after a time they saw the steel traps. "So, _this_
is our new enemy!" they said.
After that they avoided the traps, even if the traps were baited with
the most tempting food. And they taught their children to do the same.
So again man was beaten in this battle of wits. He found that the trap
could catch the wolf no more.
But man tried again. He _hid_ the trap cunningly under leaves or under
snow; only the tempting bait was placed in sight. He thought that
because the wolf could not now _see_ the trap, he would fall into it.
Well, some wolves did fall into it.
But a few other wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these
surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover a way of
detecting the traps. Perhaps they saw the hunter's footprints; or
perhaps they realized that the snow or the leaves covering the trap did
not look _natural_. You remember, in Book I, how Salar's father detected
a very tricky trap because the ground there did not look natural. Well,
in some way, the surviving American wolves detected the traps, even when
the traps were covered up. So after that they began to avoid these
_hidden_ traps, and they taught their children to do the same.
Man found himself beaten once more by the wolf in this battle of wits.
He found that the American wolf could not be caught even by a hidden
trap.
That again was a great achievement for the American wolf. Why? Because
even the elephant, clever as he is, gets caught at last by a tricky
trap, even if he avoids it for a long time. To do better than the
elephant is a triumph indeed!
So far the hunter had tried to kill the wolf for the sake of the fur;
and the wolf took no revenge for these years of persecution. He bore no
grudge against man, and did not try to pay him off. The wolf merely
wanted to live, and to be let alone. Man would not let him alone. He
wanted to kill the wolf just for the sake of money.
Then a new thing happened. Many people began to go West; farms and
ranches began to be started. These farms and ranches had many sheep and
cattle.
Then the wolf had _his_ turn! He found that sheep and cattle were far
easier to kill than the wild animals on which he had made a living so
far. So the wolf began to raid farms and ranches at night. He still
avoided man; he never let a man come near enough to shoot him; and he
never touched a hidden trap. But still he began to kill sheep and
cattle.
Man now found the tables turned on him! Formerly he had persecuted the
wolf; now the wolf persecuted, or at least tormented, _him_! So man made
one last desperate effort to beat the wolf in this battle of wits.
_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison_
Man set his wits to work, and at last devised the use of _poison_. He
selected different kinds of poison, with different tastes and different
smells,--or no taste and no smell at all! He chose the nicest kinds of
meat, on which to put the poison. Then he cunningly placed pieces of the
poisoned meat all over the paths by which the wolves must come to raid
the sheep and cattle. He thought that _now_ he would beat the wolf!
Well, some of the wolves did eat the poisoned meat; they died. But a few
of the wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving
wolves once more set their wits to work to discover the cause of this
new danger. It may have taken them some time to suspect that the meat
was the cause of this new danger; and a few more wolves may have died
meanwhile from eating the meat.
But some of the wolves did detect the new danger. We do not know exactly
how they did so. Perhaps this time they used one of their other gifts to
save their lives; that is, they used their power of _smell_. They
recognized man's scent in or about the meat. So they knew that man had
put the meat there.
They had long known that anything that had to do with man was dangerous
to wolves. So the wolves resolved to leave the meat untouched. Instead,
they went on raiding the sheep and the cattle. And they taught their
children, and their children's children, to do the same.
And now the American wolf has beaten man, finally and absolutely. The
farmer and the ranchman can think of no other method of killing the
wolf. So the American wolf continues to flourish merrily.
The marvel of all this is that the wolf is not naturally a very
intelligent animal. Most animals have far more natural intelligence than
the American wolf; and yet none of these animals seem to be able to beat
man in the battle of wits. The American wolf alone has done it, though
he naturally has very little brains.
But _he has used all his brains_. He has concentrated his efforts to
save his life by beating man. He has not only used all his brains, but
he has done so _all the time_. He determined to overcome each new danger
as it arose. And he _worked hard all the time_.
My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. All children, or all
men and women, do not have great talents; but everybody can use all the
brains he or she has. Some few people prosper in life because they have
talents and use them. Other people of talent are lazy, and do not use
all their gifts; these people do _not_ prosper. But many people, who
have no talent at all, prosper just the same; they do what the American
wolf has done.
1. They first decide on something _worth doing_, just as the wolf
decided on saving his life.
2. Then they _use all the brains they have_ to do that thing.
3. They _concentrate_ their efforts on it.
4. They _work hard all the time_ to do that thing.
5. As they meet each difficulty or danger or trap, they devise a method
of _overcoming_ that difficulty or danger or trap.
If you learn this much from the American wolf, you will learn the secret
of success in the battle of life, when you grow up.
Meanwhile, remember all that I have told you, till I come back and tell
you in the next book many more Wonders of the Jungle.
Till then, as they say in the Orient, God and His peace be with you!
* * * * *
Transcriber's note
The following changes have been made to the text:
Page vi: "as Heroic Husband" changed to "as a Heroic Husband".
Page vi: "Why the leopard has spots" in the TOC changed from page 172 to
170.
Page 45: "Heading off Criminal Elephant" changed to "Heading off a
Criminal Elephant".