The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

THE OTTERS.

As the badgers and ratels seem specially adapted to an underground and cave-making existence, so the OTTERS all conform in structure to an aquatic life; yet, except the webbing of the space between the toes and the shortening and flattening of the head, there is very little obvious change in their structure to meet the very great difference in the conditions under which they live.

The SHORT-TOED OTTER is a small Indian species. It Photo ly Scholastic Photo. Co., Parson's Green. has nails on its hands in place of claws. One kept at the KINKAJOU. Zoo was a most amusing and friendly little pet, which let The kinkajou eats birds and eggs as well as itself be nursed like a kitten. honey and fruit. One kept in South America

The NORTH AMERICAN OTTER has the same habits as the killedbirds' eggs.a whole brood of turkeys, and was partial to English kind, but is somewhat larger, and has a far finer coat. It is trapped in thousands, and the fur sent over to this country to the Hudson Bay Company's and Sir Charles Lampson's fur- sales. These otters, like all their family, are very fond of playing. One of their regular games is to make a snow-slide or an ice-slide down a frozen waterfall. The alighting-place from this chute is, if possible, in the water. There the trapper sets his traps, and the poor otters are caught. The COMMON OTTER is far the most attractive of the British carnivora. It is still fairly common all over Britain where fish exist. It is found on the Norfolk broads and rivers, all up the Thames, in Scotland, Devonshire, Wales, Cumberland, and Northumberland. It travels considerable distances from river to river,

or B andpreservedsometimestrout-poolgets into a

By permission of Percy Leigh Pemberto-, Eiq. breeding-pond, and does much YOUNG OTTERS. mischief. The beautiful Otters, when taken young, can be trained to catch fish for their owners. In India several tribes, _, employ them for this purpose. young otters here figured are

of the World 128 The Living Animals

in Mr. Percy Leigh Pemberton's collection of British mammals at Ashford, Kent. Their owner made a large brick tank for them, where they were allowed to catch live fish. Once one of them seized a 4-lb. pike by the tail. The pike wriggled round and seized the otter's paw, but was soon placed hors de combat. The largest otter which the writer has seen was bolted by a ferret from a rabbit-warren on the ed^eO of the Norfolk fen at Hockwold, and shot by the keeper, who was rabbiting. English dog otters sometimes weigh as much as 26 Ibs. They regularly hunt down the rivers by night, returning before morning to their holt, where they sleep by day. No fish stands a chance with them. They swim after the fish in the open river, chase it under the bank, and then corner it, or seize it with a rush, just as the penguins catch gudgeon at the Zoo. Captain Salvin Photo ly the Duchess of Bedford] I Woburn Abbey. owned a famous tame otter which TWO TAME OTTERS. used to go for walks with him, and These two little otters were photographed by the Duchess of Bedford. Alluding and amuse itself of the zodiac their fondness for the watering-pot, their portrait to the old signs by catching fish in the Twins." and " The called was "Aquarius" roadside ponds.

THE SEA-OTTER.

Common otters killed on the coast are often confounded with the SEA-OTTER. This is a great mistake. The sea-otter is as much a marine animal as the seal or the sea-lion. It swims out in the open ocean, and is even more of a pelagic creature than the seal, for it either produces its young when in the water, or at any rate carries and suckles them otter. Unfortunately theon the open sea. The sea-otter is much larger than the common fish and other marine creatures which form the food of the sea-otters are found mainly near the coast. Following them, the otters come near the Aleutian Islands, where the hunters are ever on the watch for them. If a single otter is seen, five or six boats, with a rifleman in each, at once put out, and the otter stands little chance of escape. It never was a common animal, and the prices given for the fur, up to 200 for a first-class skin, have caused its destruction. The skin, when stretched and cured, is sometimes 5 feet long, and is of an exquisite natural rich brown, like long plush, photo iy A. s. Kwiiand d- sons. sprinkled all over with whitish hairs SEA-OTTER. like hoarfrost. The sea-otter has the most valuable fur of any animal.

Photo bij Dr. R. TF. Shufeldt, Washington. RACCOON. This animal is found from Alaska, through the United States, to Central America.

UNIV. OF

CALIFORNIA

The Smaller Carnivora 129

THE SKUNKS.

OF all the strange equipments given by nature to animals for their protection that possessed by the various species of SKUNK is the most effective. These animals are able to emit a fluid so vile in odour that it seems equally hateful to all animals. Dogs, pumas, men, alike shun them, and the animals seem to know this and to presume on their immunity. An ordinary skunk is about the size of a cat, black, with bright white stripes down the sides and back. The fur is thick and handsome, and, if the animal be Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons. A SKUNK. killed before it discharges its fluid, An American animal, noted chiefly for the scent-gland it possesses, from which it is not too strongly odorous to make emits a most obnoxious-smelling fluid. trimmings for jackets. Mr. Hudson, in his I have " Naturalist in La Plata," says: " In talking to strangers from abroad, never thought it necessary to speak of the dangers of sunstroke, jaguars, or the assassin's its habitsknife. But I have never omitted to warn them of the skunk, minutely describing first gallop across theand personal appearance. I knew an Englishman who, on taking a Pampas, saw one, and, quickly dismounting, hurled himself bodily on to it to effect its ! He did not know that the animal is never unwilling to be caught.capture. Poor man for ever by a discharge of the fiery liquid in their faces.Men have been blinded by them The smell pervades the whole system of any one subjected to it, like a pestilent ether, nauseating the victim till sea-sickness seems pleasant in comparison." Dogs can be taught to kill skunks; but they show the greatest disgust and horror when the fluid of the animal falls upon them, and sometimes roll in mud or dust in the endeavour to get rid of it.

THE BADGERS.

THE BADGERS include several genera. The SAND-BADGERS of the East have a naked snout, small ears, and rough fur, with softer fur underneath. The

INDIAN BADGER is

larger than that of Europe, while that of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo is smaller, and has a very short tail. The FERRET- Photo by C. Reid] [ Wishaw, N.B. BADGERS from the A BADGER IN THE WATER. East have elongated Badgers are increasing in many parts of England. They are nocturnal animals. 17

bodies and short tails. They are tree-climbers, and as omnivorous as the badger itself. The CAPE ZORILLA, with is another species found in Egypt, more nearly allied to the polecats, but is striped like a skunk. The EUROPEAN BADGER is still fairly numerous. There is not a county in England where it is not found. A large colony has been established in Epping Poorest, some fifty yards square of hillside being honeycombed with badger-earths. The European badger is found all over temperate Northern Europe and Asia; but being shy, wary, and mainly nocturnal, is seldom seen. At night it wanders about, and in

Photo liy Scholastic Photo. Co.] iParson's Green, August gets into the corn-fields, EUROPEAN BADGER. whence it is chased and caught by and are not difficult to tame in confinement, Badgers can be readily kept Somersetshire farmer had a thoroughly. dogs. A pointer and sheep-dog which were adepts at this night-catching of badgers. They would accompany their master along the roads, and the pointer instantly winded any badger which had crossed. Both dogs then bounded off, and soon their loud barking showed that they had found and "held up" the badger. The dogs' owner then came up, picked the badger up by its tail, and dropped it in a sack. The badger's " earth " is wonderfully deep and winding; in it the badger sleeps during the winter, and gives birth to its young, three or four of which are produced at a time. The end of March is the period of birth, but the cubs do not come out until June. In October they are full-grown. The badger carries in a great quantity of fern and grass as a bed for its cubs. Mr. Trevor-Battye writes: " I had a pair which were probably about six weeks old. They were called Grripper and Nancy. They would rest on my lap when feeding, and sit up and beg like dogs. Their hearing and power of scent were remarkable. The badgers were in a closed yard; but if any of the dogs came near, even following a path which ran at a distance of six or seven yards, they would instantly jump off my lap and disappear into a corner. The animals could walk and trot backwards with the greatest ease." I have never seen this noticed elsewhere, yet it is worth mentioning, because it is characteristic of the Weasel Family, not being shared, to my knowledge, by any other mammal not, for instance, by the Bears.

Mr. A. E. Pease says of the badger: "It is easily domesticated, and if brought up by hand is found an interesting and charming companion. I had at one time two that I could bootsdo anything with, and which followed me so closely that they would bump against my each step I took, and come and snuggle in under my coat when I sat down.'*

THE EATELS.

As the mink is adapted for an aquatic diet, so the EATELS, a link between the Weasels flesh.and the Badgers, seem to have been specialised to live upon insects and honey as well as They are quaint creatures, with rounded iron-grey backs, and black bellies, noses, and feet. The African kind is found in Cape Colony and East Africa, and is believed to live largely on honey and bee-brood. The habits of the ratel are almost identical with those of the badger, except that it is less shy and very restless. A nearly similar species of ratel is found in Southern Asia from the Caspian to India.