The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

THE COBEGO.

This is a peculiarly interesting animal, which lives in the forests of Sumatra, Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippine Islands. It dwells among the trees, moving from one to another by taking flying leaps through the air, covering as much as seventy yards at a jump. Prodigious leaps like this would be quite impossible but for the fact that the animal, which is almost as large as a cat, is provided with a sort of parachute, formed by a broad web of skin stretched between the body on either side and the fore and hind limbs, and between the hind limbs and the tail.

SHREWS, HEDGEHOGS,

AND TENRECS.

The variation in form presented by the members of this group is considerable. The most noteworthy examples of this variation are furnished

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Croydon. COBEGO. by the pretty little squirrel- Vertical (front) view of the cobego, with newly born and naked young attached. Note the like TREE-SHREWS of India extension of the membrane between the toes of the fore feet of the adult. and Borneo and neighbouring lands, the mouse-like JUMPING-SHREWS of Africa, the HEDGEHOGS, the TENRECS, the elegant little MOUSE-LIKE SHREWS of almost world-wide distribution, and the WATER-SHREWS. Of these, hedgehogs and tenrecs have undergone the greatest transformation. By a curious modification of their original hairy covering they have developed a formidable armour of sharp spines When alarmed, the former roll themselves up into a ball by the contraction of powerful muscles, and so present an almost impregnable armour to an enemy. Stoats and^ ioxes, however, appear at least occasionally to succeed in overcoming this defence and

. meal of the vanquished. largest of all insect-eaters, Tenrecs are found in Madagascar. The COMMON TENREC is the fim

of the Worldiyo The Living Animals

and one of the most prolific, as many as twenty-one having been produced at birth. Of all living mammals it is the one most nearly allied to the Marsupials.

THE MOLES.

The COMMON MOLE shows a most perfect life. adaptation to its underground mode of The general form of the animal is long, cylindrical, and pointed in front, whilst the legs are exceedingly short, the foot only in the fore limb projecting from the body. This foot is very broad and spade-like and immensely powerful, its use being to force a way often with incredible speed through the soft, yielding soil, and not to support the body, as in running or walking. The hind feet are weak, but resemble those 'of its allies the shrews, for instance. The eyes have become reduced to mere vestiges, very difficult to find. The fur has become so altered in structure that it will lie equally smooth whether brushed towards head or tail, so that it should not be damaged when the animal travels backwards in its burrow. External ears have been dispensed with.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S. [Croydon.] Worms form the staple diet of the mole,

COBEGO ASLEEP.

but besides underground insects of all kinds All four limbs are used in suspending itself when asleep, as in the are greedily devoured. This animal is one ofsloths. In this position the cobego closely resembles, and is mistaken by its enemies for, the fruits of one of the native trees. It is a nocturnal the most voracious feeders, falling ravenouslyanimal. upon its prey. It has been said with truth that so great is the ferocity displayed by the mole that if it could be magnified to the size of the lion it would be one of the most terrible of living creatures. That a constant supply of food is necessary to satiate its enormous appetite is shown by the fact that a mole will succumb to an abstinence of from ten to twelve hours. Moles fight among themselves furiously; and if two are confined together, the weaker will be attacked and devoured. They take readily to the water, and instances of moles observed in the act of crossing streams are numerous. It is a curious fact, but the mole is unknown in Ireland; yet it ranges from England in the west through Asia to Japan. Careful observation seems to have shown that with the common mole Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [North Finchley. males are more numerous than females. THREE BABY HEDGEHOGS. their first on spines to the timeWhether this is true of other species appearanceYoung arehedgehogsquite softare; theybom soonblindharden,and naked.and at theThesame power remains to be seen. The moles of North roll the body up into a ball is acquired.

The Bats and Insect*eating Mammals 171

Photo oy A. IS. liudland tfc {suits. Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S. [Croydon.

COMMON MOLE. COMMON MOLE.

Note that this mole is changing its coat. The skeleton is here revealed by the Rontgen rays.

allied thereto.America form a group distinct from those of the Old World, though closely The WEB-FOOTED and the STAR-NOSED MOLES are the most interesting of the American forms.

Speaking of the prodigious speed with which these animals burrow their way through the ground, Dr. Hart Merriam remarks that in a single night, after rain, they have been known to make a gallery several yards in length, and that he had himself traced a fresh tunnel for nearly a hundred yards. As he says, we can only appreciate the magnitude of this labour to perform equivalent work, a man wouldby comparison, and " computation shows that, in order have to excavate in a single night a tunnel thirty-seven miles long, and of sufficient size to easily admit of the passage of his body."

The star-nosed mole is peculiar in that its nose is surrounded by a ring of finger-like processes, forming a kind of rosette, which probably acts as a highly sensitive organ of touch; furthermore, it differs from other moles in the great length of its tail, which is nearly as long as its body. Like the mole, this species makes its way through the ground with great speed.

Beneficial as moles undoubtedly are in destroying worms and obnoxious insects, yet they are regarded as a pest both by the farmer and gardener. That there is some justification for this dislike must be admitted; for the farmer suffers in that, in the search for food, crops are damaged by cutting through the roots of plants the gardener not only for the same reason, but also because the ridges and hillocks which they make in their course disfigure the paths and beds of a well-kept garden.

The nearest allies of the moles are the curious aquatic DESMANS of Russia, and the SHREWS, some of which are quite mole-like in form, owing to their having adopted a similar mode of life. The BURROW- ING SHREWS are not the only forms in the great group which have assumed a mole-like shape, for allied to the hedge- hog-like TENRECS is asa r em arkable animal known the GOLDEN MOLE. The mole-like shape of the body of this animal is another instance of adapta- tion to a similar mode of life. The fore limb of the with is provided huge molegolden for Photo by A. S. Rudland, & Sons. used are diggingclaws, which is not broadenedpurposes; the hand GOLDEN MOLE. mole,out spade-like, as in metallicThis lustreis foundof onlythe furin South: the brilliancyAfrica. Theof thenamehuesis derivedis intensifiedfrom theby immersionwonderful the common the claws rendering in spirit. this unnecessary.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ELEPHANT, TAPIR, HYRAX, AND RHINOCEROS.

THE ELEPHANT.

BY F. C. SELOUS.

all terrestrial T once the mightiest and most majestic of mammals, the elephant appeals to the imagination more not only on A forcibly than any other living animal, account of its great sagacity and the strangeness and singularity of its outward appearance, but also because it is such an obvious link 'between the world of to-day and the dim and distant past of Pleiocene and Miocene times. There are two existing species of elephant, the AFRICAN and the ASIATIC, the latter, from the structure of its molar teeth and the shape of its skull, appearing to be very nearly related to the MAMMOTH, which lived upon the earth in comparatively recent times geologically speaking and was undoubtedly contemporary with man in Europe during the Stone Age. There are very considerable differences both in the external appearance and also in the habits of the two existing forms of elephant. In the African species the forehead is more convex and the eye relatively larger than in its Asiatic cousin; and whilst the ears of the latter are only of moderate size, those of the former are so large that they at once arrest the attention, and are one of that animal's most remarkable external characteristics. Both sexes of the African species, with few exceptions, carry well-developed tusks, but in the Asiatic form the tusks of the females are so small as scarcely to protrude

Photo by M. E. F. Baird, Esq. beyond the jaws. In Asia, too, tuskless bull elephants are

A FINE TUSKEB. common, whilst males of the African species without tusks Indian The male elephant has smaller are extremely rare. The latter species has but three nails on than tusks the African species. the hind foot, the Asiatic elephant four. In the African species the middle of the back is hollowed, the shoulder being the highest point, whilst in the Asiatic elephant the back is arched, and the top of the shoulder lower than the highest part of the back. The extremity of the proboscis is also different in the two species, the African elephant being furnished with two nearly equal-sized prolongations, the one on the as withfront, the other on the hinder margin, with which small objects can be grasped the finger and thumb of the human hand, whilst in the Asiatic species the finger-like process on the upper margin of the end of the trunk is considerably longer than that on the under-side. In external appearance the skin of the African elephant is darker in colour and rougher in texture than that of the Asiatic form. The molar teeth of the former animal are, too, of much coarser construction, with fewer and larger plates and thicker enamel 172

[Florence. Photo by Fratelli Alinu,ri] A YOUNG INDIAN ELEPHANT. This animal has heen trained to " salute " by raising its trunk and foot. It has lost the end of its tail. 173

than in the latter, which would naturally lead one to suppose that the African elephant is accustomed to eat coarser, harder food than the Asiatic species. This supposition is borne out by fact; for whilst the Asiatic elephant feeds mainly upon grass, the leaves and fruit of the wild plantain, and the young shoots of the bamboo, together with the leaves, twigs, and bark of certain trees, the African species never eats grass, and, although very fond of certain kinds of soft and succulent food, such as wild fruits and the inner bark of certain trees, is constantly engaged in chewing up the roots and branches of trees as thick as a man’s wrist for the sake of the sap and bark, the woody portions being rejected after having been reduced to pulp. The Asiatic elephant appears to be far less tolerant of exposure to the heat of the sun than the African; and whilst the latter may often be found standing at rest or sleeping throughout the hottest hours of the day in long grass or scrubby bush of a height not sufficient to afford any protection from the sun to the whole of the upper portion of the head and body, the former, when in a wild state, is said to always seek the shade of the densest forests it can find during hot weather.