Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten BooksAristotle
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten Books
Aristotle
Zoology -- Pre-Linnaean works
3. There is evidence of their having reached the age of puberty,
for as in the human subject the mammæ begin to enlarge and become
cartilaginous; it is, however, difficult to detect this without
practice, for the enlargement is not very great. This takes place in
the female, nothing of the kind occurs in the male. The males generally
begin to lift up their leg to make water when they are six months old.
Some do not do so till they are eight months old, and others before
they are six months old, for, to speak plainly, they do this as soon
as they reach puberty; all the females sit down to make water; some,
however, even of these lift up their leg for this purpose. The female
never produces more than twelve puppies, generally five or six, and
sometimes only one; those of Lacedæmon generally have eight; both sexes
continue to enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they live.
4. It is a peculiarity of the Lacedemonian dog, that it is more ready
for sexual intercourse after hard work than when idle; the male of
this kind lives ten years, the female for twelve, most other dogs live
fourteen or fifteen years, some even twenty, for which reason some
persons think that Homer is right when he makes the dog of Ulysses to
have died at the age of twenty. On account of the hard work which the
Lacedemonian dogs have to endure the female lives longer than the male;
in other races this is not so plainly observed, but the male is usually
longer lived than the female. The dog does not shed any teeth except
those called the canine teeth, these are shed by both sexes at four
months old. Because they shed these only, a question is raised, for
some persons altogether deny that they shed only two teeth, for it is
difficult to meet with these, and others, when they see that they shed
these, think that they must shed all their teeth. People judge of the
age of a dog by its teeth, for in young dogs they are white and sharp,
in old ones they are black and blunted.
CHAPTER XXI.
1. The cow is impregnated with a single act of coition, and the bull
mounts upon her with such violence that she bends beneath his weight.
If he fails to impregnate her after twenty days, she is again admitted
to the bull. Old bulls will not mount the same cow several times in the
same day unless there is some intermission, but young bulls, incited by
the strength of their desires, will force the same cow several times,
and will mount upon many in succession. The bull is one of the least
lascivious of animals. The conqueror copulates with the female, but if
he become impotent from frequent sexual intercourse, the inferior will
attack him, and often prevail.
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