Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten BooksAristotle
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten Books
Aristotle
Zoology -- Pre-Linnaean works
1. It has already been observed that the lion both copulates and makes
water backwards. They do not copulate and produce their young at all
seasons of the year, though they produce annually. The young are
produced in the spring. The female generally produces two, never more
than six, and sometimes only one. The fable which says that the uterus
is ejected in parturition is a mistake. It has arisen from the rarity
of the animal, those who invented the fable being ignorant of the true
state of the case. The race of lions is rare, and not to be found in
every place, but only in the country between the Achelous and the
Nessus in the whole of Europe. The young of the lion are very small at
their birth, so that they can hardly walk at two months old. The Syrian
lions produce five times; at first five cubs, and then one less every
time. After this they produce no more, but continue barren. The lioness
has no mane, though the lion has. The lion only sheds its four canine
teeth, two above and two below. They are shed when the animal is six
months old.
2. The hyæna is of the colour of the wolf, but it is more hairy, and
has a mane along the ridge of its back. It is a mistake to say that
each individual has the sexual organs of both sexes. That of the male
resembles the same organ in the wolf and the dog. That which has
been imagined to be the female organ is placed beneath the tail, and
it resembles that of the female, but is imperforate, and the anus
is beneath it. The female hyena has an organ similar to that which
bears its name in the male. It is placed beneath the tail, and is
imperforate. Beneath this is the anus, and below this again the true
genital organ. The female hyena has an uterus like that of other
animals of the class, but the female is rarely captured. A certain
hunter said that he caught eleven hyænas of which only one was a female.
3. Hares copulate backwards, as I formerly observed, for it is a
retromingent animal. They copulate and produce their young at all
seasons. They become pregnant a second time while they are pregnant,
and produce their young every month. They do not produce their young
continually, but as many days as may be intervene. The female has
milk before the young are produced. As soon as her young are born,
she copulates again and conceives while giving milk. The milk is as
thick as that of the sow. The young are born blind, like those of many
animals with divided feet.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. The fox copulates, mounting on the back of the female. The young are
born blind, like those of the bear, and are even more inarticulate.
When the season of parturition approaches, the female goes apart, so
that it is rare to take a pregnant fox. When the young are born, the
dam licks them, in order to warm and mature them. She never produces
more than four.
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