Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist: Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist: Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Animals -- Juvenile literature; Zoology -- Juvenile literature
COMMONLY called _the lion’s provider_, is not much larger than the fox,
which he resembles in the appearance of the fore part of his body. His
skin is of a bright yellowish colour. The Jackals often unite to attack
their prey, and make a most hideous noise, which, rousing the king of
the forest from his slumbers, brings him to the place of food and
plunder: at his arrival, the petty thieves, awed by the greater
strength of their new messmate, retire to a distance; and hence the
fabulous story of their attendance on the lion, to provide for his
food.--These animals are always seen in large flocks of forty or fifty;
and hunt, like hounds in full cry, from evening till morning. In the
absence of other food they drag the dead out of their tombs, and feed
greedily on putrid corpses; but, notwithstanding their natural ferocity,
it is said that, when taken young, they may be easily tamed, and, like
dogs, they love to be fondled, wag their tails, and show a considerable
degree of attachment to their masters. They are common in many parts of
the East: and as they act as scavengers, the people do not annoy them in
their nocturnal visits.
[Illustration: THE STRIPED HYÆNA. (_Hyæna Striata_.)]
THIS animal was long supposed to be the most savage and untractable of
all quadrupeds: but it is now found that he may be tamed. He is covered
with long, coarse, and rough ash-coloured hair, marked with long black
stripes, from the back downwards; the tail is very hairy. His teeth and
jaws are so constructed as to enable him to crush the largest bones
with ease; and his tongue is as rough as a coarse file. Like the jackal,
he attacks the flocks and herds, caring little for the watchfulness or
strength of dogs, and when pressed with hunger, comes and howls at the
gates of towns, and violates the repositories of the dead, tearing up
the bodies from the graves, and devouring them. He is now only found
wild in Asia and Africa, but is supposed to have formerly inhabited
Europe. When receiving his food, the eyes of this fierce animal glisten,
the bristles of his back stand erect, he grins fearfully, and utters a
snarling growl.
[Illustration: THE SPOTTED HYÆNA. (_Hyæna Crocuta._)]
THIS is another species which is common in Southern Africa; it is known
amongst the colonists at the Cape of Good Hope, as the _Tiger-Wolf_. He
has none of the mane-like hair on his back, which distinguishes the
Striped Hyæna, and his skin is marked with spots instead of stripes. He
is a ferocious beast, and is exceedingly destructive to sheep and
cattle; and also frequently attacks and carries off children from the
huts of the natives, sometimes even stealing them from their sleeping
mothers.
[Illustration: AMERICAN BLACK BEAR. (_Ursus Americanus._)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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