The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal ObservationsHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
Science
The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal Observations
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
Animal behavior
Wild creatures generally subscribe to the political principle that
in union there is strength. In the minds of wild animals, birds
and reptiles, great numbers of individuals massed together make
for general security from predatory attacks. The herd with its
many eyes and ears feels far greater security, and less harrowing
fear, than the solitary individual who must depend upon his own
two pair. The herd members relax and enjoy life; but the solitary
bear, deer, sheep, goat or elephant does not. His nerves always
are strung up to concert pitch, and while he feeds or drinks, or
travels, he watches his step. A moving object, a strange-looking
object, a strange sound or a queer scent in the air instantly
fixes his attention, and demands analysis.
On the North American continent the paramount fear of the wild
animal is aroused to its highest pitch by what is called "man
scent." And really, from the Battery to the North Pole, there is
good reason for this feeling of terror, and high wisdom in fleeing
fast and far.
Said a wise old Ojibway Indian to Arthur Heming:
"My son, when I smell some men, and especially some white men, I
never blame the animals of the Strong Woods for taking fright and
running away!"
And civilization also has its terrors, as much as the wilderness.
The fox, no matter what is the color of his coat, or his given
name, is the incarnation of timidity and hourly fear. The
nocturnal animals go abroad and work at night solely because they
are afraid to work in the daytime. The beaver will cheerfully work
in daytime if there is no prospect of observation or interference
by man. The eagle builds in the top of the tallest tree, and the
California condor high up on the precipitous side of a frightful
canyon wall, because they are afraid of the things on the ground
below. In the great and beautiful Animallai Forest (of Southern
India), in 1877 the tiger walked abroad in the daytime, because
men were few and weak, but in the populous and dangerous plains he
did his traveling and killing at night, and lay closely hidden by
day.
Judging by the records of those who have hunted lions, I think
that naturally the lion has more courage and less fear of bodily
harm than any other wild animal of equal intelligence. By reason
of his courage and self-confidence, as well as his majesty of
physique, the lion is indeed well worthy to be called the King of
Beasts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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