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
One of the most novel and interesting fights that has yet taken
place in the New York Zoological Park was a pitched battle between
two cow elk--May Queen and the Dowager. A bunch of black fungus
suddenly appeared on the trunk of a tree, about twelve feet from
the ground. My attention was first called to this by seeing May
Queen, a fine young cow, standing erect on her hind legs in order
to reach the tempting morsel with her mouth. A little later the
Dowager, the oldest and largest cow elk in the herd, met her under
the tree, whereupon the two made wry faces at each other, and
champed their teeth together threateningly. Suddenly both cows
rose on their hind legs, struck out viciously with their sharp
pointed front hoofs, and, after a lively sparring bout, they
actually clinched. The young cow got both front legs of the old
cow between her own, where they were held practically helpless,
and then with her own front hoofs she fiercely rained blows upon
the ribs of her assailant. The Dowager backed away and fled,
completely vanquished, with May Queen close upon her heels; and
thus was the tyrannical rule of the senior cow overthrown forever.
During the breeding season, our wild buffaloes of the great
vanished herds were much given to fighting, and always through
jealousy. The bulls bellowed until they could be heard for miles,
tore up earth and threw it into the air, rolled their eyes, and
often rushed together in a terrifying manner; but beyond butting
their heads, pushing and straining until the weaker turned and
ran, nothing came of it all. I have yet to find a man who ever saw
a wild buffalo that had been wounded to the shedding of blood by
another wild buffalo. It is probable that no other species ever
fought so fiercely and did so little damage as the American bison.
Elephants, Wolves, and Others. In ordinary life the Indian
elephant is one of the most even-tempered of all animals. I have
spent hours in watching wild herds in southern India, sometimes
finding the huge beasts all around me, and in dangerously close
proximity. Several times I could have touched a wild elephant with
a carriage whip, had I possessed one. So far from fighting, I
never saw an elephant threaten or even annoy another.
Elephants, being the most intelligent of all animals in the matter
of training, have been educated to fight in the arena, usually by
pushing each other head to head. A fighting tusker can lord it
over almost any number of tuskless elephants, because he can
pierce their vitals, and they cannot pierce his. A female fights
by hitting with her head, striking her antagonist amidships, if
possible. Once when the late G. P. Sanderson was in a keddah,
noosing wild elephants, and was assulted [sic] by a vicious
tusker, his life was saved by a tame female elephant, whose boy
driver caused her to attack the tusker with her head, and nearly
bowl him over by the force of her blows upon his ribs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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