The Tower Menagerie : $b comprising the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment; with anecdotes of their characters and history.Bennett, Edward Turner
History
The Tower Menagerie : $b comprising the natural history of the animals contained in that establishment; with anecdotes of their characters and history.
in those of Sylhet; and from this limited range the latter gentleman
infers, perhaps a little too hastily, that its habitat is less extensive
than that of its fellows. He also regards it as being more ferocious in
its habits.
In this latter point alone, so far at least as we can at present judge,
does the animal from which our figure was taken offer any remarkable
discrepancy from the foregoing account. He could never be prevailed
on to touch flesh either raw or cooked; and bread and fruits were the
substances on which he was constantly fed. In his disposition he was
moderately tame, and particularly fond of play, after his own rough and
ludicrous fashion.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE BORNEAN BEAR.
_URSUS (HELARCTOS) EURYSPILUS._ HORSF.
Of this very remarkable animal, the only individual of the species ever
seen in Europe, and in fact the only one that has yet fallen under the
notice of zoologists, so complete an account has been published by Dr.
Horsfield, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal, that it would
be presumptuous in us to attempt to add any thing to the masterly details
which are there furnished both of its organization and habits. We shall
therefore in the present instance, and with the less reluctance as the
animal is no longer living for further reference, content ourselves with
abstracting from that paper, as nearly as possible in the words of its
author, the more interesting and prominent features of the history which
is there given of the Bornean Bear; which, in conjunction with another
closely related species, the Ursus Malayanus, Dr. Horsfield has separated
from the other bears under the sub-generic title of Helarctos.
One of the most striking points on which this distinction is founded
consists in the form of the head, which, instead of being flattened,
as in the more northern species of the group, is nearly hemispherical
above, the forehead rising in a strong arch immediately behind the nose,
which is obtuse and very gradually attenuated. The gape of the mouth is
considerable; and the tongue, which is long, narrow, and very extensile,
is capable of being protruded for nearly a foot, and then curved inwards
in a spiral manner, a habit in which the animal appears frequently to
indulge. In the teeth the difference between this subdivision of the
genus and the rest of the animals which compose it is unessential, the
incisors and canines having no distinguishing characters, and the molars
being apparently subject to the same variations as in the genuine bears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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