The Wonders of the Jungle, Book OneGhosh, Sarath Kumar
General
The Wonders of the Jungle, Book One
Ghosh, Sarath Kumar
Zoology -- Juvenile literature
Do you see the one on our left? After every two or three mouthfuls he
stops, and takes a look around; he even looks right to the back. Then
he takes four or five strides to catch up with the herd, and starts
grazing again. Then in a minute or two he takes another look around in
the same way.
And the sentinel on our right is doing just the same. Yes, the herd is
quite safe; the two sentinels are sure to see if any danger comes
from their side or from the back.
"But will not the sentinels have less to eat, if they are watching
half the time?" you may ask.
Yes, that is quite true. So all the Papa buffaloes take turns being
sentinels. After a while the two sentinels from the ends move up
toward the middle, and the next ones then begin to keep watch. And
they keep changing places like that from day to day. That makes it
quite fair for everybody.
When they go to sleep also they are arranged in the form of a
crescent; but the two ends are closed up, so that the Papas make a
ring, while the Mammas and the children sleep inside the ring.
When the Papas lie down, they are closer together than when they are
feeding; and they still keep their heads pointed to the outside of the
ring, so that they can get up in a minute, and be quite ready to drive
off any tiger. Of course they have sentinels keeping watch all the
time.
But now let us see other wonderful things that the buffaloes do, while
they are feeding.
We must be very careful how we follow the herd. The ground is now
changing, and getting quite rough; so the grass is getting scarce here
and there. The buffaloes have not enough grass all the way; so they
have to walk on a few yards without eating, till they come to the next
patch.
Some of the buffaloes are even having a bite at fresh young shrubs in
passing, as they will eat anything green, when they have not enough
grass.
But see! The buffaloes are spreading out, as there are not even enough
shrubs in one place. You can see gaps in the line of buffaloes now.
And the gaps are getting bigger and bigger! Let us watch a few
minutes.
Now the gaps are very wide, as some of the buffaloes are lagging
behind; and some are turning too much to the side in trying to reach a
mouthful from a shrub or a bush here and there.
Why, what is happening now? Some of the buffaloes cannot even see one
another now, because of the bushes between them! What are the
sentinels doing? And what is the leader doing? Suppose a tiger
suddenly comes--
But do you _hear_ that?
"Moo! Moo!"
That is the leader. He has just found out that the herd is spread out
too far; so he is calling. He is saying, "Where are you?"
"Moo! Moo!" Do you hear that answer? It comes from the sentinel on the
right, who is very far away now; but still he has heard the call. His
answer means, "Here I am!"
And "Here I am!" comes the answer also from the sentinel on the left.
"Then close up!" cries the leader.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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