Tropical nature, and other essaysWallace, Alfred Russel
History
Tropical nature, and other essays
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Ecology -- Tropics; Natural history -- Tropics; Tropics
Considering then, first, the zoological features of tropical and
southern Africa alone, we find a number of very peculiar forms
of mammalia. Such are the golden moles, the Potamogale, and the
elephant-shrews among Insectivora; the hippopotami and the giraffes,
among Ungulata; the hyæna-like Proteles (Aard-wolf), and Lycaon
(hyæna-dog), among Carnivora; and the Aard-varks (Orycteropus) among
Edentata. These are all peculiar; but among highly characteristic
forms are the baboons, and several genera of monkeys and apes;
several peculiar Lemurs; a great variety of the civet-family
(Viverridæ), and of rodents; peculiar genera of swine (Potamochærus
and Phacochærus), and a greater abundance and variety of antelopes
than are to be found in all the other regions combined. But the
Ethiopian region is strikingly distinguished from all others, not
only by possessing many peculiar forms, but by the absence of a
number of common and widely distributed groups of mammalia. Such
are--the bears, which range over the whole northern hemisphere, and
as far south as Sumatra in the eastern and Chili in the western
hemisphere, yet they are totally wanting in Tropical and South
Africa;--the deer, which are still more widely distributed, ranging
all over North and South America, and over all Asia to Celebes and
the Moluccas, yet they are totally absent from the Ethiopian region;
goats and sheep, true oxen (Bos), and true pigs (Sus), are also
absent; though as to the last there is some doubt, certain wild pigs
having been observed, though rarely, in various parts of Tropical
Africa, but it is not yet determined whether they are indigenous,
or escaped from domestication. The absence of such wide-spread
families as the bears and deer is, however, most important, and must
be taken into account when we come to consider the geographical
changes needed to explain the actual state of the Ethiopian fauna.
The birds are not proportionately so peculiar, yet there are
many remarkable forms. Most important are the plantain-eaters,
the ground-hornbills, the colies, and the anomalous
secretary-bird;--while among characteristic families there are
numbers of peculiar genera of flycatchers, shrikes, crows, sun-birds,
weaver-birds, starlings, larks, francolins, and the remarkable
subfamily of the Guinea-fowls. There are not such striking
deficiencies among birds as among mammals, yet there are some of
importance. Thus, there are no wrens, creepers, or nut-hatches, and
none of the wide-spread group comprising the true pheasants and
jungle fowl--a deficiency almost comparable with that of the bears
or the deer. Among the lower vertebrates there are 3 peculiar
families of snakes and 1 of lizards, as well as 1 of toads and 3
of fresh-water fishes.
_The Oriental Region._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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