Part 7

In former days it is probable that the polar bear ranged considerably farther south than is the case at the present day, when it is but rarely seen even in the south of Greenland. The species, like Arctic animals generally, has a nearly circumpolar distribution, and has been divided into a number of local races. These are at present distinguished by skull-characters, but if a sufficient series of skins were available in museums for comparison, there would probably be found local differences in the colour, length, and character of the fur. Polar bear skins are, however, of great commercial value, so that no collection contains a large series of specimens. Moreover, the exact locality of most of the skins offered for sale by furriers is unknown.

Against the intense cold of its Arctic home the white bear is well protected by its long and dense coat, as well as by the thick layer of fat underlying the skin. By means of the hairy covering of the soles of the feet--which in other bears are naked--the animal is enabled to obtain a firm foothold on the ice; upon which, as well as on land, it is a swift and long-winded runner. As special adaptations in the bodily form to swimming and diving, may be mentioned the thin, compressed body, the long neck, the small ears, and the long pointed head, which offer the least possible resistance to progression in water. The strong limbs, with broad paws and webs between the toes, form efficient oars when swimming; while the oily nature of the fur keeps the water off the body. The white bear is, in fact, as admirably adapted to a life among the Arctic ice as is the lion to the deserts of Africa; and both animals may be regarded as the absolute rulers of their respective domains.

In the pursuit of its prey the polar bear displays great craft and ingenuity. When it spies a seal sleeping by a hole in the ice, or on the edge of an ice-floe, if it succeeds in approaching undetected, it glides swiftly and silently into the water, swims a certain distance under the surface, and then rises to observe the situation of its victim. In this manner, by alternate dives and risings, it progresses till within a short distance, when it makes a final dive, to rise near the sleeping seal, which it generally manages to capture. In summer these bears are almost complete vegetarians, subsisting on grass, berries, lichens, moss, and sea-weed. At other seasons their chief food consists of the flesh of seals, walruses, and the smaller cetaceans, such as the white whale and the so-called blackfish. In some districts they capture fish of various kinds, and more especially salmon. In addition to the above, numbers of the smaller polar mammals, such as the Arctic lemming, are caught and eaten; while the young and eggs of various sea-birds, especially auks and guillemots, also form a portion of the diet.

White bears are seldom seen in numbers except where the carcases of whales have been left to rot by the whalers; and generally these animals go about in pairs, accompanied by one or two cubs, which the female will defend with her life.

Only when driven by hunger will the white bear venture to attack human beings. Sealers, who were formerly much afraid of them, nowadays attack the bears armed only with lances, and kill large numbers.

In the far north white bears disappear for the most part during the long Arctic winter, and it is believed that many hibernate, especially as they have occasionally been found in holes. In the winter lair the female gives birth to her tiny, short-haired, and blind cubs, which are usually one or two in number, although triplets occasionally occur.

THE MANDRILL

(Maimon mormon)

The mandrill is a highly specialised and at the same time extremely hideous West African representative of the dog-faced baboons, nearly all of which are confined to Africa south of the Sahara, although one species is a native of southern Arabia. All these baboons have the long straight muzzles from which the group derives its name, and all except the subject of the accompanying Plate are more or less uniformly coloured animals, with, in most cases, comparatively long tails. The mandrill and its ally and compatriot the drill are, however, distinguished from all their relatives by the reduction of the tail to a mere stump; while old males of the former are further characterised by the presence of large fluted swellings on the sides of the muzzle and the brilliant colouring of these and the other bare parts in this region, while a nearly equal brilliancy is developed in the naked patches on the rump.

To the female mandrill, who, as shown in the Plate, lacks the nasal swellings and brilliant hues of her lord and master, this style of decoration may, and probably does, appear beautiful, but to ourselves it is simply hideous and repulsive, as are the manners and ways of this monstrous ape. The nature of the colouring of the old males is sufficiently indicated in the coloured Plate; but it may be mentioned that the scarlet area on the muzzle has the appearance of vermilion sealing-wax, while the ultramarine of the lateral swellings is suffused in the flutings with shades of violet, more especially when the animal is under the influence of excitement. Indeed, when in this condition, all the colours are intensified and heightened.

In size the male mandrill may be compared to a short-bodied mastiff, while in strength and ferocity it has few equals, so that it is rightly dreaded by all the natives of West Africa. The female is a much smaller and much less powerful animal.

The mandrill, which is one of the shyest of all apes, inhabits the rocky parts of mountain forests in the Gold Coast, Guinea, and the adjacent districts of West Africa. Its food consists of fruits, bulbous plants, grass, and various other herbage, birds’ eggs, and all small animals that it can capture.

When captured young, the mandrill is sufficiently amiable, and for a time it remains tame and amenable; but, in the case of males at any rate, in the course of a few years its naturally evil disposition asserts itself, and it soon becomes one of the most vicious and disgusting brutes in creation. Indeed, there is not a good word to be said in its favour. In confinement the rage of the old males is something frightful, and it takes but little to excite them to this frenzied condition, when they shake the bars of their cages, and endeavour to rush upon the objects of their aversion. Little wonder that the West Coast natives dread the mandrill more than they do the lion.

Information is still required as to the habits of the mandrill in a state of nature; and it does not appear to be known whether these apes associate in large droves, after the manner of the ordinary dog-faced baboons, or whether they go about in pairs.

Here it may be mentioned that the name mandrill apparently signifies a man-like baboon, although there is little approximating to the human type in either the physiognomy or the general appearance of this hideous creature; the name drill being an old English word, of which one signification denotes an ape or baboon. By the Germans the mandrill is known as the forest-devil, which is perhaps a more appropriate designation; while by one of the older English naturalists it was termed the rib-faced ape, in allusion to the fluted, melon-shaped swellings on the sides of the muzzle.

The drill (M. leucophæus), which is likewise West African, but appears to have a more extensive range in that part of the continent, is a smaller animal than the mandrill, with only small swellings on the face of the old male, which is uniformly black. The bare patches on the rump are, however, bright red; but the tail, which is carried bent forwards over the rump in a similar manner, is hairy on all sides, instead of having its lower surface bare, as in the mandrill. The limbs, moreover, are longer and more slender than in the mandrill; and in fact in all these particulars the drill tends to form in some degree a connecting link between the former and more ordinary baboons.

THE WOLF

(Canis lupus)

As the lion or the tiger forms the supreme development of the feline stock, so the wolf constitutes the culminating branch of the canine line. Each of these animals represents indeed the acme of perfection of which its particular type is capable; but in regard to specialisation the members of the cat tribe stand on a much higher plane than those of the dog family. In the cats we find the face much shortened and rounded, the number of cheek-teeth reduced both at the front and the back of the series, the pair of cutting-teeth in each jaw consisting almost entirely of scissor-like blades, and the claws retractile and protected by large horny sheaths.

In the dog tribe, on the other hand, the long face and numerous cheek-teeth of the more primitive extinct Carnivora are retained, the pair of cutting-teeth are by no means wholly blade, and the claws are non-retractile and devoid of sheaths.

Equally marked differences in the matter of habits are likewise characteristic of the two groups. Cats, as a rule, hunt their prey singly or in couples, stalking it stealthily by the aid of sight, and then making a sudden rush or spring upon the victim. Most members of the Canidæ, on the contrary, associate in large packs, which hunt their victims by scent, and pull them down by their combined strength.

Apart from the brown bear, which is of a less active and less carnivorous disposition, the wolf is the largest member of the Carnivora which has been indigenous to central and northern Europe during the historic period; and it plays in the folk-lore of that portion of the continent a part very similar to that taken by the tiger in the legends and mythology of the natives of India. The superstition of the “werwolf” and the familiar story of Little Red Ridinghood bear striking testimony to the prominent position held by the wolf in folk-lore.

The wolf, which is in fact the ancestor of many domesticated breeds of dogs, is the largest representative of the Canidæ, although the typical wolf of northern Europe is much exceeded in point of size by those of certain other countries, the largest of all being the huge black wolf (Canis lupus pambasileus) of Alaska, which is almost as tall as an ordinary bear, and has a head of enormous proportions. Although many modern naturalists divide it into distinct species, the wolf has a circumpolar distribution, and in Asia ranges as far south as the Himalaya and the north-western frontier of India. From Great Britain, Denmark, and Holland the wolf has long since disappeared, and it has likewise been exterminated in northern and central Germany. But wolves still remain in Spain, in the districts of France adjacent to Germany, and in Poland and Russia, as well as in other parts of eastern Europe, while they are abundant throughout central and northern Asia. In the colder parts of their habitat, as in Tibet, where a black phase is common, these fierce Carnivora develop a thick under-coat of fur. With such an extensive range in the Old World, it would be only natural to expect that wolves should present considerable local variation in colour and size; and as a matter of fact this is actually the case, although the various local races are still imperfectly known.

In North America the species is represented by the grey, or timber, wolf (C. lupus occidentalis), as well as by the aforesaid black Alaskan race. As regards colour, the ordinary American wolf is dark grey, becoming almost black on the back, with dusky patches on the shoulders and hips; but there is also a more rufous phase. The coyote, or prairie-wolf, is a distinct species, C. latrans.

In Europe the favourite haunts of the wolf are wild and retired situations both in the plains and mountains; during spring and summer wolves go about for the most part singly or in pairs, but in winter they collect in parties or large packs, and when driven to desperation by hunger are the terror of the peasantry or the traveller, not only in Russia but even in some districts of France and Germany.

The food of the wolf includes all animals that it can capture and overpower, as well as carrion, and even vegetable substances. Large game and domesticated animals form its chief victims, but in cases of necessity, rats, mice, frogs, and even cockchafers are not disdained. In pursuit of their prey wolves are practically untiring. The female gives birth during the spring, in some sequestered situation in the forest, to from three to nine cubs, which she nurses and tends with wonderful affection and care.

THE WILD CAT

(Felis catus)