Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-03-21
Age of Animals.
BY n. s. DODGE.


There are instances of lions having |
reached the age of seventy years. Pompey, |
who died in the tower of London in 176O, |
was nearly an octogenarian. He was for
est-born. But of the three hundred and |
nineteen whelps that have been born
during the last thirty years in Regent
Park, full one-half have come into the
world with cleft palates, and have died In
infancy. because they conld not suck.
The keepers filled their nostrils with tow,
and tried various other devices, but 1t did
no good They could get no sustenance,
and perished in consequence. The aver
age age of the lion is probably about
thirty years. There is this, however, to
be said about him: In the domestlcated
state he never has a chance. He PAGES
backward and forward in the nutshell of "a
cage. In Paris and London the bear has
his pole, the deer his paddock, and the
otter his pool, where each has liberty
enough to preserve his health, but thelion
is stalled like an OK, till he grows puffy
and lethargic.
Of all the terrestrial mammalia, the ele
phant seems to be the longest liver, some
times exceeding century. One historical
individual is reported to have attained
much greater age. When Alexander the
Great invaded the dominions of Porus,
one of the rajahs of Upper India, he took
great elephant from the conquered
prince, named him Ajax, dedicated him
to the sun, and let him go with this in
scription, alexander, the son of Jupiter,
hath dedicated Ajax to the sum-" The
animal is said to have been found with
the inscription three hundred and fifty
wears afterward. 1t need hardly be re-
marked, to prevent full credence being
given to this relation, that it rests upon
the very dubious authority of ancient
times. However, the elephant, beyond
doubt, often rounds the century; and, if
not the king, is entitled to be considered
the patriarch of beasts.
The hare, rabbit, and squirrel, if they
escape the gun of the sportsman, seldom
outlive the seventh year. The average
| age of the fox is from twelve to fifteen
wears of the cat about fifteen, and of
the wolf from eighteen to twenty years.
The horse, in domestic state, does not
often live longer than twenty five years, and
the ass ranges to about the same period.
Old age prostrated "Copenhagen," the
famous steed of the Duke Wellington, at
the age of twenty-seven. But the wild
horse is supposed to attain a much greater
age !; and there is a case on record, well
authenticated, of pony, imported into
Berkshire, England, from Shetland, in
1876, living till 1S4S Swine have been
known to live through thirty years, deer
eighteen, and camels fifty, though the
average ages of all these are much less.
The dog loses his sprightliness in his
sixth or seventh year, and has evidently
are here and there upon him at the close
of his eight year, chiefly around his eyes,
and at the corners of his mouth. Such
appearances become more conspicuous to
the eleventh or twelfth year, when actual
decrepitude usually commences, and in
creases so rapidly that by the fourteenth
year the animal is burden to himself,
and nuisance to others. The dogs have
fingered to twenty years. Hexior, a shaggy
spaniel of German breed, of unusual life
and intelligence, was received at four
years old by lady in London, in 1854,
and did not die till Christmas-Day of
1870. 1t was Hexior's good fortune to
live in a mansion full of dogs and empty
of children. Her history could be woven
into story. From being the equal of
her canine associates, she became the pre-
t ferred, and from that the associate of her
mistress. As her years increased, she
grew to be queen of the household. She
had language for every need of her life,
and it was heard, understood, and obeyed.
| No one of her associates they were seven
in number-even entered her luxurious
kennel, or touched her dainty repast, or
followed her to her intimacies with her
mistress, or We'd with her in the caresses
of strangers, or passed the threshold in
her company when she went to take her
daily airing. By force of character she
, held her own to the last, and in her dying
: hour, on pillow in TIE boudoir, her eyes
J followed her mistress while life was pant
| iuc foUarAc itc rnaJ c,1hd1od II, IN
: among the usually noisy tribe, every
r MEMBER of which was present, and pass
ed away with the dignity of the patriarch
r Jacob, when ''he gathered up his feet in
, his bed and yielded up the ghost"
The average age of sheep does not
I much exceed ten years. To that period
1 they live, breed, and thrive well. There
are instances, however, of much more
) protracted age.
Cows and oxen generally reach the age
Z of seventeen without diminution of theil
4 powers. Rings round their horns tell the
number of their days. At four years ole
a ring is formed at the roots of the horns
and every succeeding year another i.
: added. Thus, by adding three to thu
number of rings upon the horns, the age
of the animal is arrived at
Among the feathered creation the eagl,
and raven, the swan and parrot, are eacl
s centenarians. An eagle kept in Vienn;
< died after confinement of one hundred
Z and fourteen years, and on an ancient oal
i in Selborne, still known as the craven
y tree" the same pair Of ravens are believed
IS to have fixed their residence for a serie
OF more than ninety years. Swans upol
n the river Thames, about whose age Their
Il can be no mistake, since they are annu
). ally nicked by the Winners Company
I under whose keeping they have been fo
Z five centuries, have been known to SUI
vive one hundred and fifty years ant
+ more. The melody of the dying swan i
e entirely NEUROLOGICAL. Upon approach
of death the bird quits the water, sit
down upon the banks, lays its head upo1
the ground, expands its wings a trife
y and expires, uttering no sound.
= The extreme longevity of the parrot i
: equally authentic. In the Geological Gar
: de1s of London there is macaw that wa
= At Versailles, during the reign of Charlie
- x, there was always hanging a cage il
= the EIde-b9af which contained a parro
purchased by the Regent Orleans for tn
Duchess de Berri. There is not colleC
II ton of birds in any of the royal avarie
y of Europe that has not its ancient parrot
y The writer purchased gray African pa
ae aa rot in 1856, whose residerce in Wales wa
~ ~ authenticated for seventy-seven years
~ ~ The bird, more wonderful for variety {
h, speech than for her age, learning every
to 4o thing and forgetting nothing, accomplish
~ ~ ed alike In the Welsh tongue and the Ell
IL, glish, born in Africa, living more tha
s as threequarters of century in Europe, an
~ ao dying in America, might have been aliy
le, now but for heedlessness. In 1867 sh
~ " had certainly approached, if she had NJ
eo reached and passed, her one hundredt
year. Upon severely cold night
tn December of that year, she was sent frol
MT New York to Washington, and perishe
ut by the way. She was in perfect healt
an had never known day of sicknes
ne showed no decreptitude, enjoyed life
1 the utmost, demanded no allowances
Mt concessions on the score of advance
p years, and might, but for an exposure
ny the rigor of an unaccustomed cllmat