Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-16
TEMPER OF ANIMALS.
CREATURES ARE, AS A RULE, MUCH
MORE AMlAeLE THAN MEN.

Deer Fight More FierceIy Than Wolves,
Strange to Say, and Tame Stag Has
Been Known to Kill Boy--Zebras and
wild Asses Are Rather Dangerous.
The old theory that animal good temper
might be accounted for on the ground that
animals are sensible Of pleasure and pain,
but not of advantage and disadvantage,
was only half truth, for animals are sub
ject to jealousy and jealousy is the direct
result of feeling of personal disadyan-
tage. But it draws attention to the fact
that occasions for disagreement in the case
of most antmais are rare and unusual.
Questions of domicile are almost the sole
ground of discord In tie animal world,
with the exception of the fierce dissensions
raised at pairing time, and even in the last
case combat is only general in the case OF
polygamous animals.
Deer fight more 1ercely than wolves, and
wild sheep than lions; and though there is
OF was an eagle in the Zoo which was
caught locked in the talons Of another
eagle when fighting in the spring, the
fiercest birds are usually friendly with
their own species, and while ruffs and
black game fight like gladiators for their
wives, the eagles and the peregrines, as
rule, mate in peace. Proximity, the sever
est trial to human temper, seldom ruffies
the animal mind, and different species live
In harmony together, each seeming, as in
the case of owls and the prairie dogs or
rocks and starlings, rather to prefer than
shun the society of the other.
The choicest spots for homes are natu-
rally ba Gouroa of 1UuPfaIn nT0OuO birds
and other animals frequently fight for the
possession of some favorite breeding place.
Badgers and foxes which have shared the
same earth during winter often fight for
sole possession in the spring, when the fox
invariably wins, result which would
hardly be expected from the relative ply
sique of the two animals. But such quar-
rels are only for the sake of rearing their
young, not for selfish reasons; and even
apprehended pressure on the food supply
rarely excites i'll will, except in the case Of
the largest carnivorous birds and animals,
which require wider range for hunting
and drive their young to other districts.
ANIMAL TEMPER PACIFIC.
The rodents and ruminants are less jeal-
GUS, and that strong social and gregarious
instinct which the existence of ill temper
evitably destroy keeps them together in
peace and harmony. They love society,"
and not the least marked difference be-
tween the temperament of animals and
men is that animals do not by mere CON
tact irritnte each other-a positive and not
unimportant compensation for the absence
of the gift of speech.
Since occasions of difference are SO few,
nothing but the assumption of an ancient
and inbred malignity in animal minds,
such as the author of Three Men in a
Boat" supposes in the case of fox terriers
to have been due to double dose of origi-
nal sim could justify the view so generally
held that animals are as n rule fcrocious
and i'll tempered, notion summed up in
Mr.. Burnand's conclusions in Happy
Thoughts" that most of the creatures
with which he came in contact in the
country were, when not dangerous, al
ways very uncertain. The exact contrary
would be nearer the truth,
Animal temper is naturally pacific,
--squable and mild. Bad temper is the
privilege of more highly organized ma
lures; and the mild resentment of the pla-
cable tiger finds its development in the
apoplectic fury of the mandril and the
measured malice of mankind. Horace's
suggestion that Prometheus added 10 the
i'll temper of man the strength of n mad
lion must be taken literally.
SOME SAVAGE CREATURES.
The general law of good nature in the
animal world makes the exceptions all the
more remarkable. Quarrelsome species
appear among friendly tribe, just as an
Ill tempered individual does in kindly
species. The ruminants are most peace
full race yet deer are savage, and so Is that
handsome Indian antelope, the nylghau.
A tame stag is very dangerous pet, and
even the beautiful roebuck has been
known to kill boy in wild fit of rage.
But the fiercest and most vindictive of all,
with the exception of the Cape buffalo, Is
the South African gnu, which never loses
It's i'll temper when tanned, and always re-
mains among the few dangerous animals
which the keepers Mt the Zoo have to deal
with. Hardly less i'll tempered are the
zebras and the wild asses, which suggest
that human Acknowledgement Is not entire
ly to blame for the occasional i'll temper
and obstinacy of mules and donkeys,
To the i'll tempered species we may add
the camel and the two horned black
rhinoceros. The last is really ferocious,
charging down on any creature, man OF
beast, without proyocation, and capable OF
ipflicting mortal wounds even on the lion,
the elephant or it's own kind. But among
all the larger creatures of the animal king.
dom 1t is difficult to find more than a
dozen species which are, as class, i'll tenn
pered, unless we include all those car
nivorous animals which exhibit certain
ferocity in the capture of their prey,-Lon
don Snactntnr