The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-03-17
PETS OF LIONS.
THE KING OF BEASTS FRIENDLY
WITH TINY CREATURES.
Professor Darlins's Story Of lso's
Fondness For q Rat -Other Peeu-
liar Things About Lions.

L lie WHY Hons trtal the llnN CTta-
lures of animal life is study. 1t
may be that there is some animal
language, and that the legend OF the
little mouse which saved the lion :
life by gnawing the net has become
known to the deniZens of the Jungle
and handed down as animal folklore,
or il may be that the king OF beasts
has positive contempt for anything
extremely small, but it is neverthe-
less fact that lions will not attack
tiny animals when they are put to-
gether. Professor Edward Darling,
now playing at Hagenbeck's, than
whom there is no more profound stu
dent of lions life and character in
the country,'has made many curious
experiments with his five big beasts.
Il never saw lion kill rat or
mouse, said Professor Darling, "and
| have had many Of them put in the
cage with my five lions. My atten-
tion was first drawn to this when |
was on my way from London TO Ba
tavia, in Java, on the ship Rotundo.
| had my five lions with me, and in
the quarter Of the ship in which they
were housed We're many rats. One
day | saw Leo, my favorite lion, ly-
ing down and holding between his
paws very loosely monster ship rat.
| thought perhaps that the cat in
stinct in the lion had made him catch
it, and that he would probably play
with it while, then eat il, and so
watched. Imagine, however, my SUR
prise when / saw him loosen the rat,
and the rat make no attempt TO get
away, but run up and over his gigan-
tic paws and play with him.
I'VE were long time making II
trip, and every day this ship rat went
into Leo's cage, and the two played
together as gently n two little chill
dren. made several attempts to
capture the rat, hoping that perhaps
| might take it ashore with me, but
could not succeed, and | promise you
that old Leo did not like at all my
attempting to interfere with his pet.
When We got to Java We had to take
the lions out, and Leo had to lose his
pet. He could have killed the rat Il
thousand times, but he never did it.
There was another instance sub
sequent to this where Leo had pet
rat, which makes me believe that the
lion has "A real fondness for the ro-
dent. 1t was i'm 1881 in Calcutta. We
were playing at the Madam, one of
those gigantic places in far India,
and when | went in to see my pets
one morning, | saw that Leo had
found another rat for n pet. My five
lions were all together, but this rat
would only play with Leo. There
were many other rats in the place,
but the other lions would not look at
them. 1t seems to me to be n fact
that the lions consider these little
animals too small to be touched. |
have known of rats being found dead
in lions cage, bat ! believe that
they were simply killed by the lion
rolling on them or stepping on them
through carelessness, but lions never
eat them.
I'm Hamburg once | knew case
of sick tiger to whom it was deemed
necessary to give some fresh, warm
blood to tone up his system, and TO
further this end live rabbit was put
in the cage with the tiger. One would
naturally suppose that the tiger
would have killed it instantly, but
such, however, was not the case. The
tiger played with the rabbit for days
before he would touch it. He finally
killed and ate il.
Now, my theory is this lion or
a tiger, or, in fact, any wild animal
kept alone grows very lonesome. In
their natural state wild beasts always
run in pairs. They love companion
ship, and when put alone they be-
come so lonesome that when another
animal, even though it is rabbit, Is
put in the same cage with them, they
refrain from killing it SO as to have
its companionship. We have heard
of many instances Of men, being
alone, shipwrecked, if you like, max
ing strange friends. Why not lion?
1t always made me feel rather bad TO
think OF this tiger in Hamburg killing
his little friend; still even men
ht DliUts buTu Ou lltlE lIltIlhN'
Now, there is another peculiar
thing about lions added Professor
Darling, and that is that they will
not eat the flesh Of a fowl. You
might tempt them with "a canvasback
duck or the daintiest squad. but they
will refuse it. This is scientific
fact. | have tried it many times.
remember once having a swan which
had broken its wing. We killed it,
dressed it carefully and threw il into
the cage Of the lions. but they would
not touch it, and it finally had to be-
taken out and thrown away. ] have
repeatedly put pigeons alive into the
cage, just to see what they would do.
/ have thrown grain down among the
lions, and the pigeons have actually
got down and hoped around the big
brutes, even hopping on their backs
the lions making no attempt TO dis
turb them, even seeming TO enjoy
their companionship
HNow there IL sofnethin stronue