New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-18
LIONS AND THEIR PETS.
LEO WOULD NOT INJURE A RAT.
PROFESSOR DARLING TELLS SOME INTERESTING
INCIDENTS FEARLEssNEss OF PIGEONS

PROFESSOR DARLING TELLS SOME INTERESTING
INCIDENTS FEARIEssNEss OF PIGEONS
AMONG THE KINGS OF BEASTS. ~
The way lions treat the tiny creatures OF animal
life Is study. 1t may be that there Is some AMI
NAL language and that the legend OF the little
mouse which saved the lions life by gna~ing the
net has known to the denlzens OF the jungle
and handed down animal folklore. or It may be
that the king of beasts has positive contempt
for ANYTHING extremely small, but II Is neverthe"
less a fact that lions Will not attack tiny animals
when they put together Professor Edward
Daring. playing at HaSenbecks. than wnom
there is no more profound student OF lions life
and character in the country, has made many curl
Gus experiments with his five bis beasts
II never saw lion Kill rat or mouse said
Professor Darling. "ani have had many OF them
put In the cage with my five Hons. My attention
was frs, drawn to this when was on my way
from London TO Batavia in Java. on the ship
Rotundo had my five Hons with me- and in the
quarter CT the ship In which they were housed
were many rats One day saw Leo. my fasorits
lion. lying down and holding between his paws very
loosely a monster ship rat. thought perhaps that
the cat instinct in the lion had made him eaten
It. and that he would probably play with II while.
then eat IT, and so | watched. Imagine, however
my surprise when ! him loosen the rat, ana
the rat make no attempt TO get away. but nun up
and over his gigantic paws and play with him.
I'VE were a long time making trip. and every
day this ships rat went into Loo's cage, ana the
two played together az geniy az two little chill
dren | made several attempts to capture the rat.
| hoping that perhaps | might toke 1t ashore with
| me- but could not succeed and promise you that
old Leo did not like at all my attempting to inter-
fere with his pet. When We got 10 Java we had TO
| take the lions out, and Leo had to lose his pet.
| He could have killed that rat a thousand times
bat he never did H..
/ nSfa
| where Lee had a pet rat, which makes me believe
| that the lion has real fondness for the rodent.
| II was In 1881 In Calcutta. We were playing at
the Madam. one OF those gigantic places In far
| India. and when went in 10 see my pets one morn
! ing I saw that Leo had found another rat for a
pet Nv five lions were ali together. but this rat
! would play only with Leo. There were many other
rats In the place but the other lions would not look
| at them. Il 10 me 10 be fact that the
lions consider these little animals too small 10 be
touched. | have known OF rats being found dead
In a lions cage but believe that they were simply
| killed by the lion rolling on them or stepping on
them through careiessness, but lions never eat
them.
| IN Hamburg once knew a case OF a sick tiger
| to whom it deemed necessary 70 give some
fresh blood % tone up his system and 10
further this end live rabbit put In the cage
| with the tiger One would naturally suppose that
the tiger would have killed 1t instantly. but such
| however. was not the case. The tiger played with
. the rabbit for days before he would touch 1t. He
| finally killed and ate it.
| Now, my theory is this: lion or n tiger. or IN
| fact. any wild animal kept alone grows very lone
| some In their natural state wild beasts always
| run in pairs They love companionship. and when
| put alone they become so lonesome that when an
| other animal even, though Il is rabbit is put In
| the same cage with them they refrain from Kill
| ing II SO as 10 have it's companionshp. We have
heard Of many instances Of men. being alone, snip
! wrecked II you like. making strange friends. why
| not a lion? II always made me feel rather bad TO
| think or this tiger in Hamburg killing his little
friend still times turn on their friends.
| Now. there Is another peculiar thing about
lions" added Professor Darling, "and that Is that
they Will not eat the hesh OF foWi. lou nisnt
temp, them with a canvasback duck or the onn-
TEST SQUAD but they would refuse r. This Is q
scientific fact. | have tried 1t many times; re-
member once having a which had broken It's
wing We killed II. dressed il carefully and tnrew
1t into the cage OF the lions, bat they would no,
! thrown away | have repeatedly plt pigeons ahVs
into the cage. just to what they would DO
have thrown grain down among me mons ana ,ns
| pigeons have actually got down and hoped around
the big hrutes. even hopping on their oacks, the
lions making no attempt TO disturb them, even
seeming TO enjoy their companionsnip ..... Obi.
NOW there Is something strange about th!e
which is rather difficult 10 explain. To my mind II
argues that lion is not brutal in his instincts:
fierce with justice. | believe every one OF my lions
has A conscience: know every of them knows
the difference between right and wrong: they know
their wondrous power. and are charitable tney
would never attempt to injure something Whcn IN
no way could do them harm The study or lion.
his habits. character and capabilities Is one OF the
comparatively unknown but the more one goes into
t. the more ;ime one takes to NM out 1ust wnat
lion H. the he IL convinced that ne mas rlgnty
been namel the king Of beasts