The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-19
ANIMALS DRINKING HABITS.
RABBITS CAN DO WITHOUT WATER
BETTER THAN CAMELS.
Some Facts From the Desert - How
Animals Find Water and show the
Way to It-hirst only Partially
Controlled by Hnhit.
From the London Spectator.

! the difficulties of the Indian frontier war
is the reason why the difficulty of obtain
ing water blocks our advance but does not
hamper the hillnen. The answer is that
our troops had in one camp upward Of
5000 baggage animals. There were oxen,
mules, donkeys and camels The former
are always thirsty creatures, and even
the camels are credited with vastly larger
powers of sustaining thirst than they pos
sess. Maj. A. G. Leonard, after seven
teen years experience as a transport Off
Ger, is convinced that camels should. if
possible, be watered every day, that they
cannot be trained to do without water. and
that, though they can retain one and
half gallons Of water in the cells of the
stomach, four or five DAYS abstinence is
as much as they can stand. in heat and
with dry food, without permanent injury
The record of the sufferings of the un-
fortunate animals which accompanied an
ill-arranged expedition in the Kashgar
desert is a timely comment on this opinion.
1t is very doubtful whether the majority
of the various desert animals willingly
go without water, or in fact. do so to any
can, probably by habit and practice, go for
longer periods without drinking than spe-
cies living in well-watered districts. But
the absence of any special provision for
the internal storing of water, except in
the camels and some tortoses, seems to
indicate that this power of temporary alb
stinence is only an acquired capacity. Nor
is it often possible to be certain that stores
of water do not exist in deserts" stores
perfectly well known to the animals,
though not TO travellers. This is especially
the case in rocky deserts such a the Ba-
yuda desert and that between Suakin and
Berber. Some of the correspondents of the
London daily papers who recently made
the journey from the advanced posts on
the Nile to Suakin noted as remarkable
that though they were in a desert and
making forced marches from want of wa
ter, which. when found, was a black as
ink and almost undrinkable, hares and
gazelles swarmed.
This is an almost certain sign that this
desert is not waterless Count Gleichen,
when recrossing the Bayuda desert from
Metemmeh, found real cisterns of water
in one place away from the ordinary track.
A typical desert bird, which, like the ga
zelles, jerboas and sand lizards, has over
taken its color from its environment, is
the sand grouse. Yet Mr.. Dryden states
that the daily fight of the sand grouse,
species of exceedingly swift and swal-
low-like flight, TO the water is one of the
sights of the Veldt in the dry season.
Their machine-like punctualty, and the
wonderful displays afforded by their enor-
nous flights at the desert pools" form the
subject of one of Mr. Bryden's chapters
in his recent work on South Africa. The
watering process is gone through with
perfect order and witfNlt overcrowding.
-. IL Il Il. H.,
full flight continued; as birdS% - and
departed others were constant S -
to take their places. l should jCW@ that
the average time spent by each bird at
and around the water was half an hour.
A curious instance of animal knowledge
of the presence of water in unsupported
places had a practical result in Holland.
The question of supply of good water
for The Hague was under discussion at
the time when the North Sea canal was
being constructed. One of those present
remarked that there was water in the sand
hills; that the hares, rabbits and par
tridges which swarm in the sand hills did
not come to the wet "polders'' to drink,
but knew of some supply in the dunes"
themselves and that he could name one
or two places where he had seen water.
This idea was laughed at; but one of the
| local engineers present took the hint. The
| dunes were carefully explored and the
result is the cutting of a long reservoir in
the center of the sand-hills. which fills
with water naturally, and supplies the
town.
1t is believed that rabbits can exist in
| this climate without a permanent water
supply. Wher they are kept in inclosed
! Warrens without water this must be ac
cepted as a fact. The writer has seen
| only one such warren, where there are
| always plenty of drinking troughs for the
| young pheasants in summer, though n
/ int ba raj
| and dew. Those In this warren are very
poor and small. Tame rabbits are com
| monty kept without water; but they may
| be seen licking the bars of their hutch af-
| ter a shower and drink eagerly when they
| have the chance Most other rodents, in
| Guiding rats, are thirsty creatures. The
| only animals living in very dry places
| which seem able to do entirely without
| drink are snakes and reptiles. In the
| cold desert of shifting sand in Kashgar
| there were no reptiles, and not even
| fly. But the Afghan boundary commits
| sion found swarms of lizards and new
! and Venomous species of adder in aston
! ishing numbers in the awful desert of hot
| shifting sand at the corner where Persia,
! Baloochistan and Afghanistan meet We
must note one exception, the giraffe, which
| Mr. Dryden believes exists for three-quar-
| ters of the year in the North Kalahri with
! out water. But this cannot be proved un-
| til the desert has been explored and the
! total absence of water confirmed. There
| is known to be water beneath the sur
! face; and il the giraffe does live water
! less. he must imbbe his liquid nutriment
| at second hand in the juices of the leaves
| of the trees which have their roots in
! the moisture. Seals do not apparently
| drink, neither do cormorants and PEN
! gums; but there can be little more evapo-
| ration from their bodies than from those
of fish, and their food is wet and moist. A
more difficult question is that of the water
supply Of arctic animals in winter; posi-
bly, they act snow There is abundant
evidence that though many animals can
exist without wafer for long periods, this
! abstinence is not voluntary, and when UNI
duly protracted causes suffering and loss
| Of health.
! The whole cat tribe are proverbially
! tough" and can not only recover from
| frightful bodily injuries. but endure hun
! ger and thirst longer than most animals.
! Instances of cats lost or stuck fast in
| hollow walls where in addition to de-
privation of food they have been cut off
! from water for periods of a fortnight or
more, are not uncommon; yet the cats
have soon recovered. But 1t would be alb