The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-12-14
ANIMALS FEAR Of MAN.
It is Not a Natural Instinct, But Re-
suits From Bitter Experience.


Ay ancient and modern naturalists,
from Don Felix d'Azara to Mr.. Hud-
son, the puma, the second largest OF
che big cats Of So. tn America, neither
feared man nor regarded human beings
as its prey; but on the contrary sought
their society, and even protected man
from the attacks Of the jaguar. Trust
worthy facts which lend additional
confirmation to this interesting ques-
zion must necessarily be slowly &C
quired. The following anecdote, which
comes first hand from one long resi-
dent in British Guiana, supports the
belief that the puma seeks the society
Of man instead of attacking or fearing
him. When making an expedition up
ene of the large rivers in steam
launch our friend gave passage to an
elderly Cornish miner, who was anxi-
Gus TO reach the gold fields. Not
wishing to intrude upon his hosts, ne
did not sleep on board the launch, but
always slung his hammock between
two trees on shore. AS climbing into
a high slung hammock is not easy, he
usually fastened it rather low, and his
weight brought it to within three feet
Of tie ground at the bottom OF the
curve. One morning, being asked
how he slept, he complained chat the
frogs had made such noise under
meath his hammock that they had kept
him awake. Some Indians of the
crew, who we're folding up the ham
mock, laughed good deal when they
heard this, and being asked the rea-
son, said, still laughing: ''Oh, tiger
sleep with an old man last night.
They had found under the hammock
the marks Of where puma had lain.
The noise which had kept the occu-
pier OF the hammock awake was proba-
BY the purring Of the puma, pleased
at occupying the "next birth below
man. AS these Guiana Indians have,
in addition to the. .unerripg eye OF the
forest Idweller,sa special liking and
capacity for tanning animals, it can
hardly be doubted that their conelu-
sion was correct. Such an absence OF
fear and liking for human society,
could only be paralleled by the be-
hayior of some domestic cats.
Yet in the case Of the puma this
can only be survival Of primitive
disposition, which has already been
lost in a great measure by the same
species in North America. Are we,
then, to suppose that that absence of
Fear Of man so general even among the
large carpivora was the rule in the
primitive world? If it was. we shall
have to account for the survival OF
man in the presence of creatures which
did not fear him, and possessed a far
mere effective physical equipment for
attack than man possessed for de.
fense, for we can not suppose that the
benevolent neutrality which can safely
be attributed to the.puma was exhibit
ed BY the other carnivora. The evi-
dence that fear is not the natural atti-
tnde of animals toward man is mainly
of two ikinds-theunotes Of explorers
who have pushed into the few regions
Of earth where animals were numer-
Gus, but man had not trodden, and
the results'of the very latest expert
ments of to-day in districts where the
killing Of animals has been absolutely
prohibited. In other words, we must
compare the behavior Of the creatures
in the Arctic seas in the days of the
Willoughby Tand Berants, or in the
voyage of Weddell to the Antarctic,
with the. latest reports from Yellow
stone Park. OThe results show strik-
ing agreement in the demeauor Of the
beasts when first confronted with the
new creature, man. Few Of them ex-
hibited fear, so far as the records
show. When Berants' crew was on
its first voyage polar bear, who
probably had never seen men before,
took one Of the crew, who was lying
down, by the backlof the neck, and
dragging.him some way: bit the top of
his head off. Even now the polar bear
is the.least shy Of his race, though so
constantly hunted.
The general tendency Of wild ami
mails kept in large reserves and never
molested points to the same conclu-
sion, though for obvious reasons none
Of the.most dangerous carnivora can
be maintained in such places. The
fear of man is lost by creatures wild
and free.but unmolested so quickly as
to be a matter Of surprise to those
,. on,orsor+ NTH animals in can