The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-26
ANIMALS FOUND IN AFRICA.
REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES RE-
GENTLY MADE IL THAT COUNTRY.
Peculiar and Marvellous Bensts That
Never Heard the Crack of IA Hun
ter's Rifle.

pairing its size on the map with that of
India. Allowing for some slight overlaps,
no less than six midas can be traced on
the map of Africa; and as these leave be-
tween them and their margins considera-
bic spaces of the country still uncovered,
it would be but a moderate estimate that
Africa includes at least seven times the
area of British India.
Northern Africa has. so far as it's ami
mails are concerned, been cut off from the
districts lying south of the tropic of Can
Ger by the great barrier formed by the
Sahara; and as the animals Of the dis
tricts to the north of that desert are, for
the most part, of a European type, while
Southern Europe and Northern Africa
were evidently joined by land at no very
distant epoch of the earths history, the
districts north of the Sahara are for zoo
logical purposes regarded as part of Eu-
rope and Asia. Typical or Ethiopian
Africa, as it is more generally termed, in
cludes, therefore, only such portion of the
continent as lies TO the south of the north
ern tropic.
But the critical reader may, perhaps,
here be led to remark that some st least,
Of the animals of Northern Africa are
common to the South; the lion, whose
range extends from Algeria TO the Cape,
affording a case in point. To this it may
be replied that, popular prejudice notWith-
| standing, the lion cannot in any sense
be looked upon as a characteristic African
animal. Although year by year growing
rarer, it to this day still fingers on in GER
tain parts Of Western India, while it is
likewise found in Persia and Mesopotamia,
and within the historic period was COM
mon ia Southern Europe. 1t may, to a
| certain degree, be regarded as a cosmo-
| poltan animal, which may have obtained
entrance into Africa by more than one
route. In a minor degree, the same may
be said of the hippopotamus, which was
formerly found in the lower reaches of the
! Nile, and, at a much earlier period in
many parts of Europe. Being an aquatic
| animal, il can avail itself of routes of COM
! municaton which are closed to purely ter
| restial creatures.
OF the fauna of typical Africa. as a
whole, some of the most striking features
are of negative nature; that Is 10 say
certain groups which are most Wdely
! spread in most other districts of the Old
| World are conspicuous by their absence.
| This deficiency rs most marked in the
| case of bears and deer neither of which
| are represented throughout the whole of
| this vast eXpanse of country. Pigs allied
| to the wild swine of Europe and India are
likewise lacking, their place being taken
| by the push-pigs and the hideous wart-
| hogs, both of (which are among the most
| characteristic of African animals. Elk
! cepJ for a couple of species of hex In the
| hills of the northeast, sheep and goats are
| likewise unknown M a wild state. Among
! other absentees in the fauna special men
| ton may be made of the marmots, and
| their near allies, the susliks, as well as of
| wolves, bears and moes.
OF the mammals, which may be regard
ed as characteristic of typical Africa, as
a whole, the following, In addition to the
bush-pig and wart-hogs already mention
ed, are some of the most important. Among
| the monkeys the most widely distributed
are the hideous balloons, now restricted
to Africa and Arabia, the southern portion
of the latter country being included In the
| same great geological province. The guen-
ons species, OF which are the monkeys
commonly led about by organ grinders,
! have also a wide distribution on the CONT
! ncnt, although, of course, more abundant
in the forest regions than elsewhere: and
the guerezas have also a considerable
| range. In a totally different group, the
curious little jumping shrews form pc
cuiarly interesting family of African
| mammals belonging to the insectivorous
| order. There are also many peculiar gen.
| era of mongooses, but as most of these
! have more or less local distribution, they
| can scarcely be considered characteristic
of the continent as a whole; still, they are
| quite different from those found elsewhere.
| very curious carnivorOus animal, known
as the aard-wolf. striSingly like small
| striped hycna, is not the least peculiar
among the animals of Africa, where it has
| a comparatively wide range. The hunting
dog, which presents considerable resem-
| balance to the spotted hyena, IS an equally
! remarkable representative of the dog fam
| lily Although formerly found in Europe,
the spotted hyena itself is now exclusively
| African.
Passing by the rodents, or gnawing
mammals, rs being less familiar 10 non
geological readers, we have the two spec
| les OF hippopotami, absolutely confined
| to Africa at the present day; We are all
familiar with the common species in the
menageries, but the small West African
kind, which has more the habit of a pig,
is less commonly known.
The stately giraffes are solely African,
but appear to be mainly confined TO the
more open districts. The herds of ante
lopes, for the most part belonging to gen.
eric types unknown elsewhere, with the
| exception of a few in Arabia, form one of
the most distinctive features of African
life. Many of them. like the strange gnus
and the graceful gemsbok group, are con-
fined to the open districts of the South
and East; but others, such as the BUSH
bucks ana Inc hdFneSSed antelOpeS, nave
representatives in the forest districts of
the West. Both species OF African rhi-
noceros are quite different from their Ori-
entail relatives, but only one of these the
common species, has a wide distribution
IN the country. Zebras and the now eX-
! tinct Quagga. are familiar and striking
African animals, although they are con-
fined to the open plains and mountains.
on the other hand. the African elephant
which differs so widely in the structure
of ns teeth from its Asiatic relative, has
IA much more extensive distribution, and
may, therefore, be classed among the
most characteristic of Ethiopian animals.
Even more peculiar are che little hyraces,
the miscalled coneys of our version of
the Bible, which form a family absolutely
peculiar to Africa Arabia and Syria
some of the species dwelling among rocks,
while others are active climbers, and fire.
quent the forest districts But perhaps
4 the stranEcst mammal that may be re-
hon. tort, s,gA f,,s.,