Evening star., 1898-01-08
LIFE WITHOUT WATER
How Animals Can Endure the Thirst
of the Desert.
RABBITS DO BETTER THAN CAMELS
The Instinct Of Many Game Birds
and Beasts.
FOUR OR FIVE DAYS THIRST

From the London Spectator.
Among the questions asked I'm relation 10
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 hillmen. The answer l. 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. C. Leonard after seventeen
years experience as a transport officer, is
convinced that camels should. If possible.
be watered every day, that they cannot b,
trained to do without water. and that,
thorsh they can retain one and half gall
lors 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 des-
ert Is timely comment on this opinion In
Is very doubtful whether the majority OF
the various desert animals" willingly GO
without water. or, I'm fact, do so to any
great extent. They drink sparingly and
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 tortoises, seems TO indi-
cate that this power of temporary absti-
nence is only an acquired capacity Nor is
II 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 as The Ra-
yLda desert and that between Suakin and
Berber
Some of the correspondents of the I.on-
don daily papers who recently made the
journey from the advanced posts on the
Nile to Suakin noted as remarkable that
thoush they were in desert and making
forced marches from want of water. which.
when found. was as black as ink and al
most undrinkable, hares and gazelles
sv armed.
This is an almost certain sign that this
desert is not waterless. Count Gleichen
When recrossing the Bayuda desert from
Metehlmeh, FOUND real cisterns of water In
one place away from the ordinary track
typical cesert bird which, like the ga
zelles, jerboas and sand lizards has even
taken Its color from its environment is the
sand grouse Yet Mr.. Dryden states that
the daily flight of the sand grouse. n spe-
c!es OF exceedingly swift and swallow-like
flight, to the water is one of the sights of
the veldt in the dry season. Their ma
chine-llke punctuality and the wonderful
displays afforded by their enormous flights
at the desert pools" form the subject of
one OF Mr.. Bryden's chapters in his recent
work On South Africa. THE watering pro-
cess is gone through with perfect order and
without orercrowding. From o'clock to
close on 10 this wonderful flight continued;
as birds drank and departed others were
constantly arriving to take their places. 4
should judge that the average time speut
D a "a n Qr fh.aa
half an hour" A curious instance OF ami
nal knowledge CT the presence of water in
unsuspected places had practical result IN
Holland. The question of a supply of good
water for The Hague was under discussion
al the time when the North Sea canal was
being constructed. one of those present re-
marked that there was water in the sand
hills; that the hares. rabbits and partridgss
which swarm in the sand hills did not
come to the wet ''polders" to drink, but
kI ew of some supply in the dunes" them
selves: 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 CEN
ter of the sand hills. which fills with water
naturally and supplies the town.
Total Abstinence.
1t is believed that rabbits can exist I'm
this climate without a permanent water
supply. Where they are kept in inclosed
warrens without water this must be ac-
ceptcd 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 in winter
the rabbits only find rain water and
dew. Those in this warren are very poor
and small. Tame rabbits are commonly
kept without water, but they may lac seen
licking the bars of their hutch after a
shower, and drink eagerly when they have
the chance. Most other rodents, including
rats, are thirsty creatures. The only ami
mails living in very dry places which seem
able to do entirely without drink are
snakes and reptiles. In the cold desert
OF shlftlng sand in kashgar there were no
reptiles and not even a fiy But the Af-
ghan boundary commission found swarms
OF lizards and new and yenomous sDe-
cies or adder in astonishing numbers in
the awful desert of hot, shifting sand at
the corner where Persia, Baioochistan and
Afghanistan meet. We must note one ex-
ception, the giraffe which Mr.. Dryden be-
lieves exists for three-quarters of the year
IN the north kalahari without water But
this cannot be proved until the desert has
been explored and the total absence of
water confirmed. There is known to be
water beneath the surface, and If the gi-
raffe does live waterless he must iylpibe
Ills liquid nutrimeIt at second hand I'm the
juices of the leaves of the trees which
have their roots in the moisture Seals
DO not apparently drink, neither do cor
morants and penguins; but there can be
little more evaporation 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. Possibly they eat snow There
is abundant evidence that though many ami
mails can exist without water for long pc
ricds. this abstinence is not voluntary and
wnen unduly protracted causes suffering
and loss of health