Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-08-11
ANIMALS ONCE WILD.
W. N. RICHARDSON, Eureka, Fla

ANIMALS ONCE WILD.
Queer Traits of Many Domestic Pets-E'h ny
the Rabbits Tail Is White.
DR.. Louis Robinson has made s.i
interesting volume by taking in or
der the domestic animals and show
ing us some of the traits which
mark them out as having been once
wild. While some of his instances
are obvious enough, others seem al
most too ingenious to be scientific.
1t is easy to agree that when a
watchdog barEs his action is trace
able to the old instinct for guarding
the lair of the pack; that the speed
and staying power of the horse We're
developed, in the first place, to en-
able him to escape from his gaunt,
persistent foe, the wolf, or that COWS
chew the cud because in early times
they had to get in a store of food
rapidly whenever they could and
were obliged to masticate it after
ward when they were safe from the
other beasts that haunted their feed
ing grounds. We can even accept
the terms canine political econ.
omy" and communal canine mo-
rality" as having some sort of mean
ing in the dog world. But DR.. Rob
inson is far from being content With
the obvious, says Blackwood's Mag
azine. In very interesting passage
he formulates the theory that the
markings of tabby cats are an in
stance of that protective mimicry"
which is common enough among
flying and creeping things, but is
supposed to be almost unknown
among mammals. Eagles, he has
found, are particularly fond Of the
flesh of animals of the cat tribe (this
J, is not a discovery, though DR.. Robin
son has strong confirmation to brine
forward), and he points out that
when tabby is curled up asleep its
markings, looked at from above, are
curiously serpentine, SO much SO
that an eagle might easily mistake
it for its dreaded enemy, the snake.
Again, the splitting and Kissing OF
cat closely resem BILE the sounds
made by serpents, and the head OF
an angry cat, with ears pressed
fiat, eyes CLASSY and staring, and ex
posed fangs,'' might we'll be mis-
taken for that of a large snake. The
: deception would be heightened, too
by the snakelike movement of the
cats tail, and from these similarities
, DR.. Robinson deduces his theory.
Whatever doubt we may have a.
to the protective meaning of the
concentric bands upon the sleeping
ocelot, or tabby, or of the attitude
movement and utterances which
characterize cat at bay, there can
I think, be no two opinions as to thu
cause of origin and as to the pro
t tective value of the hiss when utter
2 ed by helpless young creatures sucl
l as those we have been discussing
and if the latter part Of the case bt
admitted I do not see where tn.
, skeptic is to draw the line and say
: "This may be true protective MIN
icry, but this must be accounted TO,
on other grounds
DR.. Robinson would be pleased i
he could regard the fluffy whit,
tails of rabbits as emblems of altru
; ism on the part of these engaging
little creatures. He has no doub
that the tails serve as danger signal
when it is too dark for their brown
bodies to be seen, but he sadly dis
g misses the altruistic theory Chow
Uncle Remus would have appreci
ated IT'D and compares the arrange
ment of which the tails stand as evi
dence to ''such highly civilized ant
prosaic things as rates and taxes. y
Certainly our rabbit or deer con
5 fers benefit on his fellows at som
expense to himself, but we know
!. because of the universal character o
!. the above law, if for no other reason
that he gets back from the com
munity every bit as much as b.
gives. *** Thus, supposing th
| life of rabbit is threatened 90 time
a year Ga very moderate estimate
, through his rendering himself spe
cially visible, he receives more thar
20 warnings from the caudal DANCE
J signals of his fellow citizens of til
presence of dangerous foes whicl
: might otherwise kill him. The re
suit, as l have said, is very mucl
, like what one finds in civilized hu
man communities
The Old, Old Story.