Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1900-07-07
HUMAN TRAITS OF ANIMALS.
They Must Have Occupation for Their
Mind IL I'm Capuvitp.

Ernest Seton-Thompson writes in
cidentaIly of the restlessness of cap
tive animals in the Century, as fol-
lows:
1T is common saying among
keepers that, averaging one animal
with another, a menagerie must be
renewed every three years. Yet /
of his animals, those of Woodward's
Gardens, San Francisco, alive,
healthy and happy from the begin
ming of his time to the end, 10 years
later, when the establishment was
broken up, and the animals were
ordered to be shot in their cages.
The great secret of his success, he
tells me, was caring for their minds
as well as for their bodies
"Many a man shut up in a cell has
saved his mind by inventing some
trifing amusement 1t is recorded
that one set a daily watch on the
movements of a spider Another
tried how many times he had to toss
five pins before they fell in just the
same way. Another tried to run ten
miles each day in his narrow limits.
Yet another busted himself inventing
new arrangements for the two or
three articles of furniture in his cell.
Many have paced up and down each
day for a number of hours. And
whatever they did, all alike were
seeking to put in time, to while away
the awful tedium of their monoton-
Gus lives, to respond to the natural
craving for exercise, and to save
their minds and bodies from actually
whitening from disuse.
eff instead of human captives' we
read wild animals in all this, we
shall have very fair portrait of
what we may see every day in an or
binary menagerie. Why does the
elephant swing to and fro forever
from his chain picket? Why does he
gather from the floor all the straw
he can reach, throw it over his back
and over the stable, to be gathered
later? Why does the squirrel enter
and work for hours the aimless
treadwheel, and the marten leap list
lessly half a day from point to point
floor, perch, slat, box; floor, perch,
slat, boX-again and again, with mo-
notonous sameness day after day?
Why does the lone ostrich waltz far
more than does his wild kinsman
that has many admiring spectators of
his own kind, and why do the fox
and the wolverine trot miles and
miles of cage front every day? Why
does the bear roll and tumble for
hours over the same old wooden ball
as if it were a new-found chum, or, if
no ball is supplied, swing back and
forth on pivotal hind foot for hours
each day? Why does the rhinocerous
keep on forever nosing at some pro-
lection that his horn can almost
fasten under, till it get more and more
elusive through the smoothing of
perpetual use? Why do wolves and
monkeys put in hours and hours
over humble duties that in their
wild state were the work of a few
minutes at most? To all, the answer
is the same as to the similar query
about the man prisoner. They are
putting in time. They are respond
ing to the natural craving for exer-
else. They are trying to pass the te-
dunn of their hopeless lives; they
are doing anything, everything, their
poor brains can suggest to while
away the weary drag of dull, event.
less days. Their bellies are well
cared for, or at least are always
plentifully cared for. but how few
keepers have learned that in each
animal is mentality, large or
small, that ought to be considered"