The times., 1901-03-13
IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Some Remarkable. Instances of
Strange COmradeship.

Examples of Affection Between Crea-
lures of Hostile Origin-Cnscs Re
| corded by NaturaIists-FestiNa of
Recognition Among the Ants
! ENeryoua is familiar with many anec-
dotes Illustrating the strong affection that
| animals are capable Of displaying toward
one another In the great majority of
quoted cases, however. this affection
/ is a result of the parental instinct.
/ For love of an offspring there is
! scarcely an animal that will not dis
/ play courage and soIctude to the point
/ Of scIf-Sacrifce when the occasion de
/ mauds it, What is not 50 familiar is the
/ fact that friendship and good comrade-
/ ship, leading to acts of the most disin
! terestod kindness. are frequently dis
/ played among auimals-even among very
! lowly species-quite apart from the pa
rental Instincts. 1t is an undoubted fact
/ that many of the lower creatures are ca
/ pable i'm very high degree of this feel
/ ing of comrad,ship and of displaying
much courage and devotion i'm the eXer-
/ else of it.
The wcll-known fact Of the adoption OF
orphans by adult monkeys may, perhaps,
! be classed as only transfer of parental
/ affection, but it is interesting TO note in
| this connection. Similarly the authenti-
! Gated cases of parrots dying for loss of
/ their mates, the instance, given by Dr..
Butler in his Birds of New Zealand" Of
| female King Lory which 'fretted and
moped, refused her food, and died of
broken heart when the male was killed,
| and the incident noted by Mr.. Bennett of
a pair Of teals. which We're separated, and
moped for weeks. although courted by
others Hntil they We're paired again after
month, and spent days in the exhibition
of extreme joy at recovering one another,
all come within the range of sexual eX-
PLANTATION
One of the most interesting manifesto
tions of friendship among animals is
that displayed by species which take
care of infirm and disabled comrades.
| Mr.. Buxton gives Instance OF a
| wild parrot taking care (of a frost
bitten and crippled bird of distinct
species. and of the same Sex, cleaning
her feathers for her providing her with
| food, and defending her from attack. A
similar concern for the blind has often
been noticed. Captain Stansbury relates
that he observed in Utah an old and blind
and very fat pelican, which was being
carefully tended by several others, and
had evidently, by its condition, been so
tended for a long time. Mr.. Blyth tells
us that he has seen Indian crows feeding
the blind in a similar way, and Darwin
| observed the same conduct in the case
| of ordinary domestic cocks. These cases
are especially interesting, because it
seems to be generally thought that all
animals treat old and infirm members of
their species with what we should re-
gard as the utmost rigOr of cruelty.
y very notable Illustration of comrade
ship among animals is that related by
Hrehm, in his "Abyssinian Travels" His
party came across a troop Of balloons
crossing valley. An of them got away
from the travellers except one small and
rather weakly male which climbed a
| block of rocks and sat bowling, sur
rounded by dogs. Before the travellers
had time to get up an old male charged
down the valley side, dispensing the dogs
and rescuing its cOmrade, bearing him off
with a howl Of triumph. Darwin, quoting
this incident calls the babOOn a true
hero "a description thoroughly well de-
served. If the balloons have anything
corresponding to the Victoria Cross this
brave creature certainly earned it.
Among ants there is evidently very
strong feeling of friendship. Pierre HUI
ber, In his '~Recherches sur les Moeurs
des FOurmis gives some striking Illus
trattOns OF this. He separated colonies of
ants into groups. and when. after four
months. groups which had formerly be-
longed to the same community met each
other there WAS a regular festival OF
recognition. The delighted insects played
about caressing each other with their
antennae and exhibiting every sign or
rejoicing. Four months seems long
time for insects to retain the memory OF
old friendships. Strangers, even of the
same species. would have fought on meet
ing. In the general fighting that often
takes place between rival ant Communi-
ties il often happens that two from the
same community Will inadvertently at
tack one another They instantly per
ceive their mistake and ii is highly anus
ing to observe them soothing one another
with the utmost solicitude.
Snails are about the last creatures
among whom one would look for exam
pies of comradeshiD. but they have been
known TO exhibit it to a strong degree
Mr. Lonsdale tells us that he observed
two land snails in a small, stony, and Ill
provided garden one was weakly
creature. After foraging about without
satisfactory results the healthy snail left
his comrade and vanished over the wall
into a well stocked garden on the other
side while the weakly one croCched up
and waited. After some hours the traV-
eer returned over the wall with his re
port OF good things on the other side, ana
the two together set out and disappeared
in company over the barrier.
There are many examples or disinter-
ested affection between creatures OF vide
" separated species. often IN VOCATION oi
their wild instincts of hostility Audu-
bon has told us how on one occasion ne !
kept a wild turkey, which, after a time, !
escaped into the woods. Some time after |
ward he saw "A wild turkey and set his /
dog to chase 1t. To his astOnishment. al |
ter the first futter the bird did not run, |
nor did the dog attack; but they recoS- |
niZed one another with an appearance or |
the heartiest friendship. Mr.. 4. r. Pease, |
NJ p, in his book about the badger
supposed to be an unsocial beast. If ever !
there was One-teIls us that he has known |
a number of instances of badger and a |
fox living in cordial friendship in the |
same earth. sharing the couveniences Of !
bachelor housekeeping. But perhaps the |
most astonishing of all these cases OF |
friendship between different species Is /
that reported i'm the naturalist papers |
little while ago. A cat at Wycombe struck |
up a friendship with a young rat, which !
~ she had lost a batch of kittens. In |
stead of killing the rodent the cat took it /
in place of her own offspring, nOurished /
it on her own milk and became SO at |
tached TO it that neither Of the oddly as !
sorted pair could endure separation from /
one anUther-LOndOn News.