Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-12-29
CATS AND DOGS.
The Enmity That Exists Between
Them and the Reaaon of 1t.

Them and the Reason Of 1t.
Why does the dog hate the cat? Sci
entists have been investigating the en-
nifty between these animals, and they
believe that the instructive hatred
which certain beasts feel for each other
is due to Inheritance from ancient
times when the animals met in wild
state and preyed on each other.
The enmity between cats and dogs
seems to be due more to hatred on the
part of the dog than of the cat. The
latter animal apparently hates dogs
because dogs chase her, while the dog
hates the cat because she Is q cat.
A cat will feed at a place where
dog has been without betraying any
signs Of anger, but dog generally be-
comes excited and wild IL he scents
the trail of cat anywhere near his
food or sleeping place.
Now this enmity is not to be ex-
planned by anything Tat happens be-
tween dogs and cats u domesticity or
them as long ago as human history
goes. In all these thousands Of years
dogs and cats have been kept as pets,
and of all animals they are the two
which should be the most friendly.
But the reverse is the case. One nat
uralist, DR.. Zell, seeks It in the fact
that the common cat not only looks
IKE, but smells like, the great cats Of
prey. And of those cats Of prey there
Is one, much like a domestic cat in
many ways, which hunts dogs by pref
erence. This big cat is the leopard.
The domestic cat and her larger rela-
tive, the wildcat, have never harmed
the race of dogs, but their great spec
kled cousin is and always has been the
most ferocious of dog murderers, and
the cat must pay for it.
Authorities agree that there is no
animal that the leopard would rather
eat than the dog. As result there are
many villages In the districts in which
kopards are plentiful where nobody
can keep a. dog. The great cats will
not hesitate to break into the houses
to seize their favorite dish.
But, says the doubter, the modern
dog certainly could not have known
leopards In many: thousands Of years.
He has been domestic pet in regions
where there have been no leopards
since man first appeared. ..
That Is true, says DR.. Zell. But he
points to the fact that dogs have a
habit of turning around several times
before they lie: down. This, he says, is
due to the fact that when they were
In wild state they had to do this to
press down leaves and twigs in order
TO prepare bed for themselves, and as
they have not overcome this habit in all
their years OF domesticity it is quite
natural that they should still inherit
fierce hatred Of any creature that
smells like a leopard.
Dogs and cats are not the only ami
mails that still show inherited fear or
hatred Of other beasts which they have
never seen themselves. Thus the rhi-
noceros is frantically In fear Of any
thing white, and naturalists say that
this Is because once upon a time some
hdg white animal hunted him. But that
must have been long ago, for there are
no big white animals now where the
Ehinoceros dwells. y
Chickens that have never seen a fox
VIII cackle and run In fear II they
come across the place where the anil
NAL has passed q whsre his carcass
has been dragged. II a fox has bsen
anywhere near, a cats. drinking dish
~ cat VIII not approach ft.-New York
Press. -.-... ~~'r--