The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-05-13
ANIMAL INSTINCT.
Presidents Opinion on the Question
OF the Day Amonn Naturalists.

FfeSioentS OPInon on Lne GueSllon
OF the Day Among Naturalists.
am convinced that there is nothing
in the notion that animals consciously
teach their young. Is it probable
that a mere animal reflects upon the
future any more than it does upon
the past? Is it solicitous about the
future well-being of its offspring any
more than it is curious about it's
ancestry? Persons who think they
see the lower animals training their
young supply something to their OBJ
servations consciously OK unconscious
ly; they read their own thoughts or
precOnceptions into what they see
Yet so trained a naturalist and expert
enced a hunter as President Roose-
welt differs with me in this matter
In letter which | am permitted to
quote he says:
Il have not the slightest doubt that
there is a large amount Of unconscious
teaching by voolfolk of their off
spring. In unfrequented places | have
had tho deer watch me with almost
as much Indifference as they do now in
the Yellowstone Park in frequented
places, where they are hunted, young
deer and young mountain sheep, on
the other hand,-and of course young
wolves, bobcats, and the like,-are eX-
ceedingly wary and shy when the
sight or smell of a man is concerned
Undoubtedly this is due to the fact
that from their earliest moments or
going about they learn to initiate the
unfagging watchfulness of their par
ents, and by the exercise of some as
sOciative or initiative quality they
grow to initiate and then to share the
alarm displayed by the older ones at
the smell or presence of man. A
young deer that has never seen man
feels no instructive alarm at his pres
ence, or at least very httle but it Will
undoubtedly learn to associate ex-
IRENE alarm with his presence from
merely accompanying it's mother II
the latter feels such alarm. | should
not regard this as schooling by the
parent any more than l should so re-
gard the instant fight of 20 antelope
who had not seen hunter, because
the Dist has seen him and has instant
ly run. Sometimes a deer or an ante
lope will deliberately give an alarm
cry at sight Of something strange.
This cry at once puts every deer or
antelope on the alert; but they will
be just as much on the alert if they
witness nothing but an exhibition OF
fright and fight on the part of the first
deer or antelope, without there being
any conscious effort on it's part to ex-
press alarm.
Moreover, l am inclined to think
that on certain occasions, rare though
they may be, there is a conscious ef-
fort at teaching. | have myself
known of one setter dog which would
thrash it's puppy soundly if the latter
carelessly or stupidity flushed bird.
Something similar may occur in the
wild state among such intelligent
beasts as wolves and foxes. Indeed,
| have some reason to believe that
with both of these animals it does oc-
as well as unconscious teaching of
the young in such matters as traps"
Probably the president and differ
more in the meaning we attach to the
same words than in anything else, In
a subsequent letter he says 81 think
the chief difference between you and
me in the matter is one of terminolo-
gy. When l speak of unconscious
teaching | really mean simply acting
in manner which arouses imitation"
ton"
Imitation is no doubt the key to the
whole matter. The animals unconsci-
ously teach their young by their ex-
ample, and in no other way.-From
John Burroughs Current Misconcep-
tons in Natural History" in the Cen
fury.