Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-05-22
The Oddities OF
Some Animals
Why Some Birds and
Beasts H a v Q Certain
Peculiarities.
The Elephant Could Not Live with.
out His Trunk. and the Camel Lives
ON Ills Hump In Emergencies.


Tongue and Tail Of the Ant Eater.
Nature has not given the bullock
horns, the %porcupine quilts and tho ri.
RATE an extremely long neck merely
for the sake Of ornament. Yet pre-.
cisely why these animals have their
peculiaritles h 3 QUESTION more din.
cult to answer.
Why should the elephant, for In.
stance, be the only creature to possess
an enormous trunki And could 1t not
exist without one!
Independent Of its trunk. Its great
bulk, the thickness and t%Oughness Of
It's skin and Its enormous strength
make It more than a match for the rest
OF the animal kingdom, but without a
trunk the existence Of the elephant
would very soon come to an end.
The trunk Ii merely the elephants
nose. prolonged to an immoderate
length In the shape Of a tube. furnish
ed at It's extremity with Il kind Of
finger-like appendage which enables 1t
to pick up a straw or a penny with
the greatest ease. 1t Is also a weapon
Of defense, capable Of crushing out the
life of a man by encircling 1t round his
body.
But without its aid the elephant
would very soon starve. The short.
thick neck would prevent 1t from
STOPPING to Craze, while the projecting
tusks, which are nothing more than
incisor teeth, would effectually hinder
1t from reaching any vegetation which
might grow at the level OF its mouth.
| And as 1t would be unable to draw wa
ter into its mouth without 1t death
from thirst would very soon overtake
the elephant.
That most awkward looking animal,
the giraffe, has its extremely long neck
for the purpose Of feeding from the
tops of trees and high shrubs.
Tallest Of all earth jewellers, a full
grown CRATES height will reach TWEEN
ty feet, but It's neck has no greater
number Of vertebrae than any other
animal.
Unless urged by hunger the giraffe
never grazes on level ground. 1t Is as
sisted In Its browsing by Its tongue.
which it a elongate and contract in a
very wonderful manner
Why the camel has a hump it 10 not
30 easy to decide. A large sized. well
shaped and frm hump denotes a camel
in good condition, for In proportion
as the animal raverse the sandy
wastes OF its desert lands and suf-
fers from privation and disease the
hump diminishes.
Sometimes at the end Of a long and
painful journey the hump will almost
have disappeared. That Is why the
Arabs say the "ships Of the desert
feed on their humps. But precisely
why they have these curious swell
ings" Is a matter Of conjecture rather
than OF fact.
1t Is not so with the bullock. buffalo.
bison, ibex, reindeer and other horned
animals. Each OF these has horns Of
a different nature. but undoubtedly
given the animal for purposes Of Of
Tense and defense.
The strongly shaped horns Of the
Cape buffalo, Of a width between their
points not i%nfrequently Of I've feet.
provide a bony helmet impenetrable to
an ordinary musket ball and effectu-
ally defend their owners against the
severe shocks-with tree trunks or 9th.
er buffalOes-shOcks which are fire.
quently suffered by these fierce tenn
pered creatures.
In the case Of reindeer, moose, stays
and other kinds of deer, moreover the
horns or antlers are shed every year
by adult animals.
II you have ever seen the great ant
eater you will know what an extraor-
binary creature 1t is. with its wonder
fully elongated and narrow head and
Its heavy plume Of a tail.
The reason for Its peculiar head.
which Is really an extended tube in
closing an extremely long tongue, Is to
allow the creature to burrow into ant
hills In order to obtain its food. The
insects fall ready victims to the ant
eaters, tongue. TO which they adhere
through It's gummy secretion.
Its plumy tail. often half as long as
Its body. il uses as II shade when at
rest. making its body appear like a
bundle of hay thrown loosely on the
ground.
A near relative Of the great ant eater
Is the armadillo, another queer looking
creature. It's body is incumbered with
n very hard. scaly cuirass. or skinlike
plate armor, but despite its load 1t
runs with such speed that a quick
footed nan will have difficulty in over
taking IL. This queer armor enables 1t
TO burrow into the earth with the
greatest ease.
Do you know why the hedgehog has
those hard. round spines which cover
the upper part Of its body? BY a pc
culiar muscle which governs the
spines the hedgehog can erect them at
will, aud woe betide the cat or dog
hat does not discover their sharpness
until too late.
But besides protecting the hedgehog
from its foes the spines. which are eS-
tremely elastic. enable II TO throw IL
self from high walls without injury.
As II descends II curls itself into a ball
and. falling on its curious spines. suf-
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