Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-11

Human children have two sorts Of
games. They either play with toys in
animate objects or some kind or other,
or else with one another Animals do
the same Their games are, of course,
says the Strand Magazine, not very ad-
vanced They make practically no de-
mands upon intellectual powers, but
only upon bodily activity-in fact, they
closely correspond with the plays OF
very young children.
There is nothing that plump,
healthy youngster of todding age en-
joys more than a roll down a grassy
bank or the soft side Of haycock.
We find more than one wild animal
which practices and enjoys sliding
play. Others 90 i'm for regular tobog-
gaming. First choosing a steep slop
ing river bank. where the soil is OF
clay and the water at the bottom fair
ly deep, they set to work and care
fully remove all the sticks and loose
stones which might get in their way,
and then the fun begins. Climbing up
the bank ct some spot where II Is not
too steep. the first otter goes to the
head of the slide, lies down fat on his
stomach, gives a kick with his hind
legs, and down he slides headforemost
into the water.
The second follows his leaders ex-
ample, and then the third, as rapidly
as they can. The bank soon becomes
smooth and slippery, and the raster
they travel the more the otters enjoy
1t. They keep on and on until quite
tired out, and will come back to the
same spot day after day to renew
their game. SO common is this prac-
tice on the part of the otters that the
relentless trapper long ago came to
know 1t well, and makes a practice or
setting his trap just where the poor
little beasts leave the water to climb
afresh for another slide and hardly
ever fails to secure the leader, gem
orally the old dog otter.
With otters the tobogganing Is not
merely a summer pastime. In winter
they have the came amusement, the
only difference being that they choose
a snow bank instead Of mud one.
"Follow My Leader" by chamois
Brehm. the German naturalist, has
recorded an exactly similar game
played by chamois in the Alps. In
summer chamois climb to the upper
heights and there, in the midst of the
solitudes Of perpetual snow, enjoy
themselves vastly, leaping from rock
to rock, and often playing a game like
follow my leader" But the most
curious part OF their fun is their to-
bogganing They choose a steep, snow
covered slope; the leader throws him
self into a sort of crouchinS position,
and, working his legs as though he
were swimming. slides down for dis
tance Of a hundred yards or more. Ar
rived at the bottom, he springs to his
feet and climbs up again. The others
look on, and then another Of them
makes a trial of the slide. The rest
follow, one by one.
1t may be objected that chamois
have adopted this method of travelling
down a snow slope simply because 1t
is the easiest and most convenient, but
surely the fact that the same animals
have been seen to make the expert
ment several times over on the same
slide is certain proof that the tobog-
gaming is genuine play and nothing
else.
There are many instances on record
of dogs having taken to coasting down
snow slopes. But the dog is do
mestic animal, and a marvelously imi-
tative one, so for the purpose of prov
ing animal play he must in this case
be put out of court.
Humboldt speaks of having seen
young Capuchin monkey riding pig.
The monkey would wait about in the
morning until he could catch pig,
spring on it's back and ride off with
every symptom of delight, clinging so
tightly that poor piggy, do what he
might, could not free himself of his
incumbrance. Once he had secured a
mount, nothing would induce Master
Capuchin to give it up. Even when
the pig was feeding the monkey kept
his seat. The lemur is not monkey,
but very near relative. A white
fronted lemur belonging to Broderlip,
the naturalist, used to have tremen-
dous games with a tame beaver called
Binny. Mackey, as the lemur was
called. would play tag" with Binny,
touching his great fiat tail with one
finger and dancing around and around
the heavy amiable beast, while the
beaver. with elephantine playfulness,
would charge Mackey with all his
might, but, of course, never coming
near the airy sprite.
One day the two were left alone to-
gether. In the room was a linen press,