Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1913-08-21
NATURES SCHEME
Why Differences in Animals Are
Continually Perpetuated.
col.r Proves Safeguard and Baby
Seals, White In the North, Become
brown as They Critt Southwark.
Zebra's Stripes Protect Them.

Zebra's Stripes Protect Them.
Did it ever occur to you to wonder
why, as between animals OF much the
same general form and size-say as
between the zebra, the horse and the
mule---there should exist such marked
differences, aud differences which are
perpetuated, generation after genera
ton?
The problem which puzzled the early
scientists has come, within the last
few decades, to be quite we'll under
stood, Felix J. Koch writes In Our
Dumb Animals The answer is that
these changes are all part and parcel
OF natures great scheme for the pro-
lection and, in case of the wild crea.
lures. for enabling them to avoid their
enc mics and to gain livelihood.
For example: There formerly
roan.ed the African deserts little
creature much like the giraffe. but
with just a normal neck. Here and
there he cantered over the desert.
feeding on the succulent leaves OF the
One year d blight fell OH the palm
trees; they wilLerrd and the leaves
dropped of, beginning with the lowest
and gradually running up to the top.
Along with their passing went the
food OF the short necked giraffcs. by
and by there We're only the top leaves
left to eat. The smaller animals could
not reach these and SO persisted for
want of food Only those giraffes
whose necks were long enough to
reach the leaves high up survived.
Now az provision for Just that thing
il Is one Of natures lntteXible laws
that not only docs like produce like.
bGt individual characteristics are ac-
Htntuated Here We're only the extra
1ong-necked CRATES left to interbreed.
Naturally only this sort would appear
among the young, and so the new
breed appeared with necks longer than
any giraffes had known before.
Throughout nature one finds, there
fore, the gradual adaptation to locality
and conditions.
Every year on the coasts of l.abra-
dOr and Newfoundland thousands OF
nrGrseel are slaughtered for their
hide. which is substitute for shoe
leather. The baby seal or "pnps AS
they are called. are snow white with
a l"ottling that is srayiSh
We're these baby seals the dull
brown or black Of the adults and ca.
vOriing here and there on the Ice
fields. don't YOU see, they would stand
ont in relief Bears and other foes
would see them make for them and
drvour them Put against the white
ice the white seal pup is almost in,
visible even at very close distance
Ry and by, though. the ice on which
these babies are born has broken loose
and. caught In the garments, IL drifting
southwark 1t meets the gulf stream
and melts. The baby seal must then
put to sea. If, there, it were snowy
white object such as 1t was before
to be seen swimming In deep blue
waters. its foes would spy it at once
and devour II forthwith. But by the
time the ice has come so far south
AZ tIlt gun stream NV bHb. 'oS' h"S
turned brown and he's safe.
How does this happen? Here is the
proba bic explanation. Once on time,
In herd of seal, some few were
Bit lighter colored than others. Now
fl the course of time. the seals fell
afoul of their foes The bear, let MS
suppose, saw the darker skinned
babies and destroyed them. but the
lighter had the more chance to es
cape. SO the lighter, only. We're left
20 inter breed, and this seeming fault
OF a white skin al birth became ac-
centuated, perpetu@'ed
The American buffalo is notable
specimen. See how that great broad
fcr,'sad is built to withstand the
c;l. hat sweeps the prairics. See
H.. +. Hgy growth lust over the eyes.
to protect. as he lowers the head
from the sand and dust that drive over
the plain. Verify mother natCr'
enuiDntd this child to withstand any
thinP save the man-m"dC bullet
Lock at the zebra. and in HIS mot.
tied coat you see the shadows cast
ty palm fronds on the sands OF his
nutire desert Set in the edge OF
the ralms the baby and mother are
hard 10 ten from the waVcring back.
rrourd OF shruhbor! And 80 nature
protects.
Tnrcuehout he animal kingdom
these adaptations stare one in the
face so to speak The wonderful coat
CT the deer, white in winter making
him almost invisible against tn"
SLOW. the horns. in form and color
Ike the branches Of trens-what bet.
ter cloak could conceal him from UNI
friendly eyes?
Descend to the humber forms and
on cur trees you will find II you look
sharp the walking-stck wee bit OF
an insect that, for all the world, re.
semhles few twias thrown together
ON he bark. too, there may rest
butterfly or night moth, with wings
so nearly the color Of the wood that
only when striped like shadows OF the
desert 1t proceeds to stir does one
recu.nize It as q thHg apart.