The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1913-09-26
animal DIFFERENCES
C0NT|NE Perpetual


differences, and differences which are
perpetuated. generation after genera
ltion?
The problem which puzzled the early
scientists has come, within the last
few decades, to be quite we'll under
stood. Felix ]. 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
enemies and to gain livelihood.
For example There formerly
roamed' the African deserts a 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
palms that were within easy reach.
One year q blight fell on the palm
trees; they withered 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 giraffes. By
and by there were only the top leaves
left to eat. The smaller animals could
= not -resch these and so perished for
want Of food Only those giraffes
whose necks were long enough to
reach the leaves high up survived.
Now as provision for just that thing
it is one of natures infexible laws
! that not only does like produce like,
but individual characteristics are ac.
centuated. Here were only the extra
long-necked giraffes left to interbreed.
I, 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 Labra.
dor and Newfoundland thousands OF
near-seal are slaughtered for their
hide which is a substitute for shoe
leather. The baby seal or pups as
they are called, are snow white with
nothing that Is grayish.
Were these baby seals the dull
brown or black of the adults and ca
vorting here and there on the ice
fields. don't .yoy see, they would stand
out, " felIe4E.Bears and other foes
- see them, make for them and
dey Ar them. But against the white
ice the white seal pup Is almost in
Visible @ even af Z very 6losss distance
BY and by, though, the ice on which
these babies are born has broken loose
and, caught in the currents, Is drifting
southward. 1t meets the gulf stream
and melts. The baby seal must then
put to sea. II. there, 1t we're snowy
white object such as II was before
TO be seen swimming In deep blue
waters. its foes would spy 1t at once
and devour II forthwith. But by the
time the ice, has come so far south
as the gulf stream the baby's coat has
turned brown and he's safe.
How does this happen? Here Is the
probable explanation. Once on time
in q herd of seal, some few were a
bit lighter colored than others. Now
in the course of time, the seals fell
afoul of their foes. The bear, let us
suppose, saw the darker skinned
babies and destroyed them, but the
lighter had the more chance to es
cape. So the lighter, only, were left
to fnterbreed, and this seeming fault
of white skin at birth became &C.
centuated, perpetuated.
The American buffalo is a notable
specimen. See how that great broad
forehead is built to withstand the
gale that sweeps the prairies. See
the shaggy growth just over the eyes,
to protect, as he lowers the head
from the sand and dust that drive over
the plain. Verify mother nature
equipped this child to withstand any.
thing save the man-made bullet.
Look at the zebra, and in his mot.
tied coat you see the shadows cast
by palm fronds on the sands Of his
native desert, Set in the edge of
the palms the baby and mother are
hard to tell from the wavering back.
ground of shrubbery. And so nature
protects.
Throughout the animal kingdom
these adaptations stare one in the
face. so to speak. The wonderful coat
OF the deer, white in winter, making
him almost invisible against the
snow; the horns, in form and color
like the branches of trees-what bet.
ter cloak could conceal him from un.
.s\ndly eyes?
cand to the humber forms and
pon our trees you will find, IL you look
sharp, the walking-stick wee bit OF
an insect that, for all the world, re
senbles few twigs thrown together
( On the bark, too, there may rest a
butterfly or night moth, with wings
90 nearly the color of the wood that
only when striped like shadows of the
desert 1t proceeds to stir does one
recognize 1t as a thing apart
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