The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-22

Nose prints Of antmAls - q means
OF identifying them are now 3 sub
ject Of experiment. Since the fin
ger print Of . human being has
been proved . distinctive mark Of
Identification, speculation has
arisen ~ to whether I nose print
of . COW or dog would not be equal-
ly reliable.
Nose prints Of several hundred
sow4 have been made ct the Univer-
sity OF Minnesota, with encourag-
ing results. Fred Sandberg, = d..
tectiye Of police headquarters in
this city, made some prints Of cows
at the soldiers home the other day
and is planning similar tests with
dogs.
Mn Sandberg. who is a finger
print expert, explains that he made
his experiment largely through
curiosity. He was interested III
seeing how the nose prints would
look and whether any standard
patterns would recur in different
animals. There is = fine herd Of
Holstein cows at the soldiers hoite
in this city. and he went there car
rying q tube OF finger print ink, a
plate OF glass, some paper. and a
piece Of cloth.
The ink first was spread over the
glass. The cows wet muzzle was
dried with the cloth, and the linked
glass was quickly rubbed over the
muzzle. Then the glass was hand
ed to an assistant and a sheet OF
paper. pressed dexterously against
the inky muEEle. Nose printing a
COW proved to be an operation re-
curing at once patience and speed,
especially speed. The first time
that Sandberg tried the process tie
COW rolled out her long tongue and
licked of the ink before the paper
could be applied. After that the
detective worked fast and obtained
a number of clear prints.
The prints are about three by
two inches, and look Somewhat like
little pictures Of animal skins,
They have the shape of a f1attened
skin, curving in at both sides
where the nostrils join the muEsle
The resemblance is further carried
out by the markings which in these
particular cows are notified and
spotty like q leopard skin. Some
of the prints have a clear space
down the middle, while in others
there is no symmetry in the pat
tern.
Family Noses Are Similar.
1t was found at the University Of
Minnesota that a slight similarity
exists between the prints of COWS
belonging to the same family. Ger
tain lines seem to be hereditary, a
fact which might be of importance
in a controversy over the breed 81
a COW.
While the work is still in a pre-
liminaryN stage, experiments have
indicated that each print has indi.
viduality. Tie cows and calves al
the university were made the sub
jects Of series of tests to deter.
mine whether the pattern of muz-
zle changes with time or with the
process. of growth. Apparently il
does not change. The pattern be-
comes larger but retains its pc
culiar formation.
The noseprfnt method of identi-
flying an animal may have practi.
cal value, in the opinion of Local
breeder. 1t is barely possible thai
nose printing may supplement
branding for identifying range cat
tie. Frequently these animals stra,
away or are stolen, and the brands
are not difficult to change. II s
ranch owner kept a set OF nost
prints of his stock, he might more
certainly prove ownership in cast
OF dispute.
The nose print idea, however, i!
suggested chiefly for valuable pedi
greed animals. Suppose you go t,
a farm to select a pure bred Gov
for purchase. Out Of a herd Of fin;
black Galloways you choose a de
sirable animal. A few weeks late;
the COW is shipped to your farm
Could you prove that the COW 20,
receive is, or is hot, the one tina
you pointed out to the owner
Probably not in the case Of thi
breed for each COW is black. Tn
owner might have no intention t
ship the wrong COW, but in a larg
herd mistake could easily occur
This could happen in the case @