4o6 



MAMMALIA 



sinia. The Himalayan ibex stands forty inches in height and has 

 horns that reach a length of fifty inches Another Himalayan goat, 

 the markhor^ has enormous black twisted horns, five feet in length, 

 and a yellowish mane over one foot long. It is supposed to be the 

 ancestor of the Angora goat. 



The antelopes^ also Bovidae^ include the koodoos, elands, spring- 

 bucks, gazelles, hartebeasts, gemsbucks, water bucks and black 

 bucks found in Africa. Space does not permit a description of these 

 forms. 



Fig. 231. Asiatic ibex. (Courtesy of the Field Museum of Natural History.) 



The musk-ox^ found in the frozen north, has a remarkable ability 

 to subsist on grasses and willows, covered by Arctic snows. The 

 males have a strong musky odor. 



The wild ox of Europe ( Bos primigenius) is one of the ancestors 

 of our cattle. From this primitive species it is supposed that most 

 of the English, North German, and Holland cattle have descended. 

 (See p. 494, Domestication of Mammals. )^°" 



The Wisenty or European bison {Bos bonasus), somewhat re- 



^""It is related that bullfighting was introduced into Spain from Rome. The 

 Romans, feeling that it was too brutal a sport to force animals to fight for their amuse- 

 ment, chose the lesser evil and used gladiators. 



