264 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



CAT-LIKE BEARS. 



Three remarkable animals of southern Asia consti- 

 tute the second suborder of the Bears, whose mem- 

 bers we will call Cat-like Bears (Ai/uri/ur). They are 

 a transitional form between the Large Bears and the 

 Civets and are distinguished by their somewhat Cat- 

 like paws, the soles of which are covered with hair 

 and have claws that are slightly retractile. 



The Ailuropus The first place in this suborder 



of the Tibetan belongs to the Ailuropus ( Ailuropus 

 Forests. melanoleucus) , which was discovered 

 by David about twenty years ago, and which on the 

 one hand resembles the Large Bears, on the other 

 the Panda. He is of smaller size than the common 

 Brown Bear, measuring about sixty inches from the 

 tip of his snout to the end of his tail. His feet, 

 which have hairy soles, are wide and short and he 

 does not walk on the entire sole. The snout is 

 short, and the head proportionately broader than 

 that of any other Beast of Prey. His fur is dense, 

 Bear-like and of a uniform white color, with the ex- 

 ceptions that a ring around the eyes, the ears, the 

 front legs, and a band extending from them up to 

 the shoulder, the hind feet and the tip of the tail, 

 are black. 



Next to nothing is known about his life in the 

 wild state. He inhabits the most inaccessible moun- 

 tainous forests of eastern Tibet. 



The Panda, or The representative of the second 



Red Cat-Like species of this suborder, the Panda 

 Bear. or R ec ] Cat-like Bear ( Ailurus fid- 



gens), in a certain way holds the middle position be- 

 tween the Ailuropus and the Binturong. On account 

 of his thick, soft fur, his body appears clumsier 

 than it is ; the head is covered with long hair and is 

 very broad and short, and the snout likewise. The 

 long tail is pendent and bushy, having the appear- 

 ance of being very thick; the ears are small and 

 rounded ; the eyes are small ; the short legs are 

 furnished with soles thickly covered with hair, and 

 the walk is semi-plantigrade ; the toes are short and 

 the claws are strongly curved. The size of the 

 Panda is about that of a large Tom-cat. The fur is 

 dense and long, of a vivid and lustrous dark red on 

 the upper surface, with a light golden tinge on the 

 back, where the hairs are tipped with yellow ; the 

 under surface and the legs are lustrous black, with 

 the exception of a dark chestnut transverse band on 

 the front and sides ; the tail is of a Foxy red, indis- 

 tinctly ringed with narrow bands of a lighter hue. 



The Panda is a native of the southeastern parts of 

 the Himalayas, where it is found at an elevation of 

 from six thousand to twelve thousand feet. Little 

 is known about the life in the wild state of this 

 beautiful, dainty creature. It lives in the woods 

 either in couples or in families, mounts on the trees, 

 and makes its home in their hollows or in clefts of 

 rocks; it spends much time on the ground in its 

 search for food. It is an almost exclusively vege- 

 table feeder, but is also said occasionally to plunder 

 nests and eat insects. 

 The Binturong, a The last species of the suborder is 

 Southern Asiatic the Binturong (Air/itis binturong]. 

 Species. j-je exceeds the Panda in size ; his 

 length is from fifty-four to sixty inches, nearly half 

 of this length being taken up by the very long, pre- 

 hensile tail. The body is stout, the head thick, the 

 snout elongated ; the legs short and thick, the soles 

 are naked, five-toed, armed with tolerably strong, 

 somewhat retractile claws. The body is clothed in 



a thick, rather rough, loose fur. The ears are short, 

 rounded and surmounted by tufts. Thick, white 

 whisker-hairs on both sides of the snout surround 

 the face as with a halo. The color is a dead black, 

 merging into a grayish tinge on the head and into a 

 brownish shade on the limbs. 



The Binturong is a native of Borneo, Java, Su- 

 matra, the Malayan Peninsula, Tenasserim, Aracan, 

 Assam and Siam. Its life in the wild state is also 

 very little known. It is nocturnal in habits, leading 

 a principally arboreal life, and is slow in its motions. 

 It is omnivorous, disdaining neither small mammals, 

 birds, fish, worms, and insects, nor fruit and other 

 vegetable food. Living as it does in lonely forests 

 and hidden from view, it is seldom seen; its voice is 

 said to find utterance in a loud howl. Though wild 

 and fierce in disposition, it soon becomes tame when 

 taken young and is as gentle as it is playful. 



THE SMALL BEARS. 



In the third suborder we consider the Small Bears, 

 animals of a moderate size, which are confined to 

 America. 



General Fea- The Raccoons (Procyon) are distin- 



tures of the guished by the following features. 



Raccoons. The body is thick-set, the head 

 widens considerably in its posterior part, the snout 

 is short; the large eyes are close together, the large, 

 rounded ears lie quite close to the side of the head; 

 the legs are relatively long and thin ; the feet have 

 naked soles and slender toes of medium size ; the 

 nails are rather strong and compressed from both 

 sides ; the tail is long and the fur consists of rich, 

 long, straight hair. 



The Raccoon The Raccoon ( Procyon lotor) attains 



Proper De- a length of twenty-six inches exclu- 

 senbed. s ; ve f the jaji^ w hich is ten inches 

 long ; the height at the shoulders is from twelve to 

 fourteen inches. The fur is yellowish gray with an 

 admixture of black. The fore-legs, a tuft near the 

 ears (which is surrounded by a brownish black patch 

 behind the ears), the sides of the snout, and the 

 chin, have a light yellowish-gray tint. Brownish 

 black stripes run from the forehead to the tip of the 

 nose and around the eyes; yellowish white bands 

 run above the eyes to the temples. The fore and 

 hinder paws are of a brownish yellow-gray tint, 

 while the long hair of the lower half of the limbs 

 takes a deep dark brown tinge. The grayish-yellow 

 tail is ringed with brownish black and ends in a tip 

 of dark brown. No one of these colors contrasts 

 boldly with the others, and so the general coloring, 

 regarded from even a slight distance, becomes of a 

 gray hue, difficult to determine and describe, and 

 harmonizing as marvelously with the color of tree- 

 bark as with that of the ground, whether grown with 

 fresh or dry grass. 



The Raccoon is The Raccoon is indigenous to North 



a Natiue America, occurring in the south as 



American. we n as ; n t h e north. Nowadays the 

 number of the Raccoons has been greatly reduced 

 in the more populous districts, in consequence of the 

 relentless pursuit the animals have been compelled 

 to undergo ; but they are not quite exterminated 

 even in thickly settled localities. In the interior of 

 the continent, especially in the wooded regions, 

 they are still numerous. The favorite haunts of the 

 Raccoon are forests bordering on rivers, lakes or 

 small streams. As a rule the Raccoon is wont to 

 go forth on his hunt at dusk only, and sleep during 

 the bright, sunshiny day in hollow trees or on 



