RARE AND UNFAMILIAR ANIMALS 289 



The Zoo specimen referred to was presented to the Society by 

 the Maharaja of Sikkim and Mr. Claude White, late British Com- 

 missioner in Sikkim. It is a young bull, and was procured from 

 Bhutan in Northern India. 



There are two species of Takin, and these are small Ruminants 

 which are not very distantly related to the Serows or Goat-Antelopes 

 (see Fig. 188 and Chapter XII). The Takin, however, is neither 

 a Goat nor an Antelope, and can best be described as occupying an 

 intermediate position between the two kinds of animals named. 



A writer in the Scientific Monthly says that "it is also possible 

 that Takin are related to the Musk Ox, now restricted to Arctic 

 and sub-Arctic America and Greenland, but formerly having a 

 geographical range extending over the North of Asia and Europe. 

 A certain similarity of the horns and the large lateral hoofs, together 

 with the shortness of the tail in both animals, lends colour to this 

 assumption. It may also be remembered that both Takin and Musk 

 Oxen inhabit cold and snow-covered regions, and are adapted to 

 life in high altitudes. It is not improbable that Takin, Serows, 

 Musk Oxen and the extinct Bucapra of the Himalayas have a 

 common origin." 



The adult Takin measures about six feet, and stands about three 

 and a half feet high at the shoulder. The stout limbs are covered 

 with shaggy hair in Winter and short hair in Summer; both sexes 

 possess horns. The general colour of the coat is reddish-brown, with 

 the face black, and there is a dark stripe along the neck and the 

 centre of the back. 



PREJEVALSKI'S WILD HORSE — Little opportunity has been pre- 

 sented thus far to pay any tribute to the Horse, but an occasion 

 now arises when some amount of attention may be devoted to it. 

 I am under obligation to Mr. Edward G. Fairholme, the inde- 

 fatigable Secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals, for permission to incorporate in these notes 

 extracts from two articles which appeared in the Society's excellent 

 magazine, The Animal World. 



In the first instance preference may be given to a most informa- 

 tive and highly interesting sketch of the Horse by Mr. Fairholme 

 himself. He writes — 



"Huxley in his Letters on Evolution says: 'The Horse is in 

 many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the fact that it 

 presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of 



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