A TREE CLIMBING RUMINANT 



Bll W. I). Mulfhrw 



IT seems somewhat parjuloxical to iiiiairinc a niiniiiaiiT cliiiiljiiiu trees. 

 There are stories ot" ^oats doiiiu so, hut tliese stories seem to he more 

 or less apocryphal as far as any real climhiiiu: .^oes. Even the narrow 

 sharp-pointed hoofs of a .yout do not i:\\v the necessary ^-rasp, and his 

 limhs and feet are too stiff and hmltcil in their motion. Tlie only living 

 members of the Ungulata or hoofed mainmals which really climb trees are 

 the coneys or hyracoids, especially the httle tree-coney or Dcndrohyrax of 

 South Africa. This little animal, about the size of a rabl)it and somewhat 

 like one in appearance, is in many respects the kind of animal from which we 

 conceive that all the Fn^julates are de.scended. and Hkc tlie earliest fossil 

 I'ngulates it has four sei)arate digits on each forefoot and a rudiment of 

 the inner digit. This kind of foot, and the more flexible limb with which it 

 is associated, enables him to climb readily, to cling to brandies and to li\e 

 in the trees as well as on the ground. .V similar adaptation is .seen in most 

 of the clawed animals or rnguiculates; while we find th" limb and foot still 

 further adapted to arboreal life in all of the Primates except man. 



162 



