THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Some years ago experiments were made at the 

 Regent's Park Zoological Gardens to ascertain if there 

 were any foundation for the old legends that wolves 

 feared the sound of stringed instruments such as the 

 violin. Every one will remember the story of the 

 fiddler pursued by wolves. It is said that as the pack 

 overtook him he broke a string of his instrument, and 

 that the sudden noise of the parting cord caused the 

 pack to stand still for a minute, and so enabled him to 

 reach a tree, which he climbed. Further, that when 

 he improved on the hint so given, and played his fiddle, 

 the wolves all sat still ; when he left off, they leapt up 

 and tried to reach him. Experiments with the Zoo 

 wolves showed that there was no doubt whatever that 

 the low minor chords played on a violin cause the 



Phot, by L. Midland, F.Z.S.'] [North tinimey . . . . 



INDIAN WOLF greatest fear and agitation in wolves, both European 



This photograph sho-ws the Indian wolf alarmed, it has a and Indian. The instrument was first played behind 



reputation for stealing children as 'well as killing cattle tne ^en o f an Indian Wolf, and Out of sight. At the 



first sound the wolf began to tremble, erected its fur, dropped its tail between its legs, and crept 

 uneasily across its den. As the sound grew louder and more intense, the wolf trembled so violently, 

 and showed such physical evidence of being dominated by excessive fright, that the keeper begged 

 that the experiment might be discontinued, or the creature would have a fit. A large European 

 wolf is described in " Life at the Zoo " as having exhibited its dislike of the music in a 



different way. It set up all its 



' 



I'hute by (Jitamar dnschutx] 



WOLF'S HEAD 



A -very fine study of the head, jaws, and teeth of a female 



much larger 



[Btrlin 



wolf. The head of the male is 



fur till it looked much larger 

 than its ordinary size, and drew 

 back its lips until all the white 

 teeth protruding from the red 

 gums were shown. It kept 

 silent till the violin-player 

 approached it ; then it flew at 

 him with a ferocious growl, 

 and tried to seize him. 



There are instances of 

 wolves having been quite suc- 

 cessfully tamed, and develop- 

 ing great affection for their 

 owners. They are certainly 

 more dog-like than any fox ; 

 yet even the fox has been 

 tamed so far as to become a 

 domesticated animal for the 

 lifetime of one particular indi- 

 vidual. An extraordinary 

 instance of this was lately 

 given in Country Life, with a 

 photograph of the fox. It 

 was taken when a cub, and 

 brought up at a large country 

 house with a number of dogs. 





