GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS 1553 



size, strength, and ferocity to those of Asia and 

 Africa. In place of the lion, America has only the 

 puma a smaller and less powerful creature. The 

 tiger of Southern Asia is represented by the jaguar, 

 a somewhat smaller animal, but the most powerful 

 of the American carnivora. In North America, how- 

 ever, the numerous bears are distinguished by their 

 size and power, particularly the grizzly bear of the 

 countries which border upon the Rocky Mountains. 

 The great white bear of the polar regions is com- 

 mon to the high latitudes of either hemisphere. 

 North America, which is more strictly continental in 

 extent than the southern half of the New World, 

 possesses, indeed, other types of animal life which 

 rival those of the Eastern Hemisphere. Among these 

 are the majestic bison, or American buffalo, together 

 with the elk or moose-deer, occupying a place simi- 

 lar to the reindeer of Northern Europe and Asia. 

 Several varieties of the deer-kind occur in the north- 

 ern half of the continent, together with the musk-ox, 

 the big-horned sheep, and the Rocky Mountain goat, 

 which are peculiar to this region. 



The tapir and the peccary (an animal of the hog 

 kind) range all over the plains of South America, 

 and the former is also found on the coast of Central 

 America. The puma (or cougar) occurs on the 

 Mexican Isthmus, and even as far northward as the 

 45th parallel, though found most numerously in the 

 southern half of the continent, where its range ex- 

 tends to within a few degrees of the Strait of Magel- 

 lan. The jaguar is found in the coast regions of the 

 Mexican Isthmus, as well as the forests of Brazil 



