250 CHILDHOOD OF ANIMALS 



see what was happening. The tiger (it was a tigress) had seized 

 the lion by the throat and was holding him down. The other tiger 

 walked round and round the couple, apparently not much interested, 

 but every time it passed the outstretched tail of the lion it stooped 

 down, and bit it in a casual and rather bored way. Before the 

 keeper could separate the animals the lion was strangled. I do 

 not know what was the cause of the dispute, but mimic fights often 

 become serious. When young animals are beginning to take 

 pleasure in their strength, it is important that they should have 

 plenty of room and a diversified open space in which to run about. 

 They then work off much of their surplus energy in chasing each 

 other, and are less disposed to fight to a finish. But even under 

 natural conditions, usually one or two of the weaker cubs are killed 

 in these experimental trials of strength. 



Perhaps the most interesting and distinctive feature of the higher 

 animals when they are young is their faculty of attention. In 

 the drawing of the Springbuck shown on the plate (XII) the 

 artist has caught a very characteristic attitude of attention. Adult 

 animals are alert and watchful. A sudden sound, a moving object, 

 a vibration of the soil or the surface on which they are placed at 

 once arrest their attention. They stop chewing or drinking, even 

 if they are hungry or thirsty, cock their ears, turn their eyes in the 

 direction from which the disturbance seems to be coming, and you 

 see that every sense is on the alert. Then some process takes place 

 which if it were in a human being we should associate with memory 

 and judgment. The disturbance is recognised as something not 

 worth troubling about, and the occupation is resumed, or it is 

 followed by some action, of retreat or of preparation for aggression. 

 These successive actions take place whether they are accompanied 

 by some dim mental phase corresponding in a faint way to our 

 conscious judgment, or whether they are like the unconscious action 

 of a sleep-walker. Adult animals generally decide at once as to 

 whether an event which has engaged their attention is of a kind 

 to neglect or of a kind requiring action. They do not show much 

 curiosity, but, right or wrong, abide by their decision and proceed 

 with the business in hand. They have stored up enough experience 

 and have no special wish to learn anything new. Young animals, 

 on the other hand, are intensely curious, and the process by which 

 they fit themselves to th^ir environment can be watched. My 

 hyrax was at first much disturbed by the sound of a clock in 

 my room, which chimes the quarters and strikes the hours. At 



