58 SAVAGE SURVIVALS 



ants and birds as well as to cats. It is not useful 

 to a cat that comes into existence in a home that 

 has cats for export. 



The dog's ancestors were wanderers much more 

 than the cat's were. And this is one reason for 

 the cat's greater regard for locality. But the dog's 

 great devotion to man comes from its long domes- 

 tication, and from the fact that it has always been 

 selected for its devotion and intelligence much 

 more than the cat. The dog more than any other 

 animal has been the companion of man, while the 

 cat has been kept primarily to hunt mice and rats 

 and other small animals that tend to invade hu- 

 man homes. 



6. The Mother Instinct. 



Infancy is the time of the greatest mortality in 

 all animals, including man. It is the time when 

 living beings are weakest, and least able to defend 

 themselves against the many enemies that lie in 

 wait for them. Hence, in many species of the 

 higher animals, there has been developed, espe- 

 cially in the females, a strong inclination to care 

 for and defend their young. Those species have 

 survived that have had this instinct for child pres- 

 ervation most highly developed. No species can 

 live long that does not save its young. 



The domestic cow hides her new-born calf. This 

 is useless in human pastures. But in the danger- 

 filled life of the past, where a himdred hungry 

 mouths awaited every calf that came into the 



