DOMESTIC ANIMALS 121 



2. Snout much shorter, body more round, legs shorter, 

 fewer and shorter bristles than the wild boar. 



3. Produces much more fat and meat. 

 Traces of the wild state : 



1. Some easily become wild again. Horses, cattle, cats. 



2. Males of wild animals are very pugnacious, fight fierce 

 battles with each other for possession of the females. Do- 

 mestic animals do the same, if they have an opportunity. 



3. Most bulls and stallions are still dangerous brutes. 



4. If two or three dogs can run about together, their 

 ancient instinct is apt to revive ; they go hunting, kill sheep, 

 and commit other mischief. 



NOTE. Head : Shaler, Domesticated Animals. 



51. Our Duty to Animals. 



All of our domestic animals are derived from wild forms. 

 Some of the wild ancestral forms are now extinct. Most 

 of our animal helpmates were tamed so long ago that we 

 know little or nothing of that important process. The most 

 recent addition to the list is our American turkey. With- 

 out the help of large, strong animals to do our heavy work, and 

 without the humbler ones who furnish food and clothing for 

 many, many millions of men, we could not have attained 

 our present state of civilization. If all our domestic ani- 

 mals should disappear suddenly, most of us would proba- 

 bly starve. People who did not domesticate wild animals 

 always remained savages. 



Kindness to animals. As we owe so much to animals, it 

 seems as if all men would naturally treat the dumb creat- 

 ures with reason and kindness ; but to our shame it must 

 be admitted that many a brute's master is far more brutish 

 than the poor beast he abuses. If an animal must be 

 killed, nearly everybody, it is true, does it in a manner 

 which is quickest and least painful to the animal. But 



