Novel Hyaena Trap 



naturally drew the pegs that held the ox-hide 

 to the ground, the result being that the poor 

 brute had a collar securely fastened round his 

 neck which he was quite unable to get rid of. 

 He could not run or walk, and even had he 

 been able to go any distance encumbered by 

 such an obstacle, would have been brought up 

 short in the first patch of bush or grass he 

 encountered. He was now at the mercy of the 

 individual who had set the trap, and could be 

 put out of the way quite easily. 



A hyaena can and does perform the office of 

 scavenger in the countries that he frequents ; 

 his jaws are so extraordinarily powerful that he 

 cracks up and demolishes with the greatest ease 

 the rib-bones of a horse, or other large animals, 

 such as a lion will not even attempt to break up, 

 and probably could not do so even were he 

 to try. I once gave a caged hyaena in Germany 

 a shin-bone of a horse. He had been kept 

 short of food for a day in order that my experi- 

 ment might get a fair trial. Now this bone is 

 extremely thick and hard. I had been told that 

 these brutes could break them up, and so I 

 determined to see, and tested the matter for 

 myself. On giving him the bone, which he held 

 between his fore-paws, after some minutes' hard 

 work, he managed to get a large splinter off it, 

 some four inches in length, but unfortunately 

 it became wedged across the roof of his mouth, 



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