270 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov., 1904. 



The ;:■ I ;■ - I.. '^ :.:•_:: :;.,,;, ;;... ;: ■ ;,., ;,:.i_e 1^ 



intended are, ho\ve\er, such as are in the constant 

 habit of consuming abnormally large supplies of food 

 without taking intervals of unusual length between 

 their meals. Among wild animals such instances are 

 rare, but are more common among carnivorous than 

 among herbivorous or frugi\orous types. Indeed, 

 among purely herbivorous animals, there does not 

 seem to be a single species, either wild or tame, which 

 deserves to be called a glutton. It is true that sheep 

 and cattle, when suddenly turned into a field of green 

 wheat or other succulent herbage, will often eatsuch 

 a quantity as to be in danger of suffocation unless 

 operated upon with the trocar; Iiut in this case the 

 evil results are largely due to the nature of the fodder, 

 which, during the process of digestion, develops a 

 quantity of highly expansile gases, rather than to 

 absolute gluttony on the part of the animals them- 

 selves. \ot but what domestication has a tendencv 

 towards the development of greedy and gluttonous 

 habits, as witness the familiar cases of the pig and 

 the duck, the wild ancestors of which are among the 

 most active animals, and display no tendencv to over- 

 eat themselves. 



Be the exact position in the present category of the 

 above-mentioned wild cre.itures what it mav, there can 

 be no doubt that, as indicated by the first of its popu- 

 lar names, the glutton, or wolverine (Gulo lusats) is 

 entitled to a very prominent position among greedy 

 animals. Xot but what, as is almost universallv the 

 case in analogous instances, the creature's propensi- 

 ties in this direction were considerablv exaggerated bv 

 the older writers. We may dismiss, for instance, as 

 pure fable the old story that when one of these 

 creatures had indulged in an extra big gorge it was 

 in the habit of squeezing itself between the" stems of 

 two fir trees growing close together in order to get 

 rid of its meal. Xevertheless, modern testimonv is to 

 the effect that the glutton thoroughly deserves its 

 name, and that its eating powers are well-nigh, if not 

 altogether, unequalled by its compeers in size. It is, 

 however, very ditlicult to find anything like accurate 

 data on this point, or, indeed, a statement as to the 

 weight of the creature. Here occasion mav be taken to 

 refer to the deficiencies of natural history works in re- 

 gard to the weight of animals. For instance, in three 

 well-known manuals of British mammals no mention is 

 made of the weight of the badger, which might serve 

 as a basis for an estimate of that of the glutton. 

 Roughly speaking, the latter weight may, however, 

 be estimated at between 35 and 45 pounds. Now as 

 regards the amount of meat a glutton has been known 

 to eat, the only definite statement within the writer's 

 knowledge is to the eflfect that one of these animals 

 consumed 13 pounds at a " sitting," or, at all events, 

 in a single day. .And since in a wild state the 

 creature's appetite would probablv be sharper, it can 

 scarcely be an exaggeration to sav that a glutton can 

 eat abf>ut a third of its own wei^Iit in a day. If is true 

 that this is nothing like the proportion of food to 

 weight that has been recorded in certain smaller 

 creatures to be noticed later on, but then small animals 

 have very frequently much greater functional acti\ itv 

 than larger ones, as witness the muscul.ir power of an 

 ant or a grasshopper compared to that of man. 

 Nevertheless, 13 pounds of solid meat is a good record 

 for a creature of the size of a glutton, which is about 

 half as big again as a badger. 



Not only is its appetite wondcrfullv good, but the 

 glutton displays extraordinary acuteness and 



perseverance in getting at stores of concealed food ; 

 somewhat tainted carcases forming its favourite boiine- 

 hcitche. In the forest districts of Arctic North America, 

 which, in common with similar latitudes in the old 

 world, form the home of the glutton, the hunters are 

 in the habit of concealing the carcases of their quarry 

 in caches for future use ; and from such depositaries it 

 is almost impossible to keep out the wolverine, which 

 has been known to gnaw through a solid log of timber 

 in order to obtain access to the daintv. When access 

 is gained, the creature will gorge itself to satiety, and, 

 what is more, will shortly after return for another and 

 yet another meal, until the supply is finished ; for the 

 glutton, unlike the larger cats, does not apparently 

 stand in need of a protracted fast after a carouse, but 

 has scarcely finished one meal when it is ready for 

 another. 



Most of my readers, it may be presumed, are 

 acquainted with the wolverine at least by its fur, which 

 is now largely used for carriage-rugs, samples of 

 which may be seen in the furriers' shops, where a 

 stuffed specimen of the entire animal is also some- 

 times exhibited. Indeed, the specimen now exhibited 

 in the Natural Hislory Museum was bought ready 

 stuffed from Messrs. Shoolbred. Somev.hat badger- 

 like in general appearance, but with a bushy tail of 

 medium size, the wolverine has beautiful long silky 

 hair of blackish brown colour relieved by a broad 

 ellipse of golden tawny. 



Our next example of gluttony is afforded by a fruit- 

 eating bat, one of the group commonly known as 

 flying-foxes ; the species in question being a native of 

 India and the Indo-Malay countries as far eastward 

 as the Philippines, and technically known as Cynnpterus 

 marg.naius. From its gluttonous habits, this bat is a 

 great scourge to fruit-growers in the East ; the extent 

 of its eating powers may be gathered from the follow- 

 ing anecdote recorded by the late Dr. G. E. Dobson, 

 in his time the great authority on bats of all kinds : — 



" To a specimen of this bat obtained by me at 

 Calcutta, uninjured," writes this author, " I gave a 

 ripe banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed 

 exactly two ounces. The animal immediately, as if 

 famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit, seizing it 

 between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took 

 large mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to its 

 fullest extent with extreme voracity. In the space of 

 three hours the whole fruit was consumed. Next 

 morning the bat was killed, and found to weigh one 

 ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours. 

 Indeed, the animal, when eating, seemed to be a kind 

 of living mill, the food passing from it almost as fast 

 as devoured, and apparently unaltered, eating being 

 performed alone for the sake of the pleasure of eating. 

 This v.ill give some idea of the amount of destruction 

 these bats are capable of producing among ripe fruits." 



K close race with this bat in respect to the amount 

 of food devoured is run by th° common mole, which 

 is one of the most greedy of all mammals, and will, it 

 is said, perish of hunger and exhaustion if kept with- 

 out food for a few hours. Indeed, when we remember 

 that the mole feeds exclusively on animal substances, 

 which are much more highly nutritive than those of a 

 vegetable nature, and that it thoroughly digests its 

 food, it seems highly probable that the mole, in re- 

 spect of gluttony, altogether beats the bat. 



Whenever a mole is killed, its stomach is almost 

 sure to be found crammed full of worms, some of 

 which show every appearance of having been 

 swallowed whole. The only record presenting any ap- 



