4 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



of Asia and their people dependent upon their flocks of cattle and sheep, 

 pastured on the hills of Palestine and other regions. We find the armies 

 of ancient nations, mounted on horses, elephants and camels, going 

 forth to battle for the extension or defense of the boundaries of em- 

 pire. We note the merchandise of many people for many centuries 

 transported over the burning sands of the deserts on the backs of 

 camels. Beasts of burden have affected in many ways both the friendly 

 and unfriendly intercourse of tribes and nations. Turning to ancient 

 South America, we find the llama and alpaca domesticated and furnish- 

 ing meat, milk and wool to a people engaged in building up a civiliza- 

 tion in a remote portion of a continent then unknown to the rest of the 

 world. On the western plains of North America we see immense herds 

 of bison and antelope sustaining a population of Indians slowly emerg- 

 ing from a state of savagery, with dogs as their only draft animals, 

 before white men came to destroy those great herds, and to replace 

 them with horses, cattle, sheep and swine. In the Far North of Amer- 

 ica we see the Eskimos, their lives often depending upon their ability 

 to obtain walruses or related mammals. In northern Europe we see 

 the Laps and Finns for centuries with only the domesticated caribou or 

 reindeer standing between them and destruction, furnishing them with 

 meat, milk, cheese, skins for clothing and shelter, and even the sinews, 

 horns and bones being used about their sledges and for various other 

 purposes. Looking over both ancient and modern Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 Australasia, the Americas and the islands of the sea, we find people 

 everywhere, always using both wild and domesticated mammals and 

 their numerous products for many purposes. 



The mammals (Class Mammalia) include all animals that suckle 

 their young, and no others, hence the name. The word "animal" is 

 much used popularly as an exact synonym for mammals exclusive of 

 man. Unfortunately, this is also often carelessly done even by natur- 

 alists who know better. Man himself belongs to the Kingdom Animalia, 

 and is therefore an animal. Furthermore, reptiles, fishes, birds, oysters, 

 insects, lobsters and all other living organisms except plants are ani- 

 mals. It is regrettable that there is in the English language no single 

 word that means the mammals with the exception of the human race. 



Poole in 1926 said that there were then known 12,540 species and 

 varieties of mammals (about two-thirds as many as of birds), and 

 species new to science are constantly being added to the list, particu- 

 larly from remote regions of the earth. Comparatively few of the 



