EXTINCTION OF CERTAIN MAMMALS 143 



with its attendant increase of population and the devotion of much 

 larger areas to agriculture, the larger mammals must give way to a great 

 extent, as they have in North America. The present big herds of buffalo 

 and various species of antelope, wild elephants, rhinoceroses and the like 

 are quite incompatible with fields of grain and fruit-raising on a large 

 scale, and cannot be permitted where there is a dense human popula- 

 tion. The great beasts of prey such as lions, and leopards, which an- 

 nually take a considerable toll from human life on that continent, would 

 destroy many more human lives, as well as livestock, if they were al- 

 lowed to exist in present numbers amid a much more dense population. 

 Roosevelt says that "the dangerous game of Africa are the lion, buf- 

 falo, elephant, rhinoceros and leopard." 3 The hippopotamus also some- 

 times attacks and overturns boats and kills or injures their occupants. 

 Inevitable as the depletion of the large mammals of Africa may be, 

 that does not excuse their wanton slaughter in the wilderness. 



Wild life in India also is being rapidly reduced. 4 



Australia's unique fauna of marsupials exhibits the inroads of civili- 

 zation, with its changing conditions in large areas. They were once 

 abundant, and, being rapid breeders, were for a long time unaffected 

 by civilization, but they have recently been greatly reduced except 

 where protected. Thousands of skins of kangaroos are annually mar- 

 keted. Introduced rabbits have destroyed the food supply of the native 

 animals in many places, foxes and domestic cats have preyed upon 

 the young, and the clearing of scrub and bush lands has had detri- 

 mental effect. Bush fires have destroyed many, and poisons put out 

 for rabbits are said to have done more harm to native animals than 

 to the rabbits. 5 Brush, forest and prairie fires, usually resulting from 

 human activities of one sort or another, have also been very destructive 

 to mammals in the United States, not only directly, but indirectly by 

 destroying their food and haunts and thus preventing the rapid nat- 

 ural restocking of the burned-over areas. 6 



When white men first penetrated the American wilderness they 

 found the bison, or buffalo, as it is more commonly called, ranging over 



3 Roosevelt, Game trails in Africa, p. 58, 1910. 



4 Faunthrope, The disappearance of wild life in India, Natural History, xxiv, 

 570-574, 1923. 



5 Hoy, The present status of the Australian mammal fauna, Journ. Mammalogy, 

 iv, 164-166, 1923. 



a Brown, Fire and its effect on wild life, Journ. Mammalogy, iv, 195-196, 19 "3. 

 Mills, Deadly effect of forest fires on fur-bearers, Parks and Recreation, vn, 636- 

 638, 1924. Hewitt, The conservation of the wild life of Canada, p. 22, 1921. Stivers, 

 Forest fires destroy game, California Fish and Game, vi, 36-37, 1920. 



