AFRICA AND ITS ANIMALS 141 



frequent the forest districts. But perhaps the strangest 

 mammal that may be regarded as characteristic of Africa 

 as a whole is the aard-vark (Orycteropus), commonly known 

 to the colonists as the ant-pig. It is a strangely isolated 

 creature, having at the present day no near relations, 

 either poor or otherwise. 



The African buffaloes, with their several races or species, 

 also belong to a type quite peculiar to the continent. To 

 a great extent the ostrich is characteristic of Africa and 

 Arabia, although there is evidence to show that it formerly 

 enjoyed a considerable range in parts of Asia. 



The above are only a few of the more striking instances 

 showing how different are the animals of Africa as a whole 

 from those of the rest of the world. Many others might be 

 added, but they would only weary my readers. Of course, 

 there are many groups, like the cats, common to other 

 countries, the lion and the leopard being found alike in 

 Africa and India ; but such do not detract from the pecu- 

 liarity of the African fauna as a whole. And here it may 

 be mentioned that a large proportion of the types now 

 peculiar to the Dark Continent once had a much wider 

 geographical range, fossil remains of baboons, giraffes, 

 hippopotamuses, ostriches, antelopes of an African type, 

 and not improbably zebras, having been discovered in the 

 Tertiary deposits of India. 



But if the animals of Africa as a whole stand out in 

 marked contrast to those of the rest of the world, much 

 more is this the case when those characteristic of certain 

 districts of that huge continent are alone taken into con- 

 sideration. And most especially is this the case with the 

 inhabitants of the great tropical forest districts extending 

 from the west coast far into the interior of the continent — 

 reaching, in fact, the watershed between the basins of the 



