152 



THE DOG TRIBE. 



tubercled teeth are well developed, and two 

 of the premolars in the upper jaw disappear 

 in older individuals. 



This animal sleeps by day in the grass or 

 in bushes, and hunts by night after the man- 

 ner of foxes. It seeks especially for mice 

 and fish, which it is very expert in catching ; 

 but it also eats fruits of all kinds, and is said 

 to be altogether 

 very voracious. In 

 northern lands it 

 has a short winter- 

 sleep, most fre- 

 quently in the de- 

 serted hole of a fox. 

 The creature is 

 easily tamed, but 

 little more can be 

 said about it. 



The Long-eared 

 Fox of South Africa, 

 the jackal-gna of 

 the colonists {Oto- 

 cyon caffcr {megalo- 

 tis) ), fig. 69, forms 

 a separate genus 

 on account of its 

 remarkable denti- 

 tion. It has an 

 unusual number of 

 tubercled teeth; in 



the upper jaw two, and in the lower jaw one 

 more than the dogs, which brings the total 

 number of the teeth up to 48. 



The form of the body is that of a jackal, 

 with pretty long legs, pointed snout, thick 

 head, and two enormous ears, like those of 

 the fennek. The body attains the length of 

 2 feet, the very bushy tail about i foot. 

 The general colour of the fur is grayish- 

 yellow, while the ears, legs, and tail are dark- 

 brown. 



The long-eared fox inhabits the steppes 

 occupied by .scattered underwood to the north 

 of the Orange River, and advances as far 

 as the Zambesi. It conceals itself by day 



Fig. 69. — The Long-eared Fox [Otocyon caffer). 



and hunts at night, making pitiful howls the 

 while. Its food consists of small animals, and 

 especially of locusts, the swarms of which it 

 follows in their migrations. 



A separate genus must also be formed for 

 the Cape Hunting- dog i^Lycaon pictus), fig. 

 70, of South Africa, where it is also known 

 as the wild dog. This animal has, in common 



with the hyaenas, 

 four toes on all four 

 feet, and also the 

 large anal scent- 

 glands, which dif- 

 fuse a penetrating 

 odour. But the re- 

 semblance to the 

 hyaenas, to which 

 the animal owes the 

 name of hya;na-dog 

 sometimes applied 

 to it, is confined to 

 these peculiarities, 

 and with respect to 

 all other characters, 

 as well as its mode 

 of life, it is a savage 

 wolf with long legs, 

 round pupils, and 

 large, almost naked 

 ears, which give it 

 some resemblance 

 to the former species. The Cape hunting- 

 dog is one of the most variegated of all mam- 

 mals. Broad black, yellow-ochre, and white 

 patches are scattered over its body in so 

 irregular a manner that no two animals can 

 be found similarly marked, and even the 

 patches on the two sides of the same individual 

 exhibit no symmetrical arrangement. 



Having a very keen scent, which, as the 

 hunters maintain, surpasses that of the best 

 blood-hounds, the Cape hunting-dog hunts 

 in troops of twelve or thirteen individuals 

 the large herbivora of its native land — the 

 antelopes, gnus, and even the terrible Cape 

 buffaloes. The narratives of travellers are full 



