44 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



CARNIVORES, OR FLESH-EATERS. 



The order of Flesh-Eaters, or Beasts of Prey, is one of the 

 largest and certainly one of the most interesting of the eleven 

 groups into which we have divided the class of mammals. There 

 would be very little for the sportsman to do if the Carnivores were 

 to vanish off the face of the earth, for they include most of the 

 animals whose pursuit is attended with danger, without which 

 hunting would be a very tame amusement. Moreover, our zoo- 

 logical gardens would lose their principal attractions without these 

 fierce inmates, which may be regarded as the lords of the animal 

 world. What would become of our menageries if there were no 

 lions or tigers, no leopards or panthers, wolves, hyaenas, or bears? 



There are, of course, numbers of other orders, the members 

 of which are quite as fierce and dangerous as any of the carnivora, 

 but there is no other that comprises so many terrible families. 



Wide differences exist between the various families that make 

 up the flesh-eating group. For instance, there is little resemblance 

 between the tiger and the seal, or the walrus and the fox ; but, as 

 their name implies, the carnivora all agree in this, that they prey 

 upon other animals which are weaker, less active, or less cunning 

 than themselves. 



Although the order is known by the general name of flesh- 

 eaters, it must not be supposed that the carnivora eat no other 

 food; nor, again, must we assume that because an animal is not 

 included among the carnivora it never indulges in a flesh diet. 

 Some of the carnivora, as, for instance, the bears, are to a great 

 extent vegetarians, while outside the flesh-eating order are to be 

 found such animals as the lemur, which, as we have just seen, will 

 at times vary its ordinary bill of fare by catching and eating small 

 birds and beasts. But with a few exceptions the general rule is, 

 that the carnivora are flesh-eating mammals, while the other classes 

 live on the vegetable produce of field and forest. 



Carnivora are to be found in all parts of the world, except 



