246 CHILDHOOD OF ANIMALS 



mental curiosity of youth. Human children, until they have been 

 laboriously taught to behave differently, pull to pieces everything 

 they can get hold of, toys, dolls, implements of all kinds, and even 

 such live animals as they are able to reach, using their teeth and 

 fingers in the work of destructive exploration. Young monkeys 

 behave exactly in the same way. They break all the toys that 

 are given to them, tear their blankets, pick their bedding to pieces 

 and scatter it about, spend almost inexhaustible patience in un- 

 ravelling the wire of their cages, or in trying to open the doors or 

 break the hinges, and, just like children, they can be taught, up 

 to a certain point, to handle things more carefully and to refrain 

 from breaking them in the presence of their keepers. But as soon 

 as they are left alone, they resume their occupation. Puppies, 

 the cubs of wolves and foxes, and kittens of every kind, colts, the 

 fawns of deer and antelopes, calves and kids, and even young 

 elephants show the same restless exploring energy. There is no 

 corner of my study that my young hyrax has not thoroughly in- 

 vestigated, pulling books out of their shelves, nibbling the comers 

 of papers, pulling about the skins of birds, trying teeth on the tele- 

 phone receiver and the electric lamp-shades, jumping up against and 

 trying to push over things out of reach. It has now learned to stop 

 when I shout " No " across the room, but at once proceeds to hunt 

 for a new game. Its greatest delight is to climb on my shoulder 

 and tug at my tie until it has succeeded in unfastening it. Some 

 birds, such as parrots and cockatoos, remain mischievous and 

 destructive all their lives and beguile the tedium of captivity by 

 pecking and gnawing every object they are able to damage, and 

 sheet iron seems the only material that beats them ; they destroy 

 the woodwork of their cages, twist and unpick the wire, strip the 

 bark from every piece of wood, root up every plant, and pull 

 to pieces and scatter any faggots that are placed to shelter them. 

 But most birds in their youth have similar instincts, and often 

 cause their parents much labour in repairing the damage they do 

 to the nest. 



Much of the experimental activity of the young, and especially 

 that shown in games, is not random, but is defined and directed by 

 their structure and instincts. Professor Groos has shown that the 

 games of young animals bear a definite relation to their future life ; 

 he has extended to other mammals the application of the saying 

 that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. 

 Animals that have to escape or to catch their prey by swiftness 



