Animals of North America 



ELIMINATION BY THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 



The Glacial Period eliminated half of this 

 fauna, whereas the equatorial latitude of the fauna 

 in Africa saved that fauna from the attack of the 

 Glacial Period, which was so fatally destructive 

 to the animals in the more northerly latitudes of 

 America. The glaciers or at least the very low 

 temperature of the period eliminated especially all 

 the African aspects of our fauna. This destructive 

 agency was almost as baneful and effective as the 

 mythical Noah's flood. When it passed off, there 

 survived comparatively few indigenous North 

 American animals, but the country was repopu- 

 lated from the entire northern hemisphere, so 

 that the magnificent wild animals which our ances- 

 tors found here were partly North American and 

 partly Eurasiatic in origin. 



ELIMINATION BY MAN. 



Our animal fortune seemed to us so enormous 

 that it never could be spent. Like a young rake 

 coming into a very large inheritance, we attacked 

 this noble fauna with characteristic American im- 

 providence, and with a rapidity compared with 

 which the Glacial advance was eternally slow; 

 the East went first, and in fifty years We have 

 brought about an elimination in the West which 



