FLESH-EATING MAMMALS 15 



to extract the nutriment from it. Regarding this propensity Sir 

 Samuel Baker remarks (in Wild Beasts and Their Ways): "The 

 bone -cracking power of this animal is very extraordinary. I 

 ■cannot say that it exceeds the lion and tiger in strength of jaws, 

 but I can safely assert that both those giants of the feline tribe 

 will leave bones unbroken which a hysena will bite in halves. 

 Its powers of digestion are unlimited; it will swallow a large 

 knuckle-bone without giving it a crunch. It will crack the thigh- 

 bone of a wild buffalo to obtain the marrow, and will swallow 

 •either end immediately after." 



The Earth- Wolf or Aardwolf {Proteles) of South Africa is a 

 very interesting example of a specialized hyaena which has taken 

 to burrowing (see vol. i, p. 92). The teeth of adult specimens 

 a,re of peculiar character, for the cheek-teeth are all much alike, 

 and separated by wide intervals. Their crowns are small and 

 pointed, in adaptation to the food, which is said to consist largely 

 ■of white ants, though no doubt carrion and various small creatures 

 also form part of the diet. The late Mr. A. D. Bartlett, for many 

 years Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, 

 after an earth -wolf "had refused pigeon, rabbit, beef, mutton, 

 boiled and raw and chopped in a sausage - machine, and bread - 

 and-milk", at last succeeded in feeding it on "nice fat tripe, well 

 boiled in milk", which suggests that the creature's natural food 

 is of a savoury nature. The study of the first or milk-teeth of 

 the Earth- Wolf brings to light a most interesting case of the Law 

 ■of Recapitulation (see pp. 9 and 29), for here we find a clear 

 distinction between premolars and molars, while shear-like flesh- 

 teeth or carnassials are present. This and other anatomical 

 facts clearly prove that these animals are descended from forms 

 which resembled ordinary hyaenas in structure and habits. 



Dog Family 



This section of the Carnivora, which includes Dogs, Wolves, 

 Jackals, Foxes, and the like, best represents the average features 

 of the order. The structure of these forms is clearly adapted to 

 the flesh-eating habit, but their teeth and claws are not specialized 

 as weapons of offence to the same extent as the corresponding 

 •organs of the Felidae. Thus the canine and carnassial teeth are 

 well-marked (fig. 312), but not so prominent as in cat-like forms, 



