120 



The Living Animals of the World 



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^vas sent to Mr. J. Crowther Hirst to illustrate a 

 theory of his, that the killing of wild animals by 

 other animals is not a painful one. 



Rustem Pasha, once Turkish Ambassador in 

 England, had an accident when brown bear shooting 

 in liussia, and writes of it in the same sense : " When 

 I met the accident alluded to, the bear injured 

 Ijoth my hands, but did not tear off part of the 

 arm or shoulder. In the moment of desperate 

 struggle, the intense excitement and anger did, 

 in fact, render me insensible to the feeling of 

 actual pain as the bear gnawed my left hand, 

 which was badly torn and perforated with holes, 

 most of the bones being broken." 



There is good reason to believe that when 

 large carnivora, or beasts large in proportion to 

 the size of their victims, strike and kill them 

 with a great previous shock, the sense of pain 

 is deadened. Not so if the person or animal is 

 seized quietly. Then the pain is intense, though 

 sometimes only momentary. A tigress seized 

 Mr. J. Hansard, a forest officer in Ceylon, by the 

 neck. In describing his sensations afterwards, he 

 said : " The agony I felt was something frightful. 

 ]\Iy whole skull seemed as if it were being crushed 

 to atoms in the jaws of the great brute. I 

 certainly felt the most awful pain as she was biting 

 my neck ; but not afterwards, if I can remember." 

 Sir Samuel Baker says he has twice seen the sloth-bear attack a howdah-elephant. Lord Edward 

 St. Maur, son of the Duke of Somerset, was killed liy one. IMr. Sanderson, the head of the 

 Government Elephant-catching Department, used to hunt bears in the jungle with bull-terriers. 

 Against these the bear was unable to make a good fight. They seized it by the nose ; and 

 as its claws were not sharp like those of the leopard, the bear could not get them off. 



This bear seldom produces more than two or three young at a birth. The j'oung cub 

 is very ugly, but very strong, especially in the claws and legs. A six weeks' old cub has been 

 turned upside-down in a basket, which was shaken violently, without dislodging the little animal 

 clinging inside. 



The Isabelline Bear and Himalayan Black Bear. 



The former animal i.s a medium-sized variety of the brown bear. The coat in winter is 

 of a beautiful silver-tipped cinnamon colour. The Himalayan Black Bear has a half-moon 

 of white on its throat. The habits of both do not differ markedly from those of the brown 

 bear of Europe. 



Eecently black bears have been most troublesome in Kashmir, attacking and killing and 

 wounding the woodcutters with no provocation. Dr. E. T, Yere, writing from Srinagar, says : 

 "Every year we have about half a dozen patients who have been mauled by bears. Most of 

 our people who are hurt are villagers or shepherds. Jjears have been so shot at in Kashmir 

 that, although not naturally very fierce, they have become truculent. When they attack men, 

 they usually sit up and knock the victim over with a paw. They then make one or two bites 

 at the arm or leg, and often finish up with a snap at the head. This is the most dangerous 

 part of the attack. One of our fatal cases this year was a boy, the vault of whose skull was 

 torn off and lacerated. Another man received a compound fracture of the cranium. A third 



Photo h,j Fraldll AUnari] 



POLAE BEARS. 



Though Arctic animals, polar bears can endure great heat. 

 During a " heat w.ave " at Hamburg, Herr C. Ilagenbeck fouijil 

 two of his leopards suffering from beat apojilcxy, but tjie polar 

 l)ears were enjoying the sun. 



