130 
WEAPONS OF ANIMALS. 
Plants as a rule do not feed upon one another, and obtain 
only an indirect advantage by the smothering of their 
competitors. But while one half of the animal kingdom 
feeds upon plants, the other half devours the flesh which is 
thus manufactured. The struggle for life is therefore much 
more complex, depending partly upon vegetative vigour, 
partly upon muscular development, but largely also upon 
the excellence of the weapons, and upon intellectual cunning. 
The weapons are furnished either by the adaptation of 
various organs, or by the growth of additional organs for 
that especial purpose, and there is an extraordinary variety 
both in their structure and their uses. There is scarcely a 
single external organ which has not, in some species of 
animal, been adapted as a weapon of war. Teeth, tongue, 
lips, nose, eyes, ears, arms, legs, hands, feet, tail, hair, skin, 
and even the body itself are all made available as fighting 
weapons, besides a number of special growths taking the 
forms of horns, spurs, spines, tentacles, stings, javelins, 
stink-bags, and electric batteries. 
Carnivorous habits are almost necessarily associated with 
fighting weapons, and as there are carnivorous species in 
every great division of the animal world, there are found in 
every one also organs of attack and defence, from the infu¬ 
soria to the highest vertebrates. 
The following table shows the various organs and special 
growths, with indications of the families and species by which 
they are used as weapons :— 
MODIFIED ORGANS. 
Teeth. Most mammals, reptiles, and fishes, and 
some invertebrates. 
Tongue . Ant-eater, chameleon, frog, echidna. 
Mandibles. Birds, tortoises, insects. 
Palpi . Scorpion, clielifer. 
Nose . Elephant. 
Eyes . Snakes, for fascination. 
Ears . Horse and donkey, as fly-flaps. 
Claws. Carnivorous mammals and birds. 
Hoofs. Ungulate mammals, for striking and 
trampling. 
Fore limbs. Deer, swan and other large birds, for 
striking. Lobster, and other crus¬ 
taceans. 
Hind limbs. Horse, donkey, giraffe, cattle, &c., for 
kicking. 
Tail. . Whale, kangaroo, crocodile, and most 
land mammals, for defence. 
