10 FOREWORD 
All animals long for the things of nature — open air, 
earth, grass and water. They are thrilled when their feet 
touch the sod. Even the hippopotamus gambols when he 
leaves his concrete house and his feet touch earth 
and grass. 
The face and carriage of many animals cannot express 
feelings as in the human, though it is not unreasonable to 
assume that animals may indicate feelings by expression 
understood by their mates, though not understood or even 
noticed by man. When they can express it in a human 
way their feelings may be read. The dejection of nos- 
talgia is especially sho\\ai by anthropoid apes. Gorillas 
have been noted for it from the earliest writers. The 
orang is prone to it, shows it by his attitude and expres- 
sion, and sometimes dies of it. 
It is stated in A Handbook of the Management of 
Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal, p. 130, that 
elephants have been observed to shed tears abundantly if 
forced to leave their old home and surroundings. How 
much other animals who cannot express homesickness 
may feel it, and how often it is a cause of unhappiness, 
depression and predisposition to disease, it is impossible 
to say. 
]\Iost wild animals in captivity are sterile. The reason 
is not kno^\Ti. It shows the profound effect of captivity. 
It would be difficult to determine whether the sterility 
of a mating is the fault of the male or the female. 
There is no apparent rule for sterility. Some families 
are always sterile in captivity, others are fertile, even 
with very unfavorable surroundings. The deer, horses, 
hippopotamuses, pigs, goats, sheep and oxen, are good 
breeders; while antelopes, rhinoceroses, giraffes, ele- 
phants, are poor breeders. Some members of a family 
may be good, others poor. The lion and puma breed fairly 
well; the tiger, leopard and jaguar, very poorly. Bears 
breed well, but the mother usually destroys her young. 
