es eter 
SEA AND RIVER OTTERS 
world ; and there is even an otter (Enhydris) which lives 
by the sea shore, and makes excursions therein for its 
food, a way of life which is occasionally copied by the 
usually fluviatile otters of the genus Lutrva. Bears and 
the bear tribe generally are not as a rule so purely 
carnivorous as the cats ; some of them, however, such 
as the weasels and stoats and the South American 
tayra, are as bloodthirsty as the fiercest of cats. 
Apart from fossil forms, which tend to fill up gaps 
and destroy clear and sharply cut classifications, the 
carnivora are separable into three divisions, all of 
which are abundantly in evidence at the Zoo at any 
time. We have, first of all, the carnivora par excellence, 
in which the carnivorous type of structure has arrived 
at the greatest perfection and specialization—that is 
the Aeluroidea, or cats and civets. These animals are 
generally spotted or striped, or both. The civets are 
on the whole, less specialized than are the more fully 
developed cats. Their claws are not so retractile, or 
are not so at all: they are all smaller beasts than the 
true cats, which include such giants as the lion and 
tiger. The civet tribe includes not only the civets 
and genets, but also the little African suricates, which 
sit up on their hind quarters like prairie dogs, the 
curious slothful binturong, and a variety of forms 
known as palm civets, of all of which, as well as of a 
few other forms mentioned in the ensuing pages, ex- 
amples are to be seen in the Zoo. The hyeenas, includ- 
ing the Proteles, are another branch of the Aeluroidea. 
The second great division of the fissipede carnivora 
is that of the dogs, which includes the large number of 
wolves, foxes, and jackals, of which again a compre- 
hensive assortment is invariably to be seen in the dog- 
kennels near to the lion house. These have not retrac- 
tile claws, but they walk, like the cat tribe generally, 
upon their toes, and not upon the soles of the feet. 
Q2 
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