The Cambridge Natural History Part 23

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FIG. 157.--Reindeer. _Rangifer tarandus._ 1/15.

SUB-FAM. 2. MOSCHINAE.--_Moschus moschiferus_[203] is a native of the Asiatic Highlands. It is 3 feet or so high, perfectly hornless, and with very large canines in the male. It is noteworthy that in _Hydropotes_, where the canines are also very large, horns are absent. These are examples, perhaps, of correlation. The musk sac (whence the name) is present on the abdomen of the male only. There is no crumen or suborbital gland, which is so generally (though by no means universally) present in Cervidae. But the male has, in addition to the musk glands, glands near the tail and on the outside of the thigh. Unlike other Deer, the lachrymal bone of _Moschus_ bears but one orifice. The feet, so far as concerns the preservation of the outer rudimentary {300} metacarpals, are of the more ancient type represented in _Alces_, _Hydropotes_, etc. A gall-bladder is present. The young, as in so many Cervidae are spotted; but the adult is of a greyish-brown colour.

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FIG. 158.--Musk Deer. _Moschus moschiferus._ 1/6. (From _Nature_.)

There is no doubt that _Moschus_ is more nearly related to the Cervidae than to any other Ruminants. It is regarded by Sir W. Flower as "an undeveloped deer--an animal which in most points (absence of horns, smooth brain, retention of gall-bladder, etc.) has ceased to progress with the rest of the group, while in some few (musk gland, mobile feet) it has taken a special line of advance of its own."

The musk itself, which gives its name to the creature, is found in a gland on the belly, about the size of a hen's egg. The whole gland is cut out and sold in this condition. Such quant.i.ties of musk deer have been and are killed for this purpose that the rarity of the animal is increasing. In the seventeenth {301} century it was so common that the traveller Tavernier purchased 7673 musk "pods" in one journey, or, according to Buffon, 1663.

The tusks, which recall those of _Hydropotes_, to which _Moschus_ is not nearly allied, and of _Tragulus_, with which it has of course still less connexion, are said to be used for the digging up of roots. Its feet, in relation to its mountain-ranging habits, are very mobile.

EXTINCT SPECIES OF DEER.--It has been already mentioned that the most primitive kinds of Deer had no horns at all, resembling in this the modern _Moschus_ and _Hydropotes_, and that with lapse of time went hand in hand an increasing complexity of antler; the facts of palaeontology harmonising in the most striking manner with the facts of individual development from year to year. The oldest forms seem to be more nearly akin to the living Muntjacs, and their remains occur in the lowest Miocene beds of both Europe and America. At present the group is confined to the warmer parts of Asia and some of the islands belonging to that continent.

One of the oldest types is _Amphitragulus_. This genus, which consists of several species, inhabited Europe, and differed from living Muntjacs in being totally hornless in both s.e.xes; the skull had no lachrymal fossa or deficient lateral ossification.

Nearly allied is _Dremotherium_ of similar age and range.

The Middle Miocene has furnished the remains of the genus _Dicroceras_.

This is the earliest Deer in which horns have been found. The horns are, as the name of the genus implies, bifid, and have, like those of the living Muntjac, a very long pedicel. This is also a European genus like the last.

From this period we come across true Deer, which commence in the Upper Miocene and have branched horns. Moreover they belong, at least for the most part, to the existing genera. One of the most remarkable forms is _Cervus sedgwicki_ (sometimes placed in a separate genus, _Polycladus_) from the Forest Bed of Norfolk and from the Upper Pliocene of the Val d'Arno. This creature was remarkable for its mult.i.tudinously-branched antlers. These end in no less than twelve points. No Deer exists or has existed in which the horns are so completely branched. They are like those of a Red Deer exaggerated.

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FIG. 159.--Giraffe. _Giraffa camelopardalis._ 1/40.

FAM. 7. GIRAFFIDAE.--Undoubtedly the type of a distinct family, Giraffidae, is the genus _Giraffa_. It is characterised by {302} the long neck, which, nevertheless, consists of only the normal seven vertebrae, and by the "horns" which differ from those of all other Ruminants; they are small bony prominences of the frontal bones, which become fused with the skull, and which are covered with unmodified skin. They are not shed. Between them is a median prominence. This cranial armature is present in the female as well as in the male, and is well developed even in the {303} new-born young. The orbits are completely encircled by bone, and there is no lachrymal fossa, so common in Deer and Antelopes. There are no canines above; but these are present in the lower jaw. The rudimentary digits of other Ruminants have disappeared in this genus. There are fourteen pairs of ribs as in many other Artiodactyla. The liver of the Giraffe[204] is, as in many, but not all, Ruminants, devoid of a gall-bladder; neither has it a caudate or a Spigelian lobe. The caec.u.m is actually largish (2 feet in length), but is relatively very small, as the small and the large intestines measure 196 and 75 feet in length respectively. The Giraffe has a well-marked "ileo-caecal" gland, found in many Ruminants; its appearance in _Giraffa_ is especially compared by Garrod with its appearance in _Alces_.

Considered by itself, _Giraffa_ forms a very isolated type of Ruminant. But after we have dealt with certain facts concerning extinct forms clearly allied to _Giraffa_, the isolation of the family will be found to be less marked.

The Giraffe ("one who walks swiftly," the word means in Arabic) is, as every one knows, limited in its range to the African continent. It is not, however, so familiar a fact that there are two quite distinct species of Giraffe, one a northern form from Somaliland, and the other South African.

The distinctness of these two, _G. camelopardalis_ and _G. australis_, has been lately worked out in some detail by Mr. de Winton.[205] The princ.i.p.al point of difference between them consists in the large size of the median horn in the Cape species, which is represented by the merest excrescence in the other species. The Giraffe of West Africa is held to differ from the northern and southern species, coming nearer to the former. It appears in the first place to be a larger animal, and slight differences in the skull have been pointed out. This series of peculiarities may be expressed, for those who do not object to trinomial nomenclature, by calling this novel western form _Giraffa camelopardalis peralta_. The existence of the three horns covered with unaltered skin is the main characteristic of this Ungulate. But the Giraffe also differs from other Artiodactyles by its enormously long neck, which enables it to browse upon trees inaccessible to the common herd {304} of Ruminants. The neck is often supposed to have some relation to this method of feeding. But a more ingenious explanation of its inordinate length is that it serves as a watch-tower. The long gra.s.s of the districts inhabited by the animal swarms with Lions and Leopards, which must be foes. The long neck allows of a wide look out being kept, and it is noteworthy that the Ostrich, living under similar conditions, is also renowned for its length of neck. It is the spots upon the Giraffe which have given it its name of Cameleopard; these spots present in the southern form a series of chocolate-coloured areas, sharply marked off by white s.p.a.ces. Of these spots it is a.s.serted that they serve as a means of concealing their possessor. Sir Samuel Baker[206] wrote of it in the following words: "The red-barked mimosa, which is its favourite food, seldom grows higher than 14 or 15 feet. Many woods are almost entirely composed of these trees, upon the flat heads of which the giraffe can feed when looking downwards. I have frequently been mistaken when remarking some particular dead tree-stem at a distance that appeared like a decayed relic of the forest, until upon nearer approach I have been struck by the peculiar inclination of the trunk; suddenly it has started into movement and disappeared."

The Giraffe, remarked Pliny, "is as quiet as a sheep." The Roman public, to whom the first Giraffe ever brought into Europe was exhibited, expected from its name "to find in it a combination of the size of the camel and the ferocity of a panther." As a matter of fact, Giraffes in captivity are not always sheep-like in temper. They will kick with viciousness and vigour, and will even initiate an attack upon their keeper. At the same time they are singularly nervous creatures, and have been known to die from a shock.

In moving, the Giraffe uses the fore- and hind-limb of each side simultaneously; this gives to its gait a peculiar rocking motion, the singularity of which is heightened by the curving movements of the long neck, which even describes now and then a figure of eight in the air.

_Giraffa camelopardalis_ and the species (?) already referred to are the only existing Giraffes (of the genus _Giraffa_), and they are not found out of Africa. Sir Harry Johnston has lately given a brief account of a larger and more brilliantly coloured species from Uganda {305} which will probably prove to belong to a distinct genus. It has five horns, the additional pair being placed above the ears.

Sir Harry Johnston has quite recently made known another genus of Giraffidae living in the Semliki forest, Belgian Congo district. The skin and two skulls, as well as the bones of the feet, are known from specimens sent by Sir Harry Johnston to the Natural History Museum, and briefly described to the Zoological Society by Professor Ray Lankester.[207] This creature, of which the native name is "Okapi," is proposed to be called _Ocapia johnstoni_. The first actual specimens which reached this country were two bandoliers made from the skin of the flanks, which were striped black and white, and were not unnaturally held to be portions of the skin of a new species of Zebra. The animal is of about the size of a Sable Antelope, and the back and sides are of a rich brown colour; it is only the fore- and hind-limbs which are striped, the striping being longitudinal, _i.e._ parallel with the long axis of the body. The head is Giraffe-like, but there are no external horns; wisps of curled hairs seem to represent the vestiges of the horns of other Giraffes. The tail is rather short, and the neck is rather thick and short. The skull is clearly Giraffine. The basicranial axis is straight, and the fontanelle in the lachrymal region is very large. Upon the frontal bones near their parietal border is a large boss on either side, which presumably represents the horn core or "os cornu." On the mandible the great length of the diastema between the incisors and premolars is a Giraffine characteristic. The Okapi lives in pairs in the deepest recesses of the forest.

We are acquainted with a few extinct forms, belonging to _Giraffa_, which are extra-African in range. _G. sivalensis_ is from the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills in India, _G. attica_ from Greece. These remains, however, do not include the top of the skull, so that it is doubtful whether their horns were as in _G. camelopardalis_.

A closely-allied genus is the extinct _Samotherium_. This flourished in Miocene times, and its remains have been found in the Greek island of Samos. The neck and limbs are shorter than in the Giraffe, and the horns, longer than in _Giraffa_, are placed just above the orbit upon the frontal bones alone, instead of upon the boundary line of frontals and parietals as in _Giraffa_. In several ways, therefore, the existing Giraffe is a more modified or {306} specialised animal than its forerunner of the Miocene. In the latter, the male alone carried horns, and in neither s.e.x does the unpaired median bony excrescence appear. The remains of this genus (probably even the same species, _S. boissieri_) also occur in Persia.

_h.e.l.ladotherium_ (there is but one species, _H. duvernoyi_) has its four limbs of nearly the same length; the skull of the only known example is hornless; the neck is shorter than in _Giraffa_. It is known from the Miocene deposits of Pikermi in Greece.

_Palaeotragus_ is a genus which is not referred to the Giraffidae by all systematists. Its very name, given to it by the eminent French palaeontologist M. Gaudry, indicates his opinion as to its Antelopine affinities. The chief and indeed (according to Forsyth Major[208]) the only reason for placing this Ruminant with the Antelopes is the large size of the horns. They undoubtedly suggest the horn cores of Antelopes. But they are placed wider apart than in those animals. It is thought that the hornless _Camelopardalis parva_ is the female of this species, which is from Pikermi.

Rather more different from _Giraffa_ is the extinct genus _Sivatherium_, from the Siwalik deposits of India. Here again there has been some discussion as to its affinities. Some place it in the neighbourhood of _Antilocapra_, but most palaeontologists now regard it as a Giraffe. The main peculiarity of this large beast was the existence of two pairs of horn cores; the larger are upon the parietal bones, and are of a palmated form, with a few short tines, which are highly suggestive of those of the Elk (_Alces_). The shorter anterior pair are upon the frontal bones. The neck is short, the limbs of equal length, and there are no additional toes upon the limbs. _Sivatherium_ was almost as large as an Elephant, and in restorations it is depicted as having a fleshy dilated nose like the Saiga Antelope; this view is based upon the position and size of the nasal bones.

Hornless skulls have been identified as the female of _Sivatherium_.

_Vishnutherium_, _Hydraspotherium_, and _Bramatherium_ are allied genera.

FAM. 8. ANTILOCAPRIDAE.--This family contains but one genus and species, the N. American "p.r.o.nghorn," _Antilocapra americana_. This animal deserves a family to itself on account of the singular structure of the horns, which are intermediate in character {307} between those of the Deer and those of the Antelopes. They are unquestionably "hollow-horned" Ruminants, in that there is an osseous horn core, upon which lies the actual horn. This, however, is softer than in Bovidae, and is semicorneous. It is, indeed, more like the velvet of the stag's horn. Moreover the horn is branched, and there are sometimes even three p.r.o.ngs. Furthermore, it is now certainly known that the p.r.o.nghorn sheds its horns not merely occasionally, but with definite annual periodicity. It so far resembles the Deer. But it must be borne in mind that in the Deer the horn shedding is a twofold process.

There is first of all the stripping off of the velvet, and secondly the shedding of a portion of the horn core down to the burr. What happens in the p.r.o.ngbuck is the shedding of the true horn only ( = the shedding of the velvet), _not_ of the horn core. It appears, however, that occasionally (once in their lifetime?) certain undoubted Antelopes may cast their horns.[209] Another external character of this animal is the total absence of "false hoofs," the last vestiges of the second and fifth digits. The p.r.o.nghorn is a gregarious creature running in bands of six up to hundreds.

FAM. 9. BOVIDAE.--This family, more extensive than that of the Cervidae, contains not only the Oxen, Sheep, and Goats, but also the Antelopes, save only _Antilocapra_, which must be placed in a family by itself. The only two points which distinguish all Bovidae from all Cervidae[210] are the nature of the horns already described, and the polycotyledonary condition of the placenta. Moreover the horns are usually present in both s.e.xes, though there are exceptions, such as the Sheep and Goats, and various genera of Antelopes (_Tragelaphus_, _Tetraceros_, etc.). There are never the first two phalanges belonging to the rudimentary digits II., V., as there are in all Deer excepting _Cervulus_. There is as a rule but one orifice to the lachrymal duct. There are never persistent upper canine teeth in either s.e.x.

It is exceedingly difficult to separate the Antelopes from the Sheep, Oxen, and Goats. Their inclusion along with these creatures in one family, Bovidae, shows that no differences of an important character exist. The term Antelope is rather of popular than {308} of zoological significance.

As a rule there are horns in both s.e.xes; but this rule is not without exceptions, of which one is the genus _Strepsiceros_, the Koodoo. Many other Bovidae are horned in the males only, e.g. _Saiga_, _Tragelaphus_.

The Antelopes further differ from the true Oxen in their more graceful build, and in the fact that the horns, if they curve at all, generally curve backwards towards the neck. In the Oxen, on the other hand, the build is stouter, and the horns usually curve outwards. The same remarks apply to the Sheep. Such an Antelope, however, as the Eland (_Orias_) is very Ox-like in habit. Another feature which may be remarked upon, though not of absolute differential value, is that while the Antelopes are as a rule smooth and sleek in their skins, the Oxen tend to be rough and s.h.a.ggy. The Zebu, however, in this, in its hump, and in general aspect, is far from being unlike an Eland. But then the Zebu is a domestic race, and we do not know what the wild stock was like. It is perhaps with the Goats that the Antelopes have the nearest affinities, and it is difficult to place such a form as _Nemorrhaedus_, and indeed some others. In the Antelopes as a rule the middle lower incisors are larger than the lateral ones; in the Sheep and Goats they are alike in size. The parietal bones, too, in the Antelopes are moderately large and are much shortened in the remaining Cavicornia, especially in the Oxen. As the Antelopes are the oldest, so far as we know, of all bovine animals, one would expect to find them combining the characters of the rest. But they do this so effectually that a disentanglement is really impossible. They date from the Miocene. Antelopes are now limited to Europe, Asia, and Africa; they have always had the same range, though more abundant in former times in Europe. They preponderate now in tropical Africa, and abound in genera and species. Messrs. Sclater and Thomas[211] allow altogether thirty-five genera, of which twenty-four are exclusively Ethiopian in range.

In the following summary of the group Messrs. Sclater and Thomas's work is followed. They commence with a section or sub-family of which the type is the Hartebeest.

_Bubalis_, or _Alcelaphus_ as it is sometimes called, is an African genus, ranging however into Arabia. These Antelopes are characterised by the long skull and the doubly-curved horns. There are eight species of the genus, of which _B. caama_ is the {309} best known; this is the animal known as the Hartebeest. The Bontebok and Blessbok belong to a closely-allied genus, _Damaliscus_, distinguished mainly by the fact that the bony base of the horn cores is not extended upwards, and therefore the parietal bones are visible when the skull is viewed from in front, which is not the case in _Bubalis_.

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FIG. 160.--Brindled Gnu. _Connochaetes taurinus._ 1/20.

The Gnus, _Connochaetes_, are familiar owing to their curious aspect. The hairy face, and rump and tail like those of a pony are highly characteristic. The horns are bovine in appearance, standing outwards and then curving upwards.[212] There are three species of Gnu, all from South Africa. They are _C. gnu_, _C. taurinus_, and _C. albogulatus_.

Of the Cephalophine section there are two genera:--

_Cephalophus_ is an African genus. These animals are known as Duikerboks; they are small, and have short non-curved horns in the male s.e.x only. Their general aspect is not unlike that of certain Deer with simple horns, such as _Cervulus_. Messrs. Sclater and Thomas allow thirty-eight species. The {310} smallest species do not exceed the dimensions of a Hare. None are really large.

_Tetraceros_ is an Indian genus characterised, as its name denotes, by the fact that it possesses four horns. It is the posterior pair which correspond to the single pair of _Cephalophus_. The anterior pair, which are much smaller and are sometimes absent, are a new pair. The female of this Antelope is hornless. Sheep are occasionally four-horned, and there is indeed a breed of such in Kashmir. A four-horned Chamois was described by the late Mr. Alston.

The Klipspringer, _Oreotragus saltator_, is the first type of a third section; as its name denotes, it is an Antelope with Goat-like habits, being found particularly among rocks. The horns are short and straight.

This, the only species of the genus, is African in range, of which its Dutch name gives evidence. A specimen in the Zoological Society's Gardens (as has been pointed out to me by Mr. Mercer) had the habit of depositing the secretion of the tear gland upon a ma.s.s of concrete in its enclosure, the secretion thus exuded forming a pointed heap of hardish matter. It may be that the object of this is to guide its fellows to its whereabouts.

_Ourebia_ is a less-known genus, larger in size, but with horns of the same character, though longer.

The Grysbok and the Steinbok, genus _Raphiceros_, have similar horns. This as well as the last two genera have horns in the male only.

One of the smallest of Antelopes belongs to an allied genus; this is _Neotragus pygmaeus_. It is known as the Royal Antelope, a name apparently derived from Bosman's statement that the negroes called it "the king of the harts." Its horns are very small. The height of the animal is only 10 inches. Horns are present in the male alone. The last three genera are African.

The Cervicaprine series, which is also African, includes the Waterbucks and Reedbucks, so called on account of their water-loving propensities. As in the last series, from which they are separated by Sclater and Thomas, but with which they are united by Flower, there are horns in the male only.

These horns, though not twisted, are long. The typical genus is _Cobus_, of which there are eleven species. The Waterbuck, _C. ellipsiprymnus_, and the Sing-sing, _C. unctuosus_, are perhaps the best-known species; the former is {311} blackish grey, the latter browner in colour. In _C. maria_ and one or two other species the horns are more curved backwards and again forwards than in some of the others, where their form is sublyrate.

The Reedbucks, _Cervicapra_, are closely allied to _Cobus_; they are, however, of smaller size. Here, as in that genus, the females are hornless, and the horns of the males are of medium size. Five species are referred to the genus. They are all of a brownish fawn colour. A genus _Pelea_, with but one species, _P. capreolus_, has been separated on account of the fact that the horns are nearly straight and that there is no naked patch of skin beneath the ears. This animal has received its name on account of its resemblance to the Roebuck.

The Antilopine section includes a number of genera.

The genus _Antilope_ is Indian in range. It includes but one species, _A.

cervicapra_. This Antelope is of medium size, with a brown pelage getting blacker with years; it is thus known as the Black-buck. The female, which is hornless, is lighter brown. The horns are long, spirally twisted, and closely ringed.