ANIMAL CRIMINALS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 122, 19 November 1926, Page 4

ANIMAL CRIMINALS

SOME STRIKING CASES COLLECTED BY SCIENTISTS DRUNKENNESS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD. . Before one of the recent sessions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Oxford, Julian Huxley, the biologist, confirmed the facts set down by Charles Darwin on the instinct of courtship in the animal world, and described the gallantry of crabs and spiders under the spell of love, says the "New York Times." The grandson of the famous Thomas Huxley confined his field of vision to the tender passion among the lower species. But numerous naturalists, from Linnaeus down, have left on record the effects of various emotions as seen in the actions of animals. .- Hate, fear, rage, and jealousy play a major part in the animal society, just as they do among humans. Singular as it may sound, there are sneak thieves, highway robbers, kidnappers, drunkards, and murderers among insects, birds, and other animals, both domestic and wild. Even counterfeiting is not unknown! Everybody has heard of the rogue elephant. Kipling made him the subject of a short story. A rogue elephant seemingly goes wrong out of sheer perversity, though his apologists excuse him on the ground of insanity. Destruction incarnate, this big brute runs amuck. The herd of which he is a member drives him out and he is condemned to live. and die aldne. Once affected, he goes from bad to worse.. In his native India, where he is known as "hora," he will uproot trees, tear down houses, and try' to kill man and beast. Until exterminated, he is a terror to the countryside. Horses can be outlaws. AVestern cowboys tell endless yarns of these wicked specimens of horseflesh that cannot be won by kindness nor beaten into obedience. They viciously attack their companions of the corral and do their cunning best to murder their masters. _ This type of bad horse has been studied in the cavalry of France by Rbdet, a distinguished French veterinary surgeon. He noted that the head of the animal differed in shape from the normal, being. narrow, with a retreating forehead. MARES AS KIDNAPPERS. Gall has left a record of certain mares that kidnapped foals and hid away in an effort to keep them' for ' themselves. Espinas noted the same freak in asses. Few would suspect the dog—man's faithful friend—of deliberate wickedness. Yet there have been sheep-killing dogs that, like elephants, may lead model lives until a mysterious change takes,.place. Then they develop into night assassins. They may be called Jekyll and Hyde dogs, serving the master with his flocks all day, and in the darkness transforming themselves into villains, slyly stealing out to murder defenseless victims. Monkeys are born thieves. In their native state of freedom baboons organise regular bands to plunder orchards and plantations. Usually they obey a chief, :. who clistributes his sentinels at strategic points .and lines up his forces so that the booty he gets may be passed along from hand to hand until deposited in a safe spot. AVilliam T. Hornaday, former Director of the New York Zoological Park, will admit that there are birds that commit murder, deliberate murder—and they are often j most charming and innocent species, too. Being imprisoned in a cage often generates bloodthirstiness. It is a curious fact that I murders are remarkably, few and far between in the snake family. Occasionally one snake will'swallow another; but tile i deed- is usually attributable to hunger rather than to hate. There are snakes, ! however, that despise each other. For instance, a king snake has no use for a rattler, and will, at sight, seek to choke him to death. A BIRD TRIANGLE. German naturalists have observed the exhibition of murderous passion in some bird species, especially .storks. Karl Yojt, tho celebrated naturalist, tells of a stork triangle tragedy. While the male mate was away a younger lover wooed the female. She repulsed, tolerated, then welcomed- him. One day when the old bird was off frog hunting tho _ guilty.' pair flew to his marsh <>nd killed him. Murders among fish are rare, if we discount killing that involves survival of the fittest. The swordfish has the reputation of being.the star killer of the deep. -Deliberately he will stab a whale in a score of places, for the vicious sport of the thing, and" finish him off. Insects,' particularly bees and ants, display wicket traits. Ants massed in army fashion will assault and ravage a neighbour -state, destroy the inhabitants and carry off the young for slaves. Biichner, the German naturalist, is an authority on brigand bees. He describes them as banding together for plunder like professional highwaymen-. ■ These renegade citizens of the hive grow too lazy to work. They will form their own freebooting colony and attack well-stocked hives or richly laiden workers returning home. It has been -discovered-that there are bees and ants that are fond of their "dram," which they come across in certain flowers and in decayinc fruit. A tipsy bee does not act unlike a drunken man, reeling in flight, falling helplessly on its back, and finally sleeping it off. Lombroso asserted that intoxicants were the cause of crime among many animals, and cited the sheep and goats of AbysBinia' which go on regular sprees, eating .the beans of the coffee plant. THE TIPSY GOOSU. Perhaps the most curious case on record was that of a goose in. New Jersey some years ago. The fowl became addicted to beer, and would scream and scold at a regular hour unless it got what it. wanted, if delayed too long beyond its expectation, the goose would run after people and nip their clothes. So far a's can be ascertained, there is only one counterfeiter in the animal world —counterfeiter in the sense of bamboozling its neighbours. This is the English cuckoo, which w;ill lay eggs, cleverly disguised, in other birds' nests. Crows are thieves at heart, but they hold courts in which to try their criminals. At any rate, this is the supposition on the part of many English and American observers. AVhen holding court, crows congregate for days at a time in a remote clump of trees. Representatives come from every, point of the compass to participate in the trial. Single, double, and triple debates take place. At high moments 'the whole crowd rackets together. Close watch on them will usually reveal that at the close, of-the council two or more'crows fall upon the culprit and punish him, even to the point of death.