IN THE JUNGLE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 120, 23 May 1931, Page 19

IN THE JUNGLE

ANIMALS AT HOME

An iuliiiKito study ol' tho habits of wild animals in tlicir haunts is given in "Catphing Wild Beasts Alive," by Joseph Boluiont, a noLuil big-game hunter, ilo gives some remarkable instances of birds and animals who act the rolo of sentries, and give warning to other creatures on the approach of danger. "The jay," ho says, "perches for many hours' ;i day on the tops oi; liigh trees on Hie edge vi' llio forest. His excellent. eyes range over the \S'liolo landscape) spread out before him. If he spies a li'uiiiau being iv tho distance he utters his by no means unmclodious ury and all the animals of the forest which arc accustomed to being hunted by man immediately seek a hiding-place. When I. say animals ] do not me^n mammals only. Many of. the birds also recognise tho signal and fly into the denser parts of the forest.''

Buffaloes, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, and the great antelopes of the plains, ho says, are'continuously being warned in this way by the largo and small oxpcKk'cr or rhinoceros-bird. These, animals take no notice of tho bird's ordinary cry, but they, immediately take cover when tho shrill, staccato warningcry is heard. They interpret tho bird's language in various ways, and know exactly what to do from the different calls:—"Those birds, which find their food in the crevices of the rhino's hide, are. watchful- guards and betray the approaching enemy with loud screeching They then leave the rhino's back and flutter over him in circles, uttering incessant cries of warning, and from time to time dropping on to i f beast's head to warn him with vigorous thrusts from their beaks; then rising again to indicate the direction in which the pachyderm is to escape."

I Normally monkeys arc afraid of the wild boar; they will seek refuge in the highest branches of trees "on his approach and scold and bombard liim like maniacs. Mcrr Delmont mentions an instance in which they gave him battle:—"A' band of gibbons were surprised by Ji'boaij and.at once fie-J into the ;neigh'bouriug" trees. During tkis panic a baby gibbon ■ fell : from its mother's body 1.0 which.'it was- clinging in one of the trees. 'J.'lie mother, hecdless'of danger, climbed down to save her off-spring. The boar at once attacked and wounded her. From the trees the band of apes had watched the movements of .the. mother in horror, and when the boar made to renew his attack, all tho grown 'gibbons, not as a rule'regarded as courageous animals, dashed down from the trees and rushed angrily upon : tho enemy. In tho ensuing struggle tlirec 'apes lost their lives and a number were wounded.' The rest, especially tho females, dug their, teeth- frantically into l^\c raging boar and iinally' forced him to take to his heels. "■

Hci-r DclmontVbookj it will bo seen, is not the usual big-game hunter's narrative of wholesale slaughter and hairbreadth escapes, although he has been responsible for the capturo of more than three hundred largo animals and a thousand smaller ones. He does record, hoWeyer., a narrow escape from a/ lion, and another from a rhinoceros. The majority of wild animals, lie says, are not-dangerous in their native state. If they-see a -uian 'they either take no noticiiof him or clso get'out of his way, although ■ naturally it is otherwise if the man attacks them or if they are mad individuals leading-a lone life apart from others of their kind.' -

Other catchers of wild animals'' are' .Prank Buck aiul Edward Athony,' who between them hare produced "Bringing 'J3m - Back - Alive." What it is that Mr. Buck brings back alive may be gathered from the wrapper, on which he is .to bo,seen holding a few yards of 'live.-, python. ; Qthors-of-his photo-, graphs illustrate '-tile .'-difficulties, "'of transporting ■ largo animals froni. their native wilds to dealers—^mostly of the United States—who find a market for them in menageries, circuses, "movies," laboratories, and "pet-shops." The list of animals with which Mr. Buck has...returned to America is. headed by thirty-nine -'elephants;- and' takes up three-quarters of a large page. It is of this achievement that he writes; and he would have it understood that his book is not- a-treatise on-the habits of wild animals; that he leaves to scientists, he says. ,