ENTERTAINING ANIMALS

Evening Star, Issue 19712, 12 November 1927, Page 22

ENTERTAINING ANIMALS

EXPERIMENTS WITH PICTURES. , : A naturalist has attempted to solve a problem which must have caused Noah many sleepless nights—how animals should bo entertained—says a London * Morning Post' Paris message. As is natural, he turned first of all to tho cinema, and he had a number of films specially prepared for his unusual audiences. His first “ house ” was full of dogs of every conceivable breed. They wore shown canino rivals barking silently but aggressively, and cats with well-arched backs and extended claws. Not a growl nob a shadow of a bark was heard from the spectators. Some of them even went to sleep. It was a very different story when (ho .next “house,” confined exclusively to eats, was admitted. A bulldog larger ‘than life flung upon the screen caused great emotion, and tho audience put themselves into postures of defence. From this the naturalist concluded that'tho sense of sight in dogs is subordinated to tho senses of smell and hearing, while the contrary is the case with cats. The experiment was also tried with an audience of birds When a largo falcon appeared flying towards them there was a shrill concert of crus ami Mpiawks, except from one corner of the room devoted to sparrows, finches, and thrushes, who remained discreetly silent, evidently not wishing to attract: tho attention of the bird of pfey. <