Heredity in the Lower Animals.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 4029, 3 September 1898, Page 4

Heredity in the Lower Animals.

THE FOAL T THE CALF. As all young creatures show a tendency to resemble remote anoestors, both in external form and mental attributes, wild 'traits will be found very marked in them. A young foal is a case in point. With his enormous legs he can 1 gallop, when only a few'days old, as fast as he ever can in after life. Never far from hfe dam, he takes his nourishment in small doses, avoiding a full meal, which would impede swift escape from his foes. When he lies down,, he makes no attempt at concealment, and when he stands his head is held high and he looks boldly about him. These habits are all wild traits which show that his early ancestors had left the forests for wide, open plains, where only wolves could overtake them, and these enemies acted as agents in improving the speed and endurance of the wild horse. The calf is different in his habits. A poor traveller, he fills himself with milk, and • can then be concealed by his mother,' whilst she, in a wild state, travels to some distant glade where food is abundant, and does not return for some time, during which her milk is collecting. Hence the importance of a large " bag " in the cow, and also the need of the power of retaining her milk, wild traits which man has not failed to turn to his own advantage, as he has also the swiftness and staying power of the horse. It is to be noted that the calf, like its mother, holds the head low in order to look under the branches of the forest, for everything about cattle points to an ancestral home in a moist and wooded country. — Spectator.