LIFE IN THE JUNGLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIFE IN THE JUNGLE.

GRIEF-STRICKEN LIONESS.

MATE'S DEATH AVENGED. WAYS OF A JEALOUS BABOON. Remarkable tales of the " family life " of wild animals in the South African desert are told in a Natal newspaper. A lion Was shot dead. Its mate, in a paroxysm of grief, threw herself prostrate over his dead body, then rose up, every hair on her b&ck bristling with anger. She had caught' the scent of the slayer. She followed it tip, and, coming on his camp,' leapt over the fence to where the man sat. After she had torn him to pieces she returned to mourn beside her dead mate.

A group of lions, male, female and. two cubs, were gambolling in a dry river bed. Suddenly the lion threw up its head. The air told him a message. Without turning his her;d, he emitted a low., purring sound to his family. When they were safely out of sight the lion followed up the scent.The white hunter, meanwhile, struck by the almost human scene of domesticity, put up his gun, determined not to fire. Just at that isoment the lion parted the bushes near him and stood, tail lashing, growling. It offered no injury, simply waited until the man had disappeared, then returned to its family.

Next to the lion comes the ostrich in the care of its'mates and young. These

great birds will dance along the road ahead of a car, sometimes describing a complete circle in a few yards, then cut a caper and bound away, to reappear behind some bush." These antics have a purpose. While papa ostrich is thus entertaining the visitors, directing their attention to himself,. his family is fleeing from sight in the other direction.

An ostrich hen, sitting on her nest, was shot by a marksman in a motor-car. As she rolled over the male bird sped to take her place, where, regardless of danger, he remained sitting. When he was killed, a day-old chick, tweeting plaintively, was seen. The baboon is probably the most " human " of all the animal kingdom, but the mother baboon is jealous and spiteful; should her mate anger her_ she vents her wrath on her offspring, biting its ears and nose, and in some instances battering its head. This is usually when she considers ,tho baby is receiving more attention than herself. It is amusing to watch a row of mother baboons sitting nursing their babies. They hold them on their knee, just as human mothers do, so also do they lay them across their lap to administer the maternal spanking. There is a pathetic tale of a springbok and a. blinded buffalo. A party of hunters,> % whese car was stuck in the Kalahari Desert, while waiting for help,

noticed a single springbok, followed by a great buffalo. The strange .companionship drew their attention. They watched the buck lead the buffalo to ths water-hole and then bound away. When they found that the buffalo had been blinded by snake poison and was in great agony, a kindly bullet put it out of its pain.