COLOURS OF DESERT ANIMALS.

Western Star, Issue 1385, 31 August 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

COLOURS OF DESERT ANIMALS.

Desert animals, like intense South Kensington, go in only for neutral tints. In proportion as each individual approaches in hue to the sand about it, will it'succeed in life in avoiding its enemies or in creeping upon its prey, according to circumstances. In proportion as it presents a striekingly vivid or distinct appearance among the surrounding sand, will it make itself a sure mark for its watchful foes, if it happen to be an unprotected skulker, or will it be seen beforehand and avoided by its pray, if it happen to be predatory hunting or insect-eating. Henca on the sandy desert all species alike are uniformly Spotty liz ards bask on spotty sands, keeping; a sharp look-out for spotty butterflies and spotty beetles, onlv to be themselves spotted and devouredin turn by equally spotty birds, or snakes, or tortoises. All nature seems to have gone into half-mourningtogether, or converted by a passing Puritan missionary, to have clad itself incontinently in grey and fawn-colour. Even the lirger beasts that haunt the desert take thpir tone not a li* tie from their sandy surroundings. Tou have only to compare the desert haunting lion with the other great cats to see at once the reason for his peculiar uniform. The tigers and other tropical jungle-cats have their coats arranged in vertical stripes of black and yellow, which, though you would hardly believe it unless you saw them in their native nullahs (good word "nullab," gives a convincing Indian tone to a narrative of. adventure), harmonise marvellously with the lights and shades of the bauiboos and canebrea<s through whose depths the tiger moves so noiselessly. Looking into the gloom of a tangled jungle, it is almost impossible to pick out the beast from the yellow stems and dark shadows in which it hides, save by the baleful gleam of those wicked eyes catching the light for a second as they turn wistfully and bloodthirsty towards the approaching stranger. The jaguar, oncelot, leopard, and other tiee-eats, on the other hand, are dappled or spotted —a type of coloration which exactlv harmonises with the light and shade of the round sun-spots seen through the foliage of a tropical forest. They, too, sre almost indistioguishabls from th« trees overhead as they creep alonj cautiously on the trunks and branches. But spots or stripeis would at once betray the crouching lion among the bare rocks or desert sands; and therefore the lion is approximately sand-coloured. Seen in a at the Zoo, the British lion is a very conspicuous ariuial indeed; but spread at full length on a sandy patch or among bare yellow rocks under the Saharan sun, you may walk into bis mouth before you are even aware of his august existence. —From "Desert Sands," in the Cornbill Magazine.