TROPICAL EUROPE OF LONG AGO
CHAPTER X.
THE LARGE MILK-GIVERS WHICH HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD BY STRENGTH AND INTELLIGENCE.
If we now glance back in imagination over the almost endless variety of creatures which we have met with since we started with the fish, we must acknowledge that even if there were no other kinds than those we have already mentioned, the world would be very full of different living beings, and that to succeed in the struggle for life in the midst of such a multitude, new forms must be endowed with great strength or armed with specially effective weapons.
Such animals, however, we know were already in the field, for we saw at the beginning of the last chapter that, together with the small rodents, insect-eaters, and lemurs, there were two groups of much larger animals, first the Herbivora or grass-feeders, including the hoofed animals (Ungulata) and the elephants; and secondly, their great enemies the Carnivora or flesh-feeders.
Now these two groups, on account of their size, strength, and agility, have spread very widely over the earth, especially the grass-feeders, for there is no part of the world which has not some vegetable-feeding animal in it, if only a few green shoots grow there. It is true the Rodents take some part of this green food, but then they are small and insignificant compared to the large Rhinoceroses, Elephants, Hippopotamuses, Oxen, Antelopes, Goats, Pigs and Sheep, which roam over wide spaces, and are even less restricted than the flesh-eating animals, for they live in the open air or the thick jungle, never in caves and holes, and their young ones are born wherever they may happen to be, and in a few hours run by their mother’s side, so that young and old wander together wherever food and shelter is to be found.
And so we shall see that these vegetable-feeders have filled every spot where they could possibly find a footing. In the regions of snow and ice the reindeer in Europe, and the elk and musk-sheep in America, rake the snow to uncover their scanty food, while the burning deserts of North Africa and East Asia have bred their camels and wild asses, and those of South Africa their quaggas. On the prairies of America the bison, and on the plains of Asia the wild cattle, feed in herds of thousands, while the zebra courses over the African hills. If we look to the tops of mountains, to dangerous crags where the merest tufts of grass are to be found, there we meet with the goats and sheep in India and Asia, the chamois and ibex in Europe, the big-horn sheep in the Rocky Mountains of America; or if we turn to the dense forests and tropical jungles, there we find the giraffes in Africa, the elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, antelopes, and wild boars in Africa and India, some feeding on the branches of the trees, some grazing on the grasses and lower brushwood, and some digging up roots and underground food. Only the rivers remain, and here too, in Africa, the hippopotamus has taken possession, feeding on the water plants and wallowing on the muddy banks.
In this way every available spot is used by one herbivorous animal or another, and if we could only trace out their pedigree we should be surprised to find how wonderfully each one has become fitted for the special work it has to do. But three things they all require and have, though they may arrive at them in different ways. The first of these is a long face and freely moving under jaw, with large useful grinding teeth to work up and chew the vegetable food; the second, a capacious stomach to hold and digest green meat enough to nourish such bulky bodies; and the third, good defensive weapons to protect themselves against each other, and against wild beasts. Weapons of attack they do not need, except for fighting among themselves; for being grass-feeders they do not attack other creatures, and this is one of the great differences between them and the flesh-feeding or carnivorous animals.
We need not look far to see these three chief characters of the vegetable-feeders in active work. Look at any horse as he grazes in the meadow, and see how his under jaw works from side to side as soon as he has a good mouthful. A peep into his mouth will show that he is using broad flat back teeth to grind the grass to pulp (see [Fig. 67]), and he will go on eating all day without overfilling the large stomach which lies within his barrel-shaped body. And as to his defences, if he is vicious, he will soon show that his front teeth are good weapons, while his hoofs will deal an ugly blow.
Then turn to the cow, quietly chewing the cud by his side; you will find that she has no upper front teeth, but only a hardened gum, upon which her under teeth bite as she crops the grass; but she too has broad flat teeth behind, while within she has a stomach with four compartments, and when she has filled one of these full of half-chewed grass, she lies down, and with a slight hiccough returns a ball of food to her mouth to be leisurely ground down. It is not difficult to see that to animals, such as wild cattle, antelopes, goats, and sheep, which often have to go far to seek their food, an arrangement of this kind, by which they may store provender in a larder for quiet enjoyment by-and-by, must be a great advantage. But the cow cannot defend herself with her teeth since she has no upper ones in front; in their stead she has strong horns which are quite as dangerous, so that an angry bull is an enemy not pleasant to meet.
Lastly, there is another fierce vegetable-feeding animal almost as dangerous as a bull, though we no longer come across him in England; for the Wild Boar, as he still flourishes in the forests of Germany, can inflict very ugly wounds with his lower eye-teeth which grow out and project over his upper lip, forming large tusks.