The naturalist who sets traps for small rodents in field or forest is constantly annoyed by finding trapped animals partly devoured by their fellows. When mice or rats are confined together in cages and provided with an abundance of vegetable food, it is a common experience to find that the stronger kill and eat the weaker ones, until in a short time only a single survivor remains. These cannibalistic traits are strongly developed in the common house rat, which is notorious for its savagery toward others of its kind.
CASES OF CONCENTRATED FEROCITY
To a certain extent the ferocity of mammals appears to increase in proportion to a decrease in their size. The smaller members of the weasel family—the weasels—are relatively far more active and bloodthirsty than the minks, martens, and other larger members of the group.
If the common weasel should be increased to the bulk of a mountain-lion and retain its nature and physical prowess, it would be many times more dangerous than any existing carnivore and the devastations it would commit would be appalling. Even the tiny insect-eating shrews are endowed with a fierce and aggressive spirit scarcely equaled among larger animals.
Photograph by Howard Taylor Middleton
A WEASEL AT BAY ON A TREE-TRUNK
Wolves, coyotes, and foxes are the natural enemies of this ferocious little creature. In spite of its diminutive size, it is a foe to be respected, for its attack is always aimed at a vital point—commonly the brain, the back of the neck, or the jugular vein of its adversary.
Rodents and insectivorous mammals are without effective weapons of offense or defense against the birds and beasts of prey which beset them. Many, however, are surprisingly courageous when brought to bay, and, using their front teeth, will fight to the death with vigor and spirit. This is especially notable of the muskrats and their cousins, the field-mice. Carnivores, both great and small, have teeth and claws with which to defend themselves against attack.