THE BINTURONG.[89]
This is a curious little animal, of a black colour, with a white border to its ears, a large head and turned-up nose, and a long, immensely thick, tapering tail, which, remarkably enough, is prehensile, like that of a New World Monkey. It is twenty-eight to thirty inches long from snout to root of tail, and the tail itself is nearly of the same length. It is sometimes called the “black Bear Cat.”
“It is slow and crouching. In its habits it is quite nocturnal, solitary, and arboreal, creeping along the large branches, and aiding itself by its prehensile tail. It is omnivorous, eating small animals, birds, insects, fruit, and plants. It is more wild and retiring than Viverrine animals in general, and it is easily tamed; its howl is loud.” It walks entirely on the soles of its feet, and its claws are not retractile. It ranges from Nepaul to Sumatra and Java.
BINTURONG.
Altogether the Binturong is a decidedly interesting animal, and has been a great puzzle to zoologists. It was formerly placed in the Racoon family, to many of the members of which it bears a very strong resemblance; but this resemblance is quite superficial, and brought about by the similarity in the mode of life, &c. In the characters of the skull and teeth, it undoubtedly belongs where we have placed it, among the Civet group. Thus it forms a capital warning to those zoologists whose knowledge is only skin-deep, and who group animals entirely by their external character, without taking into account the important points of fundamental structure, which should in every case be considered first.[90]
CHAPTER VII.
THE DOG FAMILY.—THE DOMESTIC DOG.[91]
Section Cynoidea—Geographical Distribution—Skull of Dog—Teeth—Legs—Walk—Claws—Internal Anatomy—The Cæcum, or “Cul de sac” of the Intestine—Size—[THE DOMESTIC DOG]—Its Fidelity and Love—Differences between the Domesticated and Natural Species of the Family—Barking a Civilised Habit—Antiquity of the Dog—The Dog among the Hebrews and Egyptians—The Dog in the Bible—“Dog” as a Term of Reproach—Venerated by many Ancient Nations—The Dog among the Greeks and Romans—Pre-historic Dogs—Dogs in the New World—Peruvian Dogs—Superstitions about the Dog—The Dog as an article of Diet—Origin of the Dog—Identity of Structure of Wild and Domestic Dogs—The independent Training of Wild Canidæ by Savages in many parts of the World—Voice—Results of the whole question as to Origin—Anecdotes about Instinct, Reason, Docility—Muscles of Dog’s Head—Consociation of Dogs—Anecdotes of Sense of Right, Wrong, Duty, Conscience—Sensitiveness, Honesty, Theft, Cunning, Quarrelsomeness, Magnanimity, the reverse, Revenge, Hatred—Conjugal Affection—Devotion to Man—Fickleness—Despair—Rabies and Hydrophobia—Wonderful Variety of Breed.
WE now come to the first and only family of the section Cynoidea, the most compact of the three divisions of split-footed flesh-eaters, and the one which contains the smallest number of forms. Only four genera, in fact, are contained in the group, namely, the Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes (Canis), the Long-eared Fox (Megalotis), the Racoon-dog (Nyctereutes), and the curious Hyæna-like Lycaon.