Animal Traits

1907

Reminders In the Foal and the Calf of Their Wild Ancestors

It is an interesting study to note in domestic animals the traits of their wild ancestors. There are some characteristics, of course, which are readily recognizable as being similar to those of animals still in a wild state, and for this reason they give a fair idea of the life and surroundings of progenitors. The habits of the dog and cat are too familiar to comment on, but take the foal and compare his traits with those of the calf.

The foal when a few days old can gallop as fast as he ever can in after life. He never leaves the dam and takes nourishment in small quantities, avoiding a full meal, which would impede swift escape. In lying down no attempt is made at concealment, and when he stands his head is held high. These habits show that the animal's ancestors spent their lives in the open and not in the forests and that they were great travelers.

The calf, on the contrary, fills himself with milk and is a poor traveler. When danger approaches his first impulse is to conceal himself. He holds his head low in order to look under the branches of the forest. All his characteristics point to the fact that the ancestral home of cattle was in a moist, wooded country, while the primeval horse roamed the plains. — London Chronicle.