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Wonders of the Jungle

<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> <h2>Deer and Antelope</h2> The buffalo has many relatives among other animals which also have horns. In fact, all animals that have horns are some relation to each other—first cousin, second cousin, third cousin, and so on. The buffalo's nearest relatives are the ordinary cows and bulls that you see in the fields. "But the sheep and the goat also have horns," you may say. "Are they also cousins?" Yes, they are. In the same way the deer and the antelope are also cousins to each other. I am now going to tell you about them. The deer and the antelope are not exactly the same kind of animal, as you might perhaps think. As I said, they are only cousins. If you look at them carefully in the pictures on pages 103 and 109 you will see which is the antelope and which is the deer—just as you can tell a sheep from a goat. [103] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_113.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="328" alt="Antelope" title="" /> Antelope Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York</div> [105] First see the picture on page 103. These are antelope. Look at the horns carefully. They are something like a cow's horns; only, a cow's horns are sometimes bent and twisted in different ways. But the antelope's horns point upward, and are much longer than a cow's horns. They sometimes look almost like a pair of long and thick spikes, pointed at the top. Now look at the picture on page 109. These are deer. Look at the horns carefully—only, they are not called horns when the animal is a deer, but antlers, which is a special name. So take a good look at the deer's antlers. There are two of them, and they grow from the top of his head, like the antelope's horns. But look again. The antlers start from the head as two spikes, but higher up each antler branches out into many parts. In fact, near the top each antler looks something like the branches of a small tree without leaves. So now you can always tell which is an antelope and which is a deer: the antelope's horns have no branches, but the deer's antlers have many branches. <h3>Horns and Antlers Different in Three Ways</h3> The antelope's horns and the deer's antlers are also different in other ways, which you[106] cannot see in the pictures. So I shall tell you about them: 1. The antelope's horns are hollow inside, and made of the same kind of thing as the hoofs or nails of an animal, only they are thicker and harder. But a deer's antlers are solid, and made of bone. 2. Both the Papas and the Mammas among antelopes have horns. But among most kinds of deer, only the Papas have the antlers; the Mammas have none. 3. Among antelopes, when once the Papas and the Mammas have grown their horns, they keep them always. But among deer, the Papas throw away their antlers every year, and grow new ones. That seems very wonderful! I shall tell you more about it soon. But now I shall tell you, little by little, all the wonderful things the deer and the antelope can do. I shall begin with the deer, as there are many kinds of deer in America. Of course, in America there are not such wild jungles as in countries which are hot all the year round. Still, there are many places in the West and a few other parts of America where there is some kind of jungle and plenty of forest. A forest is a kind of jungle, only it has more[107] trees, and fewer thickets; but wild animals can live there just the same. <h3>Elk and Other American Deer</h3> The biggest kind of deer in America is the moose; in fact, it is the biggest kind of deer in the world. The second biggest is the elk; he is nearly as big as the moose. Some people think that the moose and the elk are exactly the same kind of deer, but that is not quite correct. In this book I must not make it too hard for you to understand, by telling you how they are different. So I shall tell you all about the elk, as his picture is on page 109. Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in the Far West. The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of forest—that is, plenty of trees. Why trees? Because he needs them in winter—for then the bark is his food! In summer he has plenty to eat—leaves, twigs, and grass. But when the winter comes, and the leaves fall, and the ground is covered[108] with snow, the poor elk would starve and die, if he did not have at least the bark of trees to eat. And very little bark he gets for many days at a time. Here I must tell you that some kinds of deer are among the most hardy animals; that means that at times they can live on very little. There is a kind of deer, called the reindeer, that lives in the frozen North, where there is snow and ice almost all the year round; and the reindeer has nothing more to eat for many days than a little bit of moss or seaweed. But there is another animal, not a deer, that is still more hardy: he can go a whole week without eating or drinking—and do work all the time! That seems very wonderful. But I shall tell you about that animal in another chapter. Now about the elk. His antlers are fine! You can see in the picture how huge they are. And yet, would you believe it, he grew them in only five months! I told you a little while ago that a deer throws off his antlers every year, and grows new ones. I shall now tell you how the elk does that. [109] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image_119.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="341" alt="Elk" title="" /> Elk Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York</div> [111] In the middle of the winter, the elk's antlers break off bit by bit. In a few weeks they have all fallen off, leaving the elk's head bare, with just a ridge or rough stump on it. Then, early in the spring the new antlers start growing from the top of the stump. They grow very fast, and in five months are as huge as ever. But while the new antlers are growing, they are not hard. As yet they are soft and tender, and all that time they have an outside covering like hairy leather, to guard them from harm. But as soon as the elk feels that his antlers are quite grown, and are strong and hard, he strips off the outside covering by rubbing the antlers against trees. Of course, while his antlers are still growing, and are soft and tender, the elk cannot use them to fight another animal; so during that time he hides in the bushes. But as soon as his new antlers have become hard and strong, he is very brave again, and is ready to fight! Does the elk fight much? He does! He fights most awfully when he has his new antlers. What he fights about, and with whom he fights, I shall tell you in another book. There are a few other kinds of deer in America, but the funniest of them is called the mule deer, which lives along the Rocky Mountains. He is[112] called the mule deer because he has very long ears, like a mule's ears. And perhaps you have seen a mule bucking—that is, jumping about while holding his legs quite stiff. Well, the mule deer can buck just like that. And while he is running at a gallop, he will often jump off the ground with stiff legs, and then hop on and on many times like that, with stiff legs, finishing up with another gallop. That makes him look very funny, and because he jumps like that people in Canada sometimes call him the jumping deer. <h3>Other Kinds of Deer</h3> I must now tell you about some other kinds of deer that live in jungles and forests in other countries. The fallow deer lives in Europe. When he is wild, he lives in a forest; but when he is tame, he lives in a park. He is a small deer, about the size of a donkey. His coat is very soft and glossy and beautiful. In winter his coat looks dark brown, and his legs and the under part of his body are light brown. But in summer his coat becomes a lovely light red in color, with white spots jotted all over it. Then he is very handsome.[113] In India also there is a handsome deer, which the people call the lion deer. He looks quite gentle and mild. Then why do the people call him the lion deer? Because he has a lovely coat, golden yellow in color. You could see him far across the open field, if he only stood there. But he is so timid that he does not often come out in the open. And why has he a yellow coat? Because he lives in a place where there is plenty of yellow grass; and if he stood right in the middle of the grass, and did not move, nobody could see him. Even if a tiger were looking for him, and the deer stood quite still in the grass, the tiger could not find him. In another chapter I shall tell you how other animals have on their bodies the color of the place where they live, or where they want to hide. <h4>Barking Deer—One of the Wonders of Nature</h4> Now I am coming to one of the nicest kinds of deer in the world, and I am sure you will just love him! He lives in India, and is called the barking deer; only, he is not exactly a deer, but an antelope. You remember what I have told you before, about an antelope having a different kind of horns? Still we must call him[114] the barking deer, as people have already given him that name. He is very small, about the size of a goat. If there is any danger from an enemy, the barking deer is small enough to hide in any little bush or behind a fallen tree or log; or else he can run away very quietly through the under bushes. And he runs so quickly that his enemy soon loses sight of him. He is called the barking deer, because he can bark or yap almost like a dog. But, you may ask, why does he want to bark at all, if he is afraid of some enemy? Will not the enemy hear him, and then catch him? Yes, that is quite true. And yet the fact that he does bark is one of the most wonderful things in the jungle. It is so wonderful that in another book I shall tell you more about it. But now I shall tell you just this: There are some animals which are so deadly that they could kill off many, many other animals. So, as the only way to save the other animals from being all killed, God has made some special animals to fight those deadly animals. There is the cobra, which is a snake, and which has such a deadly poison that it could kill almost all other animals in the jungle by just[115] biting them. So, to save the other animals from being killed by the cobra, God made the mongoose. He is a plucky little creature, about the size of a cat. And he will fight and kill every cobra he sees! But really he is such a wonderful animal that I must keep him for another book, when you are old enough to know him better and to love him. But sometimes the deadly animal is too strong to be killed himself. There is the tiger. He can kill and eat many kinds of animals. But who can kill him? No animal! At least, the elephant and the buffalo could kill the tiger if the tiger should let them catch him and trample on him. But the tiger does not let any animal catch him. Then how can the other animals be saved from the tiger? God made two special animals to save the others from the tiger. The first is the buffalo, of which I have already told you, and which is the Knight of the Jungle. The second animal is the barking deer. How the barking deer saves the other animals from the tiger, I shall now tell you: When the tiger is prowling about, all other kinds of deer and antelope just run away, and are glad enough if they escape being eaten.[116] But not the plucky little barking deer! He too runs away, but as soon as he gets a little ahead of the tiger, he stops under a bush and lets out that bark or yap—then runs on at once to another bush. The tiger is furious, and jumps on the bush where he heard the bark—but the deer is not there now! The deer barks from that second bush—and runs to another one. In this way the barking deer leads the tiger on and on through the jungle from bush to bush. And why does he bark like that? To tell the other animals in good time that the tiger is coming, and then to tell them exactly where the tiger is. "Look out, here's a tiger!" That is the meaning of his first bark. "Here he is! He is coming after me—this way!" That is what he means by the next bark. "He is chasing me this way! You run the other way!" And that is what the barking deer keeps on saying, as he runs from bush to bush, so that all the other animals know exactly where the tiger is at each minute. In this way the barking deer runs through the jungle, warning all the other animals, and so spoiling the tiger's dinner all the way. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> [117] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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