The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin [top 100 books of all time checklist txt] 📗

gristly skin covering the shoulder, called by the German hunters, the shield; and here we have a part specially modified for defence. With boars in the prime of life (Fig. 65) the tusks in the lower jaw are used for fighting, but they become in old age, as Brehm states, so much curved inwards and upwards over the snout that they can no longer be used in this way. They may, however, still serve, and even more effectively, as a means of defence. In compensation for the loss of the lower tusks as weapons of offence, those in the upper jaw, which always project a little laterally, increase in old age so much in length and curve so much upwards that they can be used for attack. Nevertheless, an old boar is not so dangerous to man as one at the age of six or seven years. (39. Brehm, ‘Thierleben,’ B. ii. ss. 729-732.)

[Fig. 66. Skull of the Babirusa Pig (from Wallace’s ‘Malay Archipelago’).]

In the full-grown male Babirusa pig of Celebes (Fig. 66), the lower tusks are formidable weapons, like those of the European boar in the prime of life, whilst the upper tusks are so long and have their points so much curled inwards, sometimes even touching the forehead, that they are utterly useless as weapons of attack. They more nearly resemble horns than teeth, and are so manifestly useless as teeth that the animal was formerly supposed to rest his head by hooking them on to a branch! Their convex surfaces, however, if the head were held a little laterally, would serve as an excellent guard; and hence, perhaps, it is that in old animals they “are generally broken off, as if by fighting.” (40. See Mr. Wallace’s interesting account of this animal, ‘The Malay Archipelago,’ 1869, vol. i. p. 435.) Here, then, we have the curious case of the upper tusks of the Babirusa regularly assuming during the prime of life a structure which apparently renders them fitted only for defence; whilst in the European boar the lower tusks assume in a less degree and only during old age nearly the same form, and then serve in like manner solely for defence.

[Fig. 67. Head of female Aethopian wart-hog, from ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.’ 1869, shewing the same characters as the male, though on a reduced scale. N.B. When the engraving was first made, I was under the impression that it represented the male.]

In the wart-hog (see Phacochoerus aethiopicus, Fig. 67) the tusks in the upper jaw of the male curve upwards during the prime of life, and from being pointed serve as formidable weapons. The tusks in the lower jaw are sharper than those in the upper, but from their shortness it seems hardly possible that they can be used as weapons of attack. They must, however, greatly strengthen those in the upper jaw, from being ground so as to fit closely against their bases. Neither the upper nor the lower tusks appear to have been specially modified to act as guards, though no doubt they are to a certain extent used for this purpose. But the wart-hog is not destitute of other special means of protection, for it has, on each side of the face, beneath the eyes, a rather stiff, yet flexible, cartilaginous, oblong pad (Fig. 67), which projects two or three inches outwards; and it appeared to Mr. Bartlett and myself, when viewing the living animal, that these pads, when struck from beneath by the tusks of an opponent, would be turned upwards, and would thus admirably protect the somewhat prominent eyes. I may add, on the authority of Mr. Bartlett, that these boars when fighting stand directly face to face.

Lastly, the African river-hog (Potomochoerus penicillatus) has a hard cartilaginous knob on each side of the face beneath the eyes, which answers to the flexible pad of the wart-hog; it has also two bony prominences on the upper jaw above the nostrils. A boar of this species in the Zoological Gardens recently broke into the cage of the wart-hog. They fought all night long, and were found in the morning much exhausted, but not seriously wounded. It is a significant fact, as shewing the purposes of the above- described projections and excrescences, that these were covered with blood, and were scored and abraded in an extraordinary manner.

Although the males of so many members of the pig family are provided with weapons, and as we have just seen with means of defence, these weapons seem to have been acquired within a rather late geological period. Dr. Forsyth Major specifies (41. ‘Atti della Soc. Italiana di Sc. Nat.’ 1873, vol. xv. fasc. iv.) several miocene species, in none of which do the tusks appear to have been largely developed in the males; and Professor Rutimeyer was formerly struck with this same fact.

The mane of the lion forms a good defence against the attacks of rival lions, the one danger to which he is liable; for the males, as Sir A. Smith informs me, engage in terrible battles, and a young lion dares not approach an old one. In 1857 a tiger at Bromwich broke into the cage of a lion and a fearful scene ensued: “the lion’s mane saved his neck and head from being much injured, but the tiger at last succeeded in ripping up his belly, and in a few minutes he was dead.” (42. ‘The Times,’ Nov. 10, 1857. In regard to the Canada lynx, see Audubon and Bachman, ‘Quadrupeds of North America,’ 1846, p. 139.) The broad ruff round the throat and chin of the Canadian lynx (Felis canadensis) is much longer in the male than in the female; but whether it serves as a defence I do not know. Male seals are well known to fight desperately together, and the males of certain kinds (Otaria jubata) (43. Dr. Murie, on Otaria, ‘Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1869, p. 109. Mr. J.A. Allen, in the paper above quoted (p. 75), doubts whether the hair, which is longer on the neck in the male than in the female, deserves to be called a mane.) have great manes, whilst the females have small ones or none. The male baboon of the Cape of Good Hope (Cynocephalus porcarius) has a much longer mane and larger canine teeth than the female; and the mane probably serves as a protection, for, on asking the keepers in the Zoological Gardens, without giving them any clue to my object, whether any of the monkeys especially attacked each other by the nape of the neck, I was answered that this was not the case, except with the above baboon. In the Hamadryas baboon, Ehrenberg compares the mane of the adult male to that of a young lion, whilst in the young of both sexes and in the female the mane is almost absent.

It appeared to me probable that the immense woolly mane of the male American bison, which reaches almost to the ground, and is much more developed in the males than in the females, served as a protection to them in their terrible battles; but an experienced hunter told Judge Caton that he had never observed anything which favoured this belief. The stallion has a thicker and fuller mane than the mare; and I have made particular inquiries of two great trainers and breeders, who have had charge of many entire horses, and am assured that they “invariably endeavour to seize one another by the neck.” It does not, however, follow from the foregoing statements, that when the hair on the neck serves as a defence, that it was originally developed for this purpose, though this is probable in some cases, as in that of the lion. I am informed by Mr. McNeill that the long hairs on the throat of the stag (Cervus elaphus) serve as a great protection to him when hunted, for the dogs generally endeavour to seize him by the throat; but it is not probable that these hairs were specially developed for this purpose; otherwise the young and the females would have been equally protected.

CHOICE IN PAIRING BY EITHER SEX OF QUADRUPEDS.

Before describing in the next chapter, the differences between the sexes in voice, odours emitted, and ornaments, it will be convenient here to consider whether the sexes exert any choice in their unions. Does the female prefer any particular male, either before or after the males may have fought together for supremacy; or does the male, when not a polygamist, select any particular female? The general impression amongst breeders seems to be that the male accepts any female; and this owing to his eagerness, is, in most cases, probably the truth. Whether the female as a general rule indifferently accepts any male is much more doubtful. In the fourteenth chapter, on Birds, a considerable body of direct and indirect evidence was advanced, shewing that the female selects her partner; and it would be a strange anomaly if female quadrupeds, which stand higher in the scale and have higher mental powers, did not generally, or at least often, exert some choice. The female could in most cases escape, if wooed by a male that did not please or excite her; and when pursued by several males, as commonly occurs, she would often have the opportunity, whilst they were fighting together, of escaping with some one male, or at least of temporarily pairing with him. This latter contingency has often been observed in Scotland with female red-deer, as I am informed by Sir Philip Egerton and others. (44. Mr. Boner, in his excellent description of the habits of the red-deer in Germany (‘Forest Creatures,’ 1861, p. 81) says, “while the stag is defending his rights against one intruder, another invades the sanctuary of his harem, and carries off trophy after trophy.” Exactly the same thing occurs with seals; see Mr. J.A. Allen, ibid. p. 100.)

It is scarcely possible that much should be known about female quadrupeds in a state of nature making any choice in their marriage unions. The following curious details on the courtship of one of the eared seals (Callorhinus ursinus) are given (45. Mr. J.A. Allen in ‘Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoolog. of Cambridge, United States,’ vol. ii. No. 1, p. 99.) on the authority of Capt. Bryant, who had ample opportunities for observation. He says, “Many of the females on their arrival at the island where they breed appear desirous of returning to some particular male, and frequently climb the outlying rocks to overlook the rookeries, calling out and listening as if for a familiar voice. Then changing to another place they do the same again…As soon as a female reaches the shore, the nearest male goes down to meet her, making meanwhile a noise like the clucking of a hen to her chickens. He bows to her and coaxes her until he gets between her and the water so that she cannot escape him. Then his manner changes, and with a harsh growl he drives her to a place in his harem. This continues until the lower row of harems is nearly full. Then the males higher up select the time when their more fortunate neighbours are off their guard to steal their wives. This they do by taking them in their mouths and lifting them over the heads of the other females, and carefully placing them in their own harem, carrying them as cats do their kittens. Those still higher up pursue the same method until the whole space is occupied. Frequently a struggle ensues between two males for the possession of the same female, and both