Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 76

ORDER UNGULATA.

These are animals which possess hoofs; and are divided into two sub-orders--those that have an odd number of toes on the hind-foot, such as the horse, tapir, and rhinoceros, being termed the PERISSODACTYLA; and the others, with an even number of toes, such as the pig, sheep, ox, deer, &c., the ARTIODACTYLA; both words being taken from the Greek _perissos_ and _artios_, uneven or overmuch, and even; and _daktulos_, a finger or toe. We begin with the uneven-toed group.

SUB-ORDER PERISSODACTYLA.

This consists of three living and two extinct families--the living ones being horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses, and the extinct the _Paleotheridae_ and the _Macrauchenidae_. I quote from Professor Boyd Dawkins and Mr. H. W. Oakley the following brief yet clear description of the characteristics of this sub-order:--

"In all the animals belonging to the group the number of dorso-lumbar vertebrae is not fewer than twenty-two; the third or middle digit of each foot is symmetrical; the femur or thigh-bone has a third trochanter, or k.n.o.b of bone, on the outer side; and the two facets on the front of the astragalus or ankle-bone are very unequal. When the head is provided with horns they are skin deep only, without a core of bone, and they are always placed in the middle line of the skull, as in the rhinoceros.

"In the _Perissodactyla_ the number of toes is reduced to a minimum.

Supposing, for example, we compare the foot of a horse with one of our own hands, we shall see that those parts which correspond with the thumb and little finger are altogether absent, while that which corresponds with the middle finger is largely developed, and with its hoof, the equivalent to our nail, const.i.tutes the whole foot.

The small splint bones, however, resting behind the princ.i.p.al bone of the foot represent those portions (metacarpals) of the second and third digits which extend from the wrist to the fingers properly so-called, and are to be viewed as traces of a foot composed of three toes in an ancestral form of the horse, which we shall discuss presently. In the tapir the hind foot is composed of three well-developed toes, corresponding to the first three toes in man, and in the rhinoceros both feet are provided with three toes, formed of the same three digits. In the extinct _Paleotherium_ also the foot is const.i.tuted very much as in the rhinoceros."

FAMILY EQUIDAE--THE HORSE.

This family consists of the true horses and the a.s.ses, which latter also include the zebra and quagga. Apart from the decided external differences between the horse and a.s.s, they have one marked divergence, viz. that the horse has corns or callosities on the inner side of both fore and hind limbs, whilst the a.s.ses have them only on the fore limbs; but this is a very trifling difference, and how closely the two animals are allied is proved by the facility with which they interbreed. It is, therefore, proper to include them both in one genus, although Dr. Gray has made a separation, calling the latter _Asinus_, and Hamilton Smith proposed _Hippotigris_ as a generic name for the zebras.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dent.i.tion of Horse.]

We have no wild horse in India; in fact there are no truly wild horses in the world as far as we know. The tarpan or wild horse of Tartary, and the mustang of South America, though _de facto_ wild horses, are supposed to be descended from domesticated forms. In Australia too horses sometimes grow wild from being left long in the bush. These are known as _brumbies_, and are generally shot by the stock farmer, as they are of deteriorated quality, and by enticing away his mares spoil his more carefully selected breeds. According to Mr. Anthony Trollope they are marvels of ugliness.

The Indian species of this genus are properly a.s.ses; there are two kinds, although it has been a.s.serted by many--and some of them good naturalists, such as Blyth--that the _Kiang_ of Thibet and the _Ghor-khur_ of Sind and Baluchistan are the same animal.

_GENUS EQUUS_.

Incisors, 6/6; canines, 1--1/1--1; molars, 6--6/6--6; these last are complex, with square crowns marked by wavy folds of enamel. The incisors are grooved, and are composed of folds of enamel and cement, aptly described by Professor Boyd Dawkins and Mr. Oakley as being folded in from the top, after the manner of the finger of a glove the top of which has been pulled in. The marks left by the attrition of the surface give an approximate idea of the age of the animal.

The stomach is simple--the intestinal ca.n.a.l very long and caec.u.m enormous.

NO. 426. EQUUS ONAGER.

_The Wild a.s.s of Kutch_ (_Jerdon's No. 214_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Ghor-khur_, Hindi; _Ghour_, or _Kherdecht_, Persian; _Koulan_ of the Kirghiz.

HABITAT.--Sind, Baluchistan, Persia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Equus onager_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Pale sandy colour above, with a slight rufescent tinge; muzzle, breast, lower parts and inside of limbs white; a dark chocolate brown dorsal stripe from mane to tail, with a cross on the shoulder, sometimes a double one; and the legs are also occasionally barred. The mane and tail-tuft are dark brown or black; a narrow dark band over the hoof; ears longish, white inside, concolorous with the body outside, the tip and outer border blackish; head heavy; neck short; croup higher than the withers.

SIZE.--Height about 11 to 12 hands.

The following account I extract from Jerdon's 'Mammals of India,'

p. 238, which epitomises much of what has been written on the subject:--

"The _ghor-khur_ is found sparingly in Cutch, Guzerat, Jeysulmeer and Bikaneer, not being found further south, it is said, than Deesa, or east of 75 degrees east longitude. It also occurs in Sind, and more abundantly west of the Indus river, in Baluchistan, extending into Persia and Turkestan, as far north as north lat.i.tude 48 degrees.

It appears that the Bikaneer herd consists at most of about 150 individuals, which frequent an oasis a little elevated above the surrounding desert, and commanding an extensive view around. A writer in the _Indian Sporting Review_, writing of this species as it occurs in the Pat, a desert country between Asnee and the hills west of the Indus, above Mithunkote, says: 'They are to be found wandering pretty well throughout the year; but in the early summer, when the gra.s.s and the water in the pools have dried up from the hot winds (which are here terrific), the greater number, if not all, of the _ghor-khurs_ migrate to the hills for gra.s.s and water. The foaling season is in June, July, and August, when the Beluchis ride down and catch numbers of foals, finding a ready sale in the cantonments for them, as they are taken down on speculation to Hindustan. They also shoot great numbers of full-grown ones for food, the ground in places in the desert being very favourable for stalking.' In Bikaneer too, according to information given by Major Tytler to Mr. Blyth: 'Once only in the year, when the foals are young, a party of five or six native hunters, mounted on hardy Sindh mares, chase down as many foals as they succeed in tiring, which lie down when utterly fatigued, and suffer themselves to be bound and carried off. In general they refuse sustenance at first, and about one-third only of those taken are reared; but these command high prices, and find a ready sale with the native princes. The profits are shared by the party, who do not attempt a second chase in the same year, lest they should scare the herd from the district, as these men regard the sale of a few ghor-khurs annually as a regular source of subsistence.'

"This wild a.s.s is very shy and difficult to approach, and has great speed. A full-grown one has, however, been run down fairly and speared more than once."

I remember we had a pair of these a.s.ses in the Zoological Gardens at Lah.o.r.e in 1868; they were to a certain extent tame, but very skittish, and would whinny and kick on being approached. I never heard of their being mounted.

It is closely allied to, if not identical with, the wild a.s.s of a.s.syria (_Equus hemippus_). The Hon. Charles Murray, who presented one of the pair in the London Zoological Gardens in 1862, wrote the following account of it to Dr. Sclater: "The ghour or kherdecht of the Persians is doubtless the onager of the ancients. Your specimen was caught when a foal on the range of mountains which stretch from Kermanshah on the west in a south-easterly direction to s.h.i.+raz; these are inhabited by several wild and half-independent tribes, the most powerful of which are the Buchtzari. The ghour is a remarkably fleet animal, and moreover so shy and enduring that he can rarely be overtaken by the best mounted hors.e.m.e.n in Persia. For this reason they chase them now, as they did in the time of Xenophon, by placing relays of hors.e.m.e.n at intervals of eight or ten miles. These relays take up the chase successively and tire down the ghour. The flesh of the ghour is esteemed a great delicacy, not being held unclean by the Moslem, as it was in the Mosaic code. I do not know whether this species is ever known to bray like the ordinary domestic a.s.s.

Your animal, whilst under my care, used to emit short squeaks and sometimes snorts not unlike those of a deer, but she was so young at the time that her voice may not have acquired its mature intonation."

NO. 427. EQUUS HEMIONUS.

_The Kiang or Wild a.s.s of Thibet_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Kiang_ or _Dizightai_, Thibetan.

HABITAT.--Thibet and Central Asia; Ladakh.

DESCRIPTION.--Darker in hue than the _ghor-khur_, especially on the flanks, contrasting abruptly with the white of the under-parts. It has the dark line along the back, but not the cross band on the shoulder; ears shorter.

SIZE.--About 12 to 14 hands in height.

From its larger size, shorter ears, and its shrill bray, which has been mistaken for a neigh, this animal has at times been taken for a horse, and described as such. The kiang, of which there is a living specimen in the London Zoological Gardens, inhabits the high plateaux of Thibet, ranging up to fifteen and sixteen thousand feet above the sea level. It is very swift and wary.

The late Brigadier-General McMaster, in his 'Notes on Jerdon,' page 248, says: "An excellent sportsman and very close observer, who, being a cavalry officer, should be able to give a sound opinion on the matter, a.s.sured me that the voice of the wild horse of the snowy Himalayas is 'an unmistakeable _neigh, not a bray_,' and that he certainly looked on them as horses. He had seen several of these animals, and killed one." Captain (now General) R. Strachey wrote of it: "My impression as to the voice of the _kyang_ is that it is a shrieking bray and not a neigh;" and again: "the _kyang_, so far as external aspect is concerned, is obviously an a.s.s and not an horse." Of this there is but little doubt. Moorcroft, in his travels, vol. i. p. 312, states: "In the eastern parts of Ladakh is a nondescript wild variety of horse which I may call _Equus kiang_.

It is perhaps more of an a.s.s than a horse, but its ears are shorter, and it is certainly not the gur-khor or wild a.s.s of Sind." Further on, at page 442, he-adds: "We saw many herds of the kyang, and I made numerous attempts to bring one down, but with invariably bad success.

Some were wounded, but not sufficiently to check their speed, and they quickly bounded up the rocks, where it was impossible to follow.

They would afford excellent sport to four or five men well mounted, but a single individual has no chance. The kyang allows his pursuer to approach no nearer than five or six hundred yards; he then trots off, turns, looks and waits till you are almost within distance, when he is off again. If fired at he is frightened, and scampers off altogether. The Chanthan people sometimes catch them by snares--sometimes shoot them. From all I have seen of the animal I should p.r.o.nounce him to be neither a horse nor an a.s.s. His shape is as much like that of the one as the other, but his cry is more like braying than neighing. The prevailing colour is a light reddish-chestnut, but the nose, the under-part of the jaw and neck, the belly and the legs are white, the mane is dun and erect, the ears are moderately long, the tail bare and reaching a little below the hock. The height is about fourteen hands. The form, from the fore to the hind leg and feet to a level with the back is more square than that of an a.s.s. His back is less straight, and there is a dip behind the withers and a rounding of the crupper which is more like the shape of the horse; his neck also is more erect and arched than that of the a.s.s. He is perhaps more allied to the quagga, but without stripes, except a reported one along each side of the back to the tail. These were seen distinctly in a foal, but were not distinguished in the adults."

FAMILY TAPIRIDAE--THE TAPIRS.

These are somewhat hog-like animals, with elongated snouts, possessing four toes on their fore-feet, and three on the hinder ones.

They live in dense forests, are nocturnal in habit, and live exclusively on a vegetable diet. The Indian tapir has a more powerful and extensile trunk than the American, and its skull shows in consequence a greater s.p.a.ce for the attachment of the muscles. The dent.i.tion is as follows:--Inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 4--4/4--4; molars, 3--3/3--3. The outer incisors somewhat resemble canines, whilst the others are very small. The canines themselves are not large.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dent.i.tion of Tapir.]

The tapir is not found in India proper, but the Malayan species is occasionally to be come across in Burmah, having been killed in Tena.s.serim.

_GENUS TAPIRUS_.

NO. 428. TAPIRUS MALAYa.n.u.s.

_The Malay Tapir_.