Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 77

NATIVE NAMES.--_Ta-ra-shu_, Burmese; _Kuda-ayer_, Malayan; _Sala-dang_ of the Limuns in Sumatra; _Gindol_ of the Mannas in Sumatra; _Babi-alu_ in Bencoolen; _Tennu_ in Malacca.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim provinces, as high as the fifteenth degree north lat.i.tude; Lower Siam; the Malayan peninsula; Sumatra and Borneo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Tapirus Malaya.n.u.s_.]

DESCRIPTION.--General colour glossy black, but with the back, rump, and sides of the belly white. The young are beautifully variegated, being striped and spotted with yellow fawn on the upper parts of the body, and with white below.

Mr. Mason writes: "Though seen so rarely, the tapir is by no means uncommon in the interior of the Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have frequently come upon its recent footmarks, but it avoids the inhabited parts of the country. It has never been heard of north of the valley of the Tavoy river."

The tapir is naturally all the world over a very shy, retiring animal, but it is capable of being tamed when taken young, and of showing great attachment.

FAMILY RHINOCEROTIDAE.

"The skeleton of the rhinoceros viewed generally has a resemblance to that of the little hyrax, the tapir, and the horse. The skull is very much elevated at the base, being somewhat of a pyramidal form, and the nasal bones curve upwards and downwards, and are of such a size and thickness, in order to support one or more immense horns, that they are quite unparalleled for their development in any other existing quadruped. The nasal bones, together with the premaxillary and maxillary bones, form the general contour for the external apertures of the nostrils. This is peculiar, and found in no other animal with the exception of the tapir."--_Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins and Mr. Oakley_.

The external appearance of this animal is familiar to most--a large ungainly creature, with a long head, a ma.s.sive horn on its nose, sometimes two horns; a round unwieldly body covered with an immensely thick hide arranged in heavy folds; short tail and short legs, with three toes covered with broad nails or hoofs.

The stomach is simple; the intestines about eight times the length of the body, and the caec.u.m is large and sacculated. The horn is a mere agglutinated ma.s.s of hair or fibre superimposed on the skin, and has no bony core. The females have two inguinal mammae.

The dent.i.tion is peculiar; "the grinders are implanted by distinct roots, and in the upper jaw their crowns are traversed by two deep folds of enamel which const.i.tute open valleys. In the lower jaw they are composed of two crescent-shaped lobes, also open. The covering of cement is thin, and never fills up the valleys, as in the case of the more complex dental system in the horse. The normal number of grinders is seven in each jaw, while the incisors, as we have already remarked, vary not only in form but also are sometimes absent, and canines are not developed in any of the living or fossil members of the family."--_Boyd Dawkins and Oakley_.

The Rhinocerotidae are divided into two groups--the Asiatic and the African; and the former consist of two genera--RHINOCEROS and CERATORHINUS, the former with one and the latter with two horns.

It is a moot point whether the rhinoceros is or is not the unicorn of Scripture, though it is by no means clear that the animal in question was a one-horned creature, but according to some might have been the great wild ox or urus of Macedonia. An Indian single-horned rhinoceros was sent from India to the king of Portugal in 1513, and from it various most distorted pictures were disseminated throughout Europe. It was represented as covered with a wondrous suit of armour beautifully decorated, and with a second horn on its shoulders!

The first one brought alive to England was in 1685. Parsons describes and figures one brought to Europe in 1739, and another in 1741 ('Philosophical Transactions,' xlii.).

The Asiatic rhinoceroses differ from the African in having the skin divided into shields by well-marked folds, long upper cutting teeth, the African having none, and by the produced conical nasal bones of the skull instead of broad and rounded ones. There are one or two other minor yet well-marked differences which we need not mention here.

_GENUS RHINOCEROS_.

"The skin divided into shields by well-marked folds, lumbar and neck-folds well developed; horn single, anterior; part of occipital bone near the occipital condyle and the condyles themselves prominent."--_Gray_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dent.i.tion of Rhinoceros. Lower Jaw. Upper Jaw.]

There are two species in India, viz. _Rhinoceros Indicus_ and _R.

Sondaicus_, the latter being the Javan species.

For the following description of the former I have to thank Mr. J.

c.o.c.kburn, who, with most unselfish kindness, kept back the article he was about to publish, and gave it to me to incorporate in this work. The following remarks on dent.i.tion are also his:[30]--

"The normal dent.i.tion of _R. Indicus_ is: Inc., 1--1/2--2; premolars, 4--4/4--4; molars, 3--3/3--3; but the dent.i.tion varies to a great extent; for example, in a specimen of _R. Sondaicus_ it stood: Inc., 1--1/2--2; molars, 6--7/6--6. The first premolar in both _Indicus_ and _Sondaicus_ is a deciduous tooth, which is not usually replaced, and gradually drops out with age, but it may be retained till extreme old age. In the majority of cases it is either lost or worn down before the last molar is in wear. The incisors also vary greatly in the adult animal; they are 1--1/2--2, the outer pair below being the formidable dagger-shaped tushes, with which they inflict the terrible gashes they can produce. The median pair lower are usually lost or absorbed by advancing age, having no functions, and the incisive tusks themselves are subject to very rapid wear, being often worn down before the animal has reached middle age. Occasionally _R. Indicus_ has six incisors in the lower jaw (the normal number in other mammalia), and four in the upper, but this is very exceptional."--_J.

c.o.c.kburn_, MS.

[Footnote 30: There are some interesting notes on the dent.i.tion of the rhinoceros, especially in abnormal conditions, by Mr. Lydekker in the 'J. A. S. B.' for 1880, vol. xlix., part ii.]

NO. 429. RHINOCEROS INDICUS.

(_Jerdon's No. 212_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Genda_, _Gonda_, _Ganda_, or _Genra_, Hindi; _Gor_, a.s.samese.

HABITAT.--Himalayan Terai, from Central Nepal to the extreme eastern corner of the valley of a.s.sam.

"About three centuries ago this animal existed on the banks of the Indus. The Indian rhinoceros inhabits by preference heavy gra.s.s jungle, rarely entering forest. In this respect it differs from its ally _Sondaicus_, which is a forest-loving species, and even frequents mountainous countries. It is still numerous in the mighty gra.s.s jungles which extend along the foot of the Eastern Himalayas from their slopes to the banks of the Brahmaputra. It is yearly becoming more scarce in the Nepal Terai, but is found there from Rohilkund to the Bhootan Doars."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rhinoceros Indicus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--The accompanying outline sketch, taken from _Nature_ for April 1874, will give a better idea of the animal than a mere verbal description:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rhinoceros Indicus_.]

"For convenience of description I will divide the body into five segments--the head, the cervical, the scapular, the abdominal, and the gluteal. At the junction of the head with the neck is a large deep collar or ruff or fold of skin, which gives a very peculiar appearance to the animal. Behind this is a second similar but smaller ruff, which does not hang so low down from the throat as the first.

On the dorsal surface it transversely crosses the nape. It is then continued down angularly to about the centre of the anterior edge of the scapular shield, where it forms an obtuse angle with its posterior but major half. It is at the point where it forms this angle that it gives off what I call the cervical fold, which forms the boundary of the top front edge of the scapular shield, but is lost at a point in the shoulder nearly over the centre of the fore limb.

"The scapular shield is a thick cuira.s.s-like plate of skin, studded with round projections about the size of a shilling, and bearing much resemblance to the heads of bolts by which the shield was riveted to the body, and hence called 'boiler-bolt tubercules.' This shield is often removed from the carcase of a slain rhinoceros as a trophy, 'and it is in its centre, but slightly low, that the fatal spot lies which will take him in the heart' (_Pollock_).

"Between the scapular and the gluteal shields lies the abdominal segment. It calls for no particular description, except that the tubercles here are very much flatter and smaller than on either segments three and four. They are here about the size of a four-anna piece, and they seem to be crowded along the centre line of the body, while the dorsal surface is nearly free from them, and smooth.

"We next come to the gluteal segment. It is in this portion that the boiler-bolt tubercles attain their greatest development, some of them being perhaps three-tenths of an inch high.

"The gluteal segment is laterally crossed by three ridges of skin.

The first, which is the only one indicated in the drawing, goes right across the b.u.t.tock. In some animals there is an indication of a second below this, and about fourteen inches lower down a third, which only goes about a quarter of the way across. The tail is almost concealed in a deep groove, in which lie the perineum, &c. Both the front and hind limb from the point at which they project from the body are finely covered with reticulated skin, forming pentagonal and hexagonal scales, very much as in _R. Sondaicus_, only much finer and less prominent.

"The Indian rhinoceros has the same habit as the African species of depositing its droppings in one spot till they form huge mounds, which the animal levels with its horns. It is probable that this rhinoceros was found throughout the plains of the N.W. Provinces in unreclaimed spots as late as the fifth or sixth century. According to the observation of Dr. Andrew Smith in South Africa these huge pachyderms do not absolutely require for their support the dense tropical vegetation we should think necessary to supply food to such huge beasts. This gentleman saw over fifty of them in one day in an open country covered with short gra.s.s and thorn-bushes about four feet high. From the affinities of the fauna of the N.W. Provinces, which are strongly African, it is probable that the plains of the N.W. Provinces were rather covered with scrubby open jungles and gra.s.s than with tropical primeval forests.

"Here and there belts of Dhak (_Butea frondosa_) were found, and in favoured spots doubtless other tree jungle, but it is improbable that primeval forest has existed since the depression of the Indo-Gangetic plain."--_J. c.o.c.kburn_, MS.

The rhinoceros is supposed to be a very long-lived animal. Dr.

Gray ('P. Z. S.' 1867. p. 1011) states on the authority of Mr. Blyth that a pair lived in the Barrackpore Park for forty-five years. They were exactly alike in size and general appearance; they never bred.

There is no difference in the horns or form of the skull in the two s.e.xes (_Blyth_, 'J. A. S. B.' vol. x.x.xi. p. 155).

NO. 430. RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS.

_The Javan Rhinoceros_ (_Jerdon's No. 213_).

NATIVE NAMES.--The same as last in Hindi; _Khyen-hsen_, Burmese; _Warak_, Javanese; _Badak_, Malayan.

HABITAT.--"The Bengal Sunderbunds, Tipperah, the swamps at the base of the Garo, Khasia, and Naga Hills" (_Pollock_). "Munipurf, extending into the western provinces of China, southward into Burmah, the Malayan peninsula; Sumatra, Java, and Borneo" (_J. c.o.c.kburn_, MS.).

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rhinoceros Sondaicus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"Folds somewhat on the same plan as in _Indicus_, one marked distinction being that the lateral shoulder fold is continued upward over the back of the neck to form an independent saddle-shaped shield on the nape. The whole body covered with pentagonal or hexagonal warty insulae. Females hornless" (_J. c.o.c.kburn_, MS.).

Males with one horn.

SIZE.--Mr. c.o.c.kburn gives the following measurements of a female, which he states is the largest recorded specimen: "Length of body (head and body?), 12 feet 3 inches; tail, 2 feet 4-1/2 inches; height, 5 feet 6 inches." Dr. Jerdon gives: "Length 7 to 8 feet; height, 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 feet;" and he calls the animal "the lesser Indian rhinoceros," whereas Mr. c.o.c.kburn's measurement gives an animal somewhat longer, though not so high as the largest recorded specimen of _Indicus_. Blyth again writes ('Mammals of Burmah,' _see_ 'J. A.

S. B.' vol. xliv. part ii. 1875, p. 50): "It is about a third smaller than _R. Indicus_, from which it is readily distinguished by having the tubercles of the hide uniformly of the same small size, and also by having a fold or plait of the skin crossing the nape in addition to that behind the shoulder-blades."