Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 78

This rhinoceros seems to be found at all elevations, like the Sumatran one which was found by General Fytche at an alt.i.tude of 4000 feet; it is much more of a forester than the last. Blyth and Jerdon suppose it to be the same as the species hunted by the Moghul Emperor Baber on the banks of the Indus.

_GENUS CERATORHINUS_.

"The skin divided into shields by deep folds; the lumbar fold rudimentary, short, only occupying the middle of the s.p.a.ce between the groin and the back; horns two, the front longer, curved backward, the hinder small; conical skull; forehead narrow, flat; the upper part of the nose on each side of the horns narrow, rounded, sub-cylindrical; the occipital region erect, the part near the condyles rather concave; the occipital condyle short, broad, oblong, placed obliquely inferior, scarcely prominent; lachrymal bone very large, irregular shaped."--_Dr. Gray_, 'P. Z. S.' 1867, p. 1021.

NO. 431. RHINOCEROS _vel_ CERATORHINUS (CROSSI?) LASIOTIS.

_The Ear-fringed Rhinoceros_.

HABITAT.--Arakan, Tena.s.serim provinces; one was caught near Chittagong in 1868.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rhinoceros lasiotis_. (_R. Indicus_ and _R.

Sondaicus_ in the distance.)]

DESCRIPTION.--A thinner hide than with the preceding, and not tuberculated; the folds also are fewer in number; there is one great groove behind the shoulder-blades, and a less conspicuous one on the flank, and some slight folds about the neck and top of the limbs; the horns are two in number, the posterior one being the centre of the nose behind the anterior one, and almost over the anterior corner of the eye; the body (of a young specimen) is covered with long, fine, reddish hair, and the posterior margins of the ears have very long fringes of the same; the tail is short and hairy.

A young specimen of this animal (of which there is an excellent coloured plate in 'P. Z. S.' 1872, p. 494) was captured in 1868 in Chittagong. She had got into a quicksand, and had exhausted herself by floundering about. The natives contrived to attach two ropes to her neck, and, hauling her out, managed to make her fast to a tree.

Next morning they found her so refreshed and vigorous that they were afraid to do anything more to her, and so sent messengers to the magistrate of Chittagong to report the capture. The same evening Captain Hood and Mr. Wickes started with eight elephants to secure the prize, and after a march of sixteen hours to the south of Chittagong, they came up to the animal. The elephants at first sight bolted, but were brought back by considerable exertion, and the rhinoceros was made fast to one by a rope. The poor creature roared with fright, and a second stampede ensued, in which luckily the rope slipped off the leg of the rhinoceros to which it was attached.

Ultimately she was secured between two elephants and marched into Chittagong, where she soon got very tame. Eventually she was sent to England, and was purchased by the Zoological Society for 1250 pounds--a very handsome price, owing doubtless to the rarity of the specimen.

NO. 432. RHINOCEROS _vel_ CERATORHINUS SUMATRENSIS.

_The Sumatran Rhinoceros_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Kyen-shan_, Burmese; _Bodok_, Malayan.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim provinces; Burmah, extending into Siam; the Malayan peninsula and Sumatra.

DESCRIPTION.--A smaller animal than the preceding, with a hard, black, rough, bristly skin; a deep fold behind the shoulder; ears set closer than in the last species, and filled with black hair internally; the muzzle in front of the first horn is broader; the horns are two in number, and attain a good size, curving, but slightly, backward; the tail is conspicuously longer than in _R. lasiotis_, and is tapering and not tufted. There is a well drawn and coloured plate of this species in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society'

for 1872, p. 794, as also several engravings showing the heads of the two animals in juxtaposition.

SIZE.--About 3 feet 8 inches in height at the shoulder.

At first it was considered that _R. lasiotis_ was of this species, and as such it was described and sent to England; but on the subsequent arrival of a genuine _R. Sumatrensis_ from Malacca it was apparent that _R. lasiotis_ was quite distinct. The latter is of larger size, lighter colour, with wide-set ears and a tufted tail.

The former is smaller, darker, with narrow-set ears and a long tapering semi-nude tail.[31] The Society paid Mr. Jamrach 600 pounds in 1872 for the female specimen from Malacca, which settled the question of separate species. A young _R. Sumatrensis_ was born in the Victoria Docks in London on December 7th, 1872, on board the steamship _Orchis_. There is a coloured sketch of the little one in the 'P. Z. S.' for 1873, and an interesting account of it and the mother by Mr. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Society's Gardens.

From the circ.u.mstances of the capture of the mother it appears that the period of gestation of the rhinoceros is about the same as that of the hippopotamus, viz. seven months.

[Footnote 31: There is a very interesting letter in _The Asian_ for July 20, 1880, p. 109, from Mr. J. c.o.c.kburn, about _R. Sumatrensis_, of which he considers _R. lasiotis_ merely a variety. He says it has been shot in Cachar.--R. A. S.]

Although the number of species of living rhinoceros is but few, there are a great many fossil species which show that the animal was more plentiful and in greater variety in prehistoric times.

Remains of the woolly rhinoceros (_R. trichorhinus_) have been found, like those of the mammoth, imbedded in ice; it was about eleven and a-half feet in length, and its body was covered with woolly hair.

A specimen found in 1771 or 1772 was entire, and clothed with skin, but so far decomposed as to prevent more than the head and feet being preserved; remains of other fossil species are found throughout Europe, including Great Britain, and also in India. In 'A Sketch of the History of the Fossil Vertebrata of India' by Mr. R. Lydekker, published in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol.

xlix., 1880, will be found the names of eight species of fossil rhinoceros, inclusive of _R. Indicus_, which is found in _recent alluvia_--it is found with two others in the Pleistocene formation, and five others are from the Pleiomiocene.

SUB-ORDER ARTIODACTYLA.

We now come to the second division, and a very large one, of the UNGULATA, which in itself is again subdivided into non-ruminants and ruminants. The former comprises the pigs of the Old and the peccaries of the New World and the hippopotami; the latter contains the camels, llamas, deerlets, oxen, antelope, and deer. In the _Artiodactyla_ the toes are even on all feet, being normally four (perfect and rudimentary) with the exception of the camel, giraffe and a few antelope, in which two only are present. To understand the subject thoroughly one must compare the fore-foot of a deer or pig with our own hand; what we call the knee of the former is merely our wrist.

The bones which run through the palm of the hand to the knuckles are the metacarpals; they are five in number, corresponding with the thumb and four fingers. In the _Artiodactyla_--or, I should say, in the _Ungulata_ generally--the thumb is entirely wanting; in the _Artiodactyla_ the fore and little fingers are shorter, rudimentary, or entirely wanting, and the two centre metacarpals, the middle and ring fingers are prolonged into what we call the leg below the knee in these animals, which consist of separate or fused bones terminated by the usual three joints of the finger, on the last of which is placed the hoof.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bones of a Pig's foot. (See also Appendix C.)]

The two halves are always symmetrical, and from this we may affirm that it is the thumb and not the little finger which is absent, for we know that, counting from the knuckles, our fingers have three joints, whereas the thumb has only two; so in the digits of the _Artiodactyla_ are three joints at the end of each metacarpal. In the pig the metacarpals of the fore and little fingers are produced from the carpus or wrist, or, as is popularly termed in the case of these animals, the knee. They are more attenuated in the chevrotians or deerlets, of which our Indian mouse-deer is an example; in the _Cervidae_ they are more rudimentary, detached from the carpus, and are suspended free and low down, forming the little hoof-points behind; and a little above the proper hoofs in these the two large metacarpals are more or less joined or fused into one bone, and they are still more so in the camel, in which the fore and little finger bones are entirely absent. In the giraffe and p.r.o.ng-horn antelope they are also wanting. The hind feet are similarly constructed.[32]

[Footnote 32: See notes in Appendix C.]

Of the non-ruminantia we have only the Suidae--the peccaries belonging to America, and the hippopotami to Africa.

FAMILY SUIDAE--THE HOGS.

These have incisors in both jaws, which vary in number, the lower ones slanting forward. Their canines are very large and directed outwards and upwards in a curve, grinding against each other to a sharp edge and fine point. Their metacarpal bones are four in number, and are all distinct, in which respect they differ from the peccaries, in which the central metacarpals and metatarsals are fused into a solid bone. The hogs have a prolonged snout, flexible at the end, with a firm cartilaginous tip, with which they are enabled to plough up the ground in search of roots. They have also a very keen sense of smell. The normal dent.i.tion of the true hogs is as follows:--

Inc., 6/6; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 4--4/4--4; molars, 3--3/3--3 = 44.

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

The hogs, unlike other pachyderms, are noted for their fecundity.

_GENUS SUS_.

Incisors, 4/6 or 6/6; the lower ones slanted; the canines large and curved outwards and upwards; molars tuberculate; four toes on each foot--that is, two major and two minor, each hoofed.

NO. 433. SUS SCROFA.

_The European Wild Boar_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Guraz_ or _Kuk_, Persian.

HABITAT.--Persia and the Thian Shan mountains near Kashgar.

DESCRIPTION.--Body dusky or greyish-brown, with a tendency to black, with black spots; large mouth with long projecting tusks; the hairs of the body coa.r.s.e, mixed with a downy wool; bristles on the neck and shoulders. The young are marked with longitudinal stripes of reddish colour.

The wild boar of Europe apparently extends to the limits sometimes reached by Indian sportsmen. It is found in Persia, and specimens were brought back from Kashgar by the Yarkand Mission in 1873-74.

The only divergence which these specimens showed from the European boar was the darker colour of the feet and legs, which were nearly black.

NO. 434. SUS INDICUS.

_The Indian Boar_ (_Jerdon's No. 215_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Soor_ or _Suar_, _Bura-janwar_, or _Bad-janwar_, _Barha_, Hindi; _Dukar_, Mahratti; _Paddi_, Gondi; _Pandi_, Telegu; _Handi_, _Mikka_, _Jewadi_, Canarese; _Kis_ of the Bhaugulpore hill-tribes; _Tan-wet_, Burmese; _Walura_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--Throughout India, from a considerable elevation (12,000 feet according to Jerdon) down to the sea level. It is also common in Burmah and in Ceylon.

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