The Wonders of the Jungle Volume Ii Part 17

_The American Gray Wolf_

I have said that the most important wild animal of the Dog Tribe is the wolf. Wolves are found in every continent--Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. And there are many species of wolves in these continents. I shall tell you more about them in another book, but now I must tell you about the American gray wolf.

There is in the United States one of the most wonderful animals in the world--the American gray wolf. He is perhaps the only animal in the world _that has beaten man_!

I mean this: Man has killed off many four-footed wild animals; that is, he has killed so many of those animals in a place, that they have _died out_ in that place. He has not succeeded in killing off the American gray wolf.

In some places man has almost killed off certain animals, even when he did not _want_ to do so. He killed the animal merely for sport or for profit--but he did not want that species of animal to die out altogether; for then he could not have any more sport or profit from it.

And yet, the hunter killed so many of that species of animal that it has almost died out in some places. In this manner, as I have already told you, almost all the elephants have been killed off in parts of Africa, for the sake of sport or for the sake of the tusks. In the same way, the buffalo has almost disappeared from the United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gray Wolf

From a photograph copyrighted by the New York Zoological Society.]

But in the case of the American wolf, man _wanted_ to kill him off altogether as a race of animals; and yet he has not been able to do so.

At first the hunter may have killed the wolf only for the sake of its fur; but in the last few years the American farmer and the ranchman have tried to wipe out the wolf altogether as a _pest_--because the wolf kills their sheep and cattle. And yet, the wolf flourishes in the West.

He has beaten the farmer and the ranchman.

The wonderful part of it is that the American wolf has beaten man _by his own efforts_. And for an animal to beat man in that manner is a great achievement.

I have told you before that one animal has to use its gifts against another animal, to protect itself from danger; for instance, the fish has to look out for the jaguar, and the jaguar in his turn has to look out for the alligator. But in that compet.i.tion of the jungle, the animal has generally to use its wits merely against another animal--not against man. But the American wolf had to use his wits against man; and he has beaten man, as I shall describe to you.

_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Gun_

About a hundred years ago, when people began to go West, they shot many buffaloes, wolves, antelopes, and deer. They did that for sport or for profit; they made a profit, because they sold the skins and other parts of the animals' bodies. At that time the hunters did not want the animals to be killed off altogether, but they actually killed so many of these animals in a few years that the buffalo, the deer, and the antelope became scarce. These particular animals, of course, tried to use their wits to escape from the hunters. They did not succeed in doing so. They fell as victims of the gun.

But not so the wolf. He began to use his wits against man and his gun.

He soon realized that man was his enemy and also that man could kill him from a considerable distance. A wolf saw a man at a distance; then the wolf heard a bang, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his body. That wolf fell and died. But another wolf saw his brother die like that. He set his wits to work. He concluded that the man had caused the bang which made his brother fall and die. Hence the wolf realized that man was dangerous to him, even at a distance. So after that the wolf resolved to run away from man. And other wolves learned to do the same.

Of course, the whole race of wolves did not learn this lesson so quickly. Many hundreds of wolves meanwhile fell victims to man's gun; but a few wolves escaped. These few wolves also saw repeatedly that if any of their brothers allowed a man to approach anywhere near him, he was killed. So after seeing that happen many times, the surviving wolves learned that they must always run away from the presence of man.

These few surviving wolves taught their children to do the same. Some of these wolf children did not heed that lesson when they grew up; so they too were killed. But a few of the wolf children remembered the lesson when they grew up; so they escaped getting killed.

In turn these wolves also taught _their_ children to run away from the presence of man. So in a few generations a race of wolves grew up in the West that the hunter _did not even get the chance to shoot_.

That in itself was a great achievement for the wolf. Why? Because some species of animals as a race do not learn so quickly to run away from the mere presence of man; one or two animals personally may learn quickly to do that, but not all the animals of a species. That is why the buffaloes and some of the antelopes and deer in the West were wiped out; they did not learn in those same few years to run away from the presence of man. The wolves alone learned this, and they have survived as a race.

_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Trap_

But the battle was not yet over. Seeing that his gun had now failed, man used his wits to kill the wolf in another way. He set _traps_ for the wolf; and he cunningly baited the traps with tempting food. Then the man went away from the traps. He thought that because he was not himself anywhere near the traps, the wolf would not be afraid to approach them.

Well, at first some wolves did go up to the traps, and were caught by them.

But a few other wolves saw that fate of their unwary brothers. So those surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover the cause of this new danger. And after a time they saw the steel traps. "So, _this_ is our new enemy!" they said.

After that they avoided the traps, even if the traps were baited with the most tempting food. And they taught their children to do the same.

So again man was beaten in this battle of wits. He found that the trap could catch the wolf no more.

But man tried again. He _hid_ the trap cunningly under leaves or under snow; only the tempting bait was placed in sight. He thought that because the wolf could not now _see_ the trap, he would fall into it.

Well, some wolves did fall into it.

But a few other wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving wolves again set their wits to work to discover a way of detecting the traps. Perhaps they saw the hunter's footprints; or perhaps they realized that the snow or the leaves covering the trap did not look _natural_. You remember, in Book I, how Salar's father detected a very tricky trap because the ground there did not look natural. Well, in some way, the surviving American wolves detected the traps, even when the traps were covered up. So after that they began to avoid these _hidden_ traps, and they taught their children to do the same.

Man found himself beaten once more by the wolf in this battle of wits.

He found that the American wolf could not be caught even by a hidden trap.

That again was a great achievement for the American wolf. Why? Because even the elephant, clever as he is, gets caught at last by a tricky trap, even if he avoids it for a long time. To do better than the elephant is a triumph indeed!

So far the hunter had tried to kill the wolf for the sake of the fur; and the wolf took no revenge for these years of persecution. He bore no grudge against man, and did not try to pay him off. The wolf merely wanted to live, and to be let alone. Man would not let him alone. He wanted to kill the wolf just for the sake of money.

Then a new thing happened. Many people began to go West; farms and ranches began to be started. These farms and ranches had many sheep and cattle.

Then the wolf had _his_ turn! He found that sheep and cattle were far easier to kill than the wild animals on which he had made a living so far. So the wolf began to raid farms and ranches at night. He still avoided man; he never let a man come near enough to shoot him; and he never touched a hidden trap. But still he began to kill sheep and cattle.

Man now found the tables turned on him! Formerly he had persecuted the wolf; now the wolf persecuted, or at least tormented, _him_! So man made one last desperate effort to beat the wolf in this battle of wits.

_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison_

Man set his wits to work, and at last devised the use of _poison_. He selected different kinds of poison, with different tastes and different smells,--or no taste and no smell at all! He chose the nicest kinds of meat, on which to put the poison. Then he cunningly placed pieces of the poisoned meat all over the paths by which the wolves must come to raid the sheep and cattle. He thought that _now_ he would beat the wolf!

Well, some of the wolves did eat the poisoned meat; they died. But a few of the wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving wolves once more set their wits to work to discover the cause of this new danger. It may have taken them some time to suspect that the meat was the cause of this new danger; and a few more wolves may have died meanwhile from eating the meat.

But some of the wolves did detect the new danger. We do not know exactly how they did so. Perhaps this time they used one of their other gifts to save their lives; that is, they used their power of _smell_. They recognized man's scent in or about the meat. So they knew that man had put the meat there.

They had long known that anything that had to do with man was dangerous to wolves. So the wolves resolved to leave the meat untouched. Instead, they went on raiding the sheep and the cattle. And they taught their children, and their children's children, to do the same.

And now the American wolf has beaten man, finally and absolutely. The farmer and the ranchman can think of no other method of killing the wolf. So the American wolf continues to flourish merrily.

The marvel of all this is that the wolf is not naturally a very intelligent animal. Most animals have far more natural intelligence than the American wolf; and yet none of these animals seem to be able to beat man in the battle of wits. The American wolf alone has done it, though he naturally has very little brains.

But _he has used all his brains_. He has concentrated his efforts to save his life by beating man. He has not only used all his brains, but he has done so _all the time_. He determined to overcome each new danger as it arose. And he _worked hard all the time_.

My dear children, that is a great lesson for us. All children, or all men and women, do not have great talents; but everybody can use all the brains he or she has. Some few people prosper in life because they have talents and use them. Other people of talent are lazy, and do not use all their gifts; these people do _not_ prosper. But many people, who have no talent at all, prosper just the same; they do what the American wolf has done.

1. They first decide on something _worth doing_, just as the wolf decided on saving his life.

2. Then they _use all the brains they have_ to do that thing.

3. They _concentrate_ their efforts on it.

4. They _work hard all the time_ to do that thing.

5. As they meet each difficulty or danger or trap, they devise a method of _overcoming_ that difficulty or danger or trap.