The Wonders of the Jungle Volume I Part 10

Then Gulab glanced up into the trees, and saw at once why the buffaloes were behaving like that. But he did not waste a minute. He ran to the buffaloes, shouting:

"Down, Baldo! Down, Chando!"

But the two biggest bulls and all the others glared at the trees and snorted in fury.

"Down!" Gulab shrieked. "Down, or I shall spank you!"

He rushed to Baldo, and spanked him on the jaw. He rushed to Chando, and spanked him on the jaw. He rushed from buffalo to buffalo, and spanked each one on the jaw.

Then the huge animals that had charged the raging tiger, and that were now fierce themselves, obeyed the little boy. They blinked, then one by one lowered their heads. Gulab climbed up by Baldo's horns, and seated himself on his back.

"Now turn around, all!" he ordered. And the buffaloes slowly turned away from the trees.

Gulab looked back over his shoulder, and said to the six Englishmen who were up in the trees: "You may come down now. My buffaloes won't hurt you a bit, because if they try to I will spank them!"

Then the little boy took away the buffaloes, and the six big Englishmen came down from the trees quite safely.

And now, do you understand what had happened? I shall tell you. The Englishmen had forgotten what the herdsman had told them--about keeping away from the buffaloes. The Englishmen had walked about, and had finally come near the pond where the buffaloes were.

Then the buffaloes had come out and charged them. The Englishmen had run and run, and had just managed to reach the trees. But the buffaloes had come there after them! So the big Englishmen had to stay up in the trees, and wait for some little village boy to come and take away the furious buffaloes.

I have told you this story, my dear (and it is a true story) just to show you what kind of an animal the buffalo is--at least, this sort of buffalo. Even when he is furious, he will do anything for the little boy whom he loves.

But as it is a true story, I must tell you one more thing that happened--and I am sure you will be delighted to hear about it. The six Englishmen went to the palace, and laughed and laughed, and told all about it to the little Prince whose birthday it was.

Then the Rajah, who was the little Prince's father, said that Baldo and Chando should not be made to plow any more, or do another bit of work in their lives. Why? Because Baldo and Chando had first helped to save Gulab from the tiger at the pond, and then afterwards they had helped to hunt the tiger.

So after that, Baldo and Chando were allowed to walk about the village as they pleased, and nibble at anybody's hay or gra.s.s, and splash in anybody's pond, and wallow in anybody's ditch, rut, or mire.

And what was little Gulab's reward for saving the six Englishmen?

Well, the little Prince, whose birthday it was, came and took Gulab by the hand, and brought him to the grand palace, and gave him lots and lots to eat--cakes and ice cream and candy--so that Gulab went home that night very full and very happy.

CHAPTER IX

Deer and Antelope

The buffalo has many relatives among other animals which also have _horns_. In fact, all animals that have horns are some relation to each other--first cousin, second cousin, third cousin, and so on.

The buffalo's nearest relatives are the ordinary cows and bulls that you see in the fields.

"But the sheep and the goat also have horns," you may say. "Are they also cousins?"

Yes, they are. In the same way the _deer_ and the _antelope_ are also cousins to each other. I am now going to tell you about them.

The deer and the antelope are not exactly the same kind of animal, as you might perhaps think. As I said, they are only cousins. If you look at them carefully in the pictures on pages 103 and 109 you will see which is the antelope and which is the deer--just as you can tell a sheep from a goat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Antelope Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]

First see the picture on page 103. These are _antelope_. Look at the horns carefully. They are something like a cow's horns; only, a cow's horns are sometimes bent and twisted in different ways. But the antelope's horns point upward, and are much longer than a cow's horns.

They sometimes look almost like a pair of long and thick spikes, pointed at the top.

Now look at the picture on page 109. These are _deer_. Look at the horns carefully--only, they are not called horns when the animal is a deer, but _antlers_, which is a special name. So take a good look at the deer's antlers. There are two of them, and they grow from the top of his head, like the antelope's horns.

But look again. The antlers _start_ from the head as _two_ spikes, but higher up each antler branches out into _many_ parts. In fact, near the top each antler looks something like the branches of a small tree without leaves.

So now you can always tell which is an antelope and which is a deer: the antelope's horns have no branches, but the deer's antlers have many branches.

_Horns and Antlers Different in Three Ways_

The antelope's horns and the deer's antlers are also different in other ways, which you cannot see in the pictures. So I shall tell you about them:

1. The antelope's horns are _hollow_ inside, and made of the same kind of thing as the _hoofs_ or _nails_ of an animal, only they are thicker and harder. But a deer's antlers are _solid_, and made of _bone_.

2. Both the Papas and the Mammas among antelopes have horns. But among most kinds of deer, only the Papas have the antlers; the Mammas have none.

3. Among antelopes, when once the Papas and the Mammas have grown their horns, they keep them always. But among deer, the Papas throw away their antlers every year, and grow _new ones_. That seems very wonderful! I shall tell you more about it soon.

But now I shall tell you, little by little, all the wonderful things the deer and the antelope can do. I shall begin with the deer, as there are many kinds of deer in America.

Of course, in America there are not such wild jungles as in countries which are hot all the year round. Still, there are many places in the West and a few other parts of America where there is some kind of jungle and plenty of forest. A forest is a kind of jungle, only it has more trees, and fewer thickets; but wild animals can live there just the same.

_Elk and Other American Deer_

The biggest kind of deer in America is the _moose_; in fact, it is the biggest kind of deer in the world. The second biggest is the _elk_; he is nearly as big as the moose. Some people think that the moose and the elk are exactly the same kind of deer, but that is not quite correct. In this book I must not make it too hard for you to understand, by telling you how they are different. So I shall tell you all about the elk, as his picture is on page 109.

Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in the Far West.

The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of forest--that is, plenty of trees. Why trees? Because he needs them in winter--for then the bark is his food!

In summer he has plenty to eat--leaves, twigs, and gra.s.s. But when the winter comes, and the leaves fall, and the ground is covered with snow, the poor elk would starve and die, if he did not have at least the bark of trees to eat. And very little bark he gets for many days at a time.

Here I must tell you that some kinds of deer are among the most _hardy animals_; that means that at times they can live on very little. There is a kind of deer, called the _reindeer_, that lives in the frozen North, where there is snow and ice almost all the year round; and the reindeer has nothing more to eat for many days than a little bit of moss or seaweed.

But there is another animal, not a deer, that is still more hardy: he can go a whole week without eating or drinking--and do work all the time! That seems very wonderful. But I shall tell you about that animal in another chapter.

Now about the elk. His antlers are fine! You can see in the picture how huge they are. And yet, would you believe it, he grew them in only five months! I told you a little while ago that a deer throws off his antlers every year, and grows new ones. I shall now tell you how the elk does that.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Elk Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]

In the middle of the winter, the elk's antlers break off bit by bit.

In a few weeks they have all fallen off, leaving the elk's head bare, with just a ridge or rough stump on it. Then, early in the spring the new antlers start growing from the top of the stump. They grow very fast, and in five months are as huge as ever.

But while the new antlers are growing, they are not hard. As yet they are soft and tender, and all that time they have an outside covering like hairy leather, to guard them from harm. But as soon as the elk feels that his antlers are quite grown, and are strong and hard, he strips off the outside covering by rubbing the antlers against trees.