. Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities . xtermination the fate decreed to the giant animals of thev^orld ? It certainly appears as if a rigid law of nature con-demned these great creatures to death or subjection, while thesmall pests live and multiply everywhere. The first advantagewhich the small animals have over the great is in their relativenumbers. The greater the animal the greater the amount offood it needs for its sustenance, and the number becomes smallerthat can find food only on a circumscribed or lim
. Animals in action; studies and stories of beasts, birds and reptiles; their habits, their homes and their peculiarities . xtermination the fate decreed to the giant animals of thev^orld ? It certainly appears as if a rigid law of nature con-demned these great creatures to death or subjection, while thesmall pests live and multiply everywhere. The first advantagewhich the small animals have over the great is in their relativenumbers. The greater the animal the greater the amount offood it needs for its sustenance, and the number becomes smallerthat can find food only on a circumscribed or limited results follow from this equation. The smaller the num-ber of a certain animal, the easier it is to exterminate thatanimal. Then again, degeneration of the species follows uponinbreeding, and in the long run the survival of the fittest throughnatural selection becomes ever narrower and less the other hand, the greater the size of an animal the longeris the period that it requires to reach its full size, and the smallerthe likelihood that it will ever attain that size. The greater an. Wolves attacking Elk DINGO AND DUCKBILL. 283 animal is the smaller is the number of offspring that it can bringforth at a time, and the smaller the number of times that it canbring forth young during a lifetime. Great animals also aremore at the mercy of powerful enemies, because they find itmuch more difficult to conceal themselves than do the smallercreatures. Finally, the greater animals are always more valu-able prey for man and beast than the smaller ones. A giant ofthe animal creation cannot utilize its full strength against anaggregation of small animals; and especially against an opponentwho has the endowment of intellect the great beast is virtuallywithout defence. Is it a suggestive fact that as Zeus (so weread in mythology) struck down the Titans with his thunder-bolt, so weak and puny man has stamped out the Titans of theforests with the fire-tube ? It
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