The deadly wild beasts of India / J. Fayrer.

  • Fayrer, Joseph, Sir, 1824-1907.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The deadly wild beasts of India / J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1887, show that the numbers of persons killed by wild animals yearly fluctuate between 2,840 and 2,618, showing that the cause remains as active as ever, whilst the preventive measures are still unequal to cope with it. With regard to snakes, as I shall show, the number of deaths is rather on the increase, being 19,150 in 1880, against 22,134 in 1886, and 19,740 in 1887. In the year 1887, the last of which the records have been received, 2,618 persons and 61,021 head of domestic animals perished by wild beasts, not including snakes, and the deaths were due to the following animals: tigers killed 1,063 persons and 27,517 head of cattle; leopards, 210 persons and 24,161 cattle ; bears, 126 persons and 315 cattle; wolves, 177 persons and 4,087 cattle; hyaenas, 17 persons and 2,748 cattle ; elephants, 56 persons and 4 cattle; whilst 6 other animals,’ including jackals, buffaloes, boars, crocodiles, &c., are charged with the destruction of 969 persons and 2,165 cattle, and, as I have said, the numbers for the previous years, since 1880, closely correspond. The total amount paid in rewards in 1887 was Rs. 165,423. Of this, Rs. 37,912 were paid for snakes, leaving a charge of Rs. 127,511 for the wild animals. In describing the noxious wild animals, I shall include only those which destroy human life. As most destructive, I begin with the Felidse, which are numer- ously represented in India. First, in size, strength, and ferocity, is the tiger, Felis tigris; it is confined entirely to Asia, and is most common in India. The general appearance of the animal is so familiar that it seems almost superfluous to describe it; its figure denotes great strength and agility; the elongated, compressed body, the muscular limbs armed with sharp, retractile claws, the powerful muscles of the jaws, neck, arm, and shoulder, and formidable fangs proclaim it to be a creature well fitted to wage war against all others. Hearing and vision are acute, but scent is comparatively defective. The pupil is round, differing from that of some other cats, which is vertical. The tapetum lucidum, of a greenish hue, is often well seen in the angry tiger when about to charge. Tactile sensibility is acute, especially in the so-called whiskers. Each hair is extremely sensitive at its root, and is movable by muscular fibres which surround the hair- bulb ; these tactile organs are used as feelers. The muscular development is enormous. The tiger can not only strike down a cow with a blow of his forearm and hold it with his fangs, but can raise it from the ground and drag or carry it to his lair, where it is devoured at leisure. There are five claws on each fore, and four on each hind foot. The mechanism by which they are moved is peculiar; the claw and the phalanx into which it is fitted are kept in the retracted position by an elastic ligament, and are unsheathed and extended by the flexor tendons which oppose it; the