Image from page 363 of "Mammals of other lands;" (1917)

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Title: Mammals of other lands; Identifier: cu31924022566826 Year: 1917 (1910s) Authors: Cornish, C. J. (Charles John), 1858-1906 Subjects: Mammals Publisher: New York, The University Library Contributing Library: Cornell University Library Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: 330 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD Text Appearing After Image: Phdit by W. Sa-vlUt-Kint, T.Z.S.' SPOTTED CUSCUS _Craydcin The cuscuses are sleepy animals^ 'with soft, •woolly fur, 'which in this species is curiously 'variegated in colour specimen of the kind I had seen; and after an hour's hard work I handed over the body to the owners, who immediately cut it up and roasted it for supper." The remarkable tenacity of life possessed by the CUSCUS is fully attested to by Dr. Wallace. He says : " They move about slowly, and are most difficult to kill, owing to the thickness of their skins and tenacity of life. A heavy charge of shot will often lodge in the skin and do them no harm, and even breaking the spine or piercing the brain will not kill them for some hours. The natives everywhere eat their flesh; and as their motions are so slow, easily catch them by climbing; so that it is wonderful that they have not been exterminated. It may be, however, that their dense woolly fur protects them from birds of prey, and the islands they live in are too thinly inhabited for man to be able to exterminate them." One of the most notable circumstances re- specting the cuscus is the fact that it is one of the few marsupials whose geographical distribution extends so far east in the Malay Archipelago as to be found associated with many of the higher mammalia which are altogether unrepresented in Australia or New Guinea. The Moluccas, includ- ing notably the islands of Silolo, Ceram, Boru, and many smaller ones, for example, produce no less than three species of cuscus, and are also the home of a species of baboon, a civet- cat, a deer, and that remarkable pig the babirusa. One other marsupial, a little flying- phalanger, is likewise a denizen of these islands. It has been suggested by Dr. Wallace that none of the foregoing higher mammals are possibly indigenous to the Moluccas. The baboon, he remarks, is only found in the island of Batchian, and seems to be much out of place there. It probably originated from some individuals which escaped from confinement, these and similar animals being often kept as pets by the Malay inhabitants and carried about in their praus. The civet-cat, which is more common in the Philippines and throughout the Indo-Malay region, is also carried about in cages from one island to another, and not infrequently liberated after the civet has been abstracted from them. The deer, which is likewise tamed and petted, its flesh also being much, esteemed for food, might very naturally have been brought by the Malays from Java with the express object of its acclimatisation. The babirusa, whose headquarters are in the island of Celebes, is only found in Boru, its nearest neighbour in the Moluccan group. Dr. Wallace anticipates that these two islands were in former times more closely connected by land, and that under such conditions the babirusa may have swum across the intervening channel. Should these several hypotheses be correct, the Molucca Islands must not be regarded, from a zoological standpoint, as an essentially Australasian or marsupial-producing region. The Wombats The Wombat Family, claiming the next position in the marsupial galaxy, constitutes the very antithesis to the light and graceful arboreal phalangers. There are but three known species, one of these inhabiting Tasmania and the adjacent islands, while the other two are peculiar to the southern region of the Australian Continent. In forms and gait their thick-set tailless bodies suggest a cross between a small bear and a capybara, and as "bears" and " badgers " Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.