File:Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia (1896) (20387547746).jpg

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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THE HORNED ANIMALS— BUFFALOES. 485 amount of affection for him; it obeys his summons and follows his call and exhibits a certain degree of fellowship with the person who comes much in con- tact with it. Habit seems, however, to have more to do with this than conscious knowledge. Various plants, whether fresh or dried, such as vetches, peas, young grains and succulent herbage, seem to constitute the favorite foods of the Ox tribe. Plants and vegetable substances inimical to their well being are: flax, leaves of the yew-tree, water- hemlock, louse-wort, bent-grass, pond-weed, meadow- saffron, spurge, monkshood, young oak-leaves and walnut tree leaves, wet clover and similar things. Parsley, celery, garlic and onions, when eaten, are said to decrease the production of milk. Thyme, ranunculus and plantains are eaten in times of scarcity of food, while cows of all breeds are pas- ever, they may again slightly turn forward or de- scribe a gentle curve downward, and assume a slightly outward direction. The Fierce and Among the animals belonging to Powerful Cape this group, we assign to the Cape Buffalo. Buffalo (Bos or Bubalus caffer) the first place; it is the fiercest and most powerful mem- ber of the sub-genus and particularly characterized by its curious horns. It is of a sturdier organization than other Buffaloes; the head is proportionately small and the neck rather thick; the withers are slightly raised, the tail is long and thin and deco- rated with a strong, copious tuft, occupying half its length. The horns are curved outward and back- ward at the roots, then up and backward, and the tips again show a marked inward curve. In the cases of old bulls they are greatly expanded at the
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HEREFORD BULL. The Hereford breed is one especially favored by graziers because of its large size, its sturdy constitution, the ease with which it is fattened and the large yield and excellent quality of its beef. It leads among the heavy English breeds and has become a favorite with Cattle raisers in the United States. sionately fond of all kinds of fruit and most vege- tables, such as potatoes, carrots, squashes, turnips, etc.; salt is necessary for their continuance in health. The cow is justly held to be the most profitable of all domestic animals. THE BUFFALOES. The Buffaloes (Bnlujlits) are clumsily built Oxen with a heavy, ungainly body, rather short, stout legs, a broad head with a strongly convex low fore- head, dull, sinister-looking eyes, and laterally pro- jecting ears, which are usually large and wide. The horns are set on the apices of the extreme upper posterior angles of the skull and are generally dis- proportionately enlarged in diameter at their bases; their direction is at first downward and backward, then outward and finally upward; occasionally, how- roots, and covered with thick, annular furrows; they overshadow the whole forehead so that a narrow strip in the middle only is left uncovered. With the exception of the ears and the extremity of the tail, the growth of hair is extremely scant, so that some places have an almost naked appearance, and a truly hairy covering can be properly spoken of only in connection with the head and legs. The color of the animal is produced less by the black hair, tipped with a lighter tint, than by the dark brownish-gray hide. The height of a Cape Buffalo at the shoulder varies between five and six feet, according to sex and the development of the animal. The horns, which in the female are more slender and cover the forehead only half as broadly and bulkily as in the male, may in both sexes attain a spread of from forty to nearly forty-five inches.

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