Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1936, Page 82

Magazine Sectic THIS WEEK SUINVT It enables animals to “see” things that are invisible to humans, to accomplish feats that seem uncanny. Read these vivid true stories by JACK TOOKER W ISION is the most important of all senses to the human race, but scent serves ‘as the eyes of the animal kingdom. In some instances animals are able to tell more by scent alone than any human can tell with all five senses combined, . assisted by every known mechanical device. Your dog can pick out your invisible tracks over a clean cement sidewalk. If he is a bioodiiound you may ‘scrub the walk with clean water after passing over it, and the dog will still be able to trail you. No human has ever duplicated such a feat of scent, nor in- vented a device to supplant his abysmal in- feriority in this department of vital equip- ment. Any human, no matter how dressed or dis- guised, stands naked before most animals. They know one’s sex and dominant character instaiitly. A dog can locate his master’s body six feet under the ground. He can detect food and other articles buried under many feet of SNOw, The reindeer and caribou of the North locate moss, their principal food, under several feet of snow and ice, digging down to it with . their front feet. The moss, which is so vital " to their existence, may be scarce and scat- tered, yet these animals never make a mis- take. They couldn’t afford to. Where they dig there is always moss. Sometimes their heads wiil be deep down in the snow and only their rumps visible. A sea otter can detect human scent on sand even after the waves have washed it. The bears in our national parks are wild animals that have become accustomed to man, but not domesticated. They are not really tame. All over the parks we find signs, “Don’t feed the bears.” And hospitals are maintained for heedless tourists who feed the bears anyway. It isn’t that the bears are vicious. They are and can be fed with absolute safety by one who knows bears. But a foolproof armor of knowledge comes only after much study. Even after a lifetime spent with wild animals there is still much to learn. The safest stu- THE WILD HORSE, A COAL-BLACK STALLION, ROAMED THE MOUNTAINS OF ARIZONA Hlvstrations by Jack Mumray dents of wild life are the most cautious ones. A girl with a boyish bob, in slacks and big hat may look so much like a boy that she could fool a man. Not so with a bear. That bear knows all about you. His eyesight is poor, but his sense of smell is so keen that he even knows you have a pocket full of peanuts. If you pass right on he won’t bother you; but if you stop and give him a peanut, you will find him — like many humans — just plain hoggish. He wants them all. Maybe he drops the first peanut you give him, as if he didn’t care for it or had over- looked it. You give him another and start to pick up the one he dropped. But the bear knows all about that peanut. He wants it and stops you from apparently taking it back. He is a powerful animal and just an indif- ferent slap or push may hurt you seriously. The bear can’t count, but his nose tells him when he has had your last peanut. The chances are very good that unless you give him all you have, he will take them away from you in short order. If one stood per- fectly still he might be half undressed before the bear got to the peanuts, without being seriously injured. But you think the bear Copyright, 1936, United Newspapers Magazine Corporation is attacking you. You scream and try to run or fight, but you haven’t a chance until that bear gets what he wants. Apples or candy are just as tempting to a bear as peanuts. And he is very fond of bacon. You may have carried a side of bacon in your car. The bear’s nose tells him all about it. He comes up to investigate, but he will not bother you unless the food is actually there. It is amusing to see others being ‘“held up” by bears, but not so pleasant when it happens to you. I was waiting for a geyser to perform when a car coming up the fire-hole road stopped. The family were viewing their first bear. A boy held out an apple. The bear, a large black, got on the running board, took the apple — and then went right on into the car while the family went out on the other side. That bear didn’t stop to consider that he was blocking the traffic. He began unloading the car; suitcases, grips, bundles and dun- nage of all kinds erupted from windows and doors. And then the commotion ceased as the bear stepped out with a half-side of bacon and a silly grin on his face. The road was littered with camp equip- ment. The family reloaded and then drove on. They were short a small piece of bacon and had learned a valuable lesson in case they encountered other “tame” bears. Practically all fur-bearing animals are trapped by the use of scent. A trapper uses prepared or substitute scents until he catches an animal. He then takes the scent glands from the trapped animal, and should really begin to catch fur. The scent from the female of any species will give the best results. Animals are usually very considerate of the female of the species, and very often they will extend this respect to the human race. Among their own kind their sight might assist in recognizing a female, but scent alone could detect the difference in sex among alien, clothed beings. It isn’t uncommeon to find an outlaw horse that can always be depended on to buck and do everything within his power to throw a man — yet when a woman gets on him he will behave himself. The woman rider may be dressed like a man, may even look like a man, as a mannish woman may; but she can’t fool the horse. His nose tells him her sex and her disposition. Animals locate their food and water almost entirely by scent. They can scent desirable food, and especially water, at a great dis- tance. Pack burros have saved many pros- pectors’ lives on the desert by locating water at considerable distances and several feet beneath the dry desert sand. When the burro catches the scent of water on the desert he will run away, and if the man follows, he will find him pawing the dry sand above the water. Nearly all animals have poor eyesight. They know their own young by scent. They may call to their young, or see them ap- proaching; but the only conclusive test is smell. When we consider that there are thousands of little deer born at or near the same locality, all at about the same time, and that they all look exactly alike, we can (Continved on page 13) £ é H i {