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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1956)
Wednesday, February 15, 1956 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE FIVE STATE COMMANDER Jack Larson (center) state commander of the American Legion from Springfield, made an official visit to the American Legion office at Camp White recently. Shown with Larson are M.E. (Bud) Fisher, left, commander of Medford Post 15, and Eugene Orr, 13th district commander. (Sanford C. Payne photo) Is That So? Nurtured as we are by many wide-held beliefs, often erron eous, isn't it about time that we looked again into the truth of some of them? And so, off we go on another fact-vs.-myth ramble. Myth: Because of man's dom inance of the earth and its many creatures, he is fairly familiar with most of the warm-blooded mammals to whom he is related. Fact: Although enough books have been written about mam- 2-I5-5S mals to stock a large library, ac tually we know very little about the vast majority. And the more we study even the few mammals we presume to know well, the more we unearth facts which are unique to that mammal As yet, man has hardly made a dent in this subject and for the serious student this field will never fail to yield new facts. Suffice it to say that we know next to nothing about 99 per cent of the earth's living species (and for - every species living, many more are extinct); what's more, the average person prob ably doesn't even suspect the very existence of about 95 per cent of the world's mammals. Myth: A hyena either changes its sex or is a- hermaphrodite. Fact: Widely held as this be lief may be, it is untrue. The be lief came about through the vir tual impossibility of defining the hyena's sex without dissection something which is by no means unique among mammals. For ex ample, it takes an expert to tell a male from a female beaver. Myth: Besides the two well- known large elephants, African and Indian there is a small pig 'my elephant which roams the jungles of Africa. Fact: The most elaborate gearches have yet failed to dis close such a pigmy elephant al though they have been spoken and written about for many years. To be sure there are ele phants in the Congo which tend never to reach the average di mensions of the open-country el ephants, but neither these nor the smallest races from West Af rica are in any manner a separ ate species, or notably ' smaller than any others. So, of this pop ularly supposed pigmy race there is so far no trace. Myth: All mammals have hair. Fact: Not so. Of the many whales, and there . are almost a hundred species, there are a few which are completely hairless; others have a few thick bristles on their chins; and one, in fact, the gray whale, has lines of hairs 1 all over the upper part of its body. Myth: The male lion, king of beasts, is the largest of cats and the most ferocious of mammals Fact: Although it may appear as the king of beasts because of its regal appearance and demean or the lion is faf from being the Al- By EUGENE BURNS Ranger-Naturalist king of beasts! Shorn of mane, it is not the biggest even being exceeded by North Manchurian tigers. Nor are lions so ferocious. though they hunt down game, they may lie back to back with antelopes during the day. Often they may go a month without making a kill. For that matter, the female does most of the kill ing, the males just wandering around, grunting, to drive the game to her. ' Ivan Sanderson in his wonder ful new book, Living Mammals of the World, says lions are terri fied of small children and flap ping laundry on a clothes line. In this most beautifully illustrated book, he adds that they won't ev en go within 20 feet of a certain tiny animal no larger than a bad ger. Quoting a famous game war den, he says that this little ani mal, slow-moving and fearless, has kepi a pride of nine full grown lions waiting patiently to take a meal from a freshly-killed zebra while it sniffed about for some hours, nibbling at the vast meal and even taking a nap with its back ' to the corpse. How come? This little animal is called the zorilla which the natives, mdre appropriately, call "the father of stinks." Like our Amer ican skunk, it can emit a highly odorous volatile oil and aim it with telling accuracy! (Copyright, 1956, by Eugene Burns) (Released by McClure Newspaper Syndicate) FREE: By special arrangement with the editors of the Encyclo pedia Americana, my panel of judges will award each week to the reader who sends me the best J true-life nature adventure, the best nature observation, or the best question on nature and wild life, a complete 30-volume set of this world-famous reference work in a handsome Sealcraft binding. Each week new submis sions will be considered. Sorry, I simply can't answer your many friendly letters. Please address your letter to: IS THAT SO! co Medford Mail Tribune, P. O. Box 575, Sausalito, Calif. Chevrolet Claims More New Car Sales Detroit (U.R) Chevrolet divi sion of General Motors claimed it sold more cars than any of its competitors during 1955 for the 20th consecutive year. T. H. Keating, general mana ger of Chevrolet, said registra tion figures released by R. L, Polk and Co., yesterday showed Chevrolet sold 1,640,681 passen ger cars and 329,791 trucks last year. The figures compiled by the independent statistical agency gave Chevrolet a margin of 67,- 405 cars and 33,891 trucks oyer Ford Motor Co., its nearest com petitor. 1 Naugatuck, Conn. (U.R) Firemen came to the aid of po ke who couldn.t put out a bon fire near a skating rink. 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