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. After
easily dousing the blaze, the fire
fighters informed the cops that
you can't put out a roaring bon
fire by throwing snowballs on it
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