Strange stories of the animal world : A book of curious contributions to natural history / by John Timbs.
- John Timbs
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Strange stories of the animal world : A book of curious contributions to natural history / by John Timbs. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![liart, he is no longer in his prime. He then begins to go hack, tlie ‘ backwardation ’ being first observable in the beam of the horns, which becomes smaller and less round. The deer shed their horns annually; they have them at first in the form of simple prickets, without any branches or antlers; but each succeeding }mar adds one or more branches, according to tlie species, up to a certain time, beyond which the age of the animal can only be guessed at from the size of the horns, and the thickness of the burr or knob at their roots, which connects them with the skull. The traditional opinion that tlie Deer sometimes attains the age of upwards of a hundred years, is not worthy of countenance. The superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, and the Gaelic adage, ‘ Thrice the age of a man is that of a deer,’ may be supported by marvellous stories, attested by chiefs of honour and veracity; but, witli all his respect for traditions, Mr. Scrope, in his work on Deer-stalkiug, does not hesitate to inform us that all the accounts he has received from the park-keepers in England, Avdiere there are red-deer, contradict their supposed longevity, and establish the fact that the longest-lived tleer has not exceeded twenty years of age. [Edinburgh Review, Xo. 143.) From this time his head and himself dwindle, peak, and ])ine.” The Waipiti Deer is, however, believed to be so long- lived, that the Indians say of an aged man, “ he is as old as a AVaipiti.” Cows live about fifteen years; but the Ox, according to i\Ir. W. H. AVhitc, lives about thirty years. The Aurochs, Zubr, or Ihiropean bison, a species of primmval ox, lives about forty years, is of great weight, and a slow mover, but in defence can master three wolves. This ajipears to be the only one of its class of quadrupeds that is living in our own](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28127420_0058.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
