Even one of the Eared Seals, the _Otariapusilla_, which has very small
ears, draws them backwards, when it makes a savage rush at the legs of
its keeper.
When horses fight together they use their incisors for biting, and
their fore-legs for striking, much more than they do their hind-legs
for kicking backwards. This has been observed when stallions have
broken loose and have fought together, and may likewise be inferred
from the kind of wounds which they inflict on each other. Every one
recognizes the vicious appearance which the drawing back of the ears
gives to a horse. This movement is very different from that of
listening to a sound behind. If an ill-tempered horse in a stall is
inclined to kick backwards, his ears are retracted from habit, though
he has no intention or power to bite. But when a horse throws up both
hind-legs in play, as when entering an open field, or when just touched
by the whip, he does not generally depress his ears, for he does not
then feel vicious. Guanacoes fight savagely with their teeth; and they
must do so frequently, for I found the hides of several which I shot in
Patagonia deeply scored. So do camels; and both these animals, when
savage, draw their ears closely backwards. Guanacoes, as I have
noticed, when not intending to bite, but merely to spit their offensive
saliva from a distance at an intruder, retract their ears. Even the
hippopotamus, when threatening with its widely-open enormous mouth a
comrade, draws back its small ears, just like a horse.
Now what a contrast is presented between the foregoing animals and
cattle, sheep, or goats, which never use their teeth in fighting, and
never draw back their ears when enraged! Although sheep and goats
appear such placid animals, the males often join in furious contests.
As deer form a closely related family, and as I did not know that they
ever fought with their teeth, I was much surprised at the account given
by Major Ross King of the Moose-deer in Canada. He says, when two males
chance to meet, laying back their ears and gnashing their teeth
together, they rush at each other with appalling fury. [433] But Mr.
Bartlett informs me that some species of deer fight savagely with their
teeth, so that the drawing back of the ears by the moose accords with
our rule. Several kinds of kangaroos, kept in the Zoological Gardens,
fight by scratching with their fore-feet and by kicking with their
hind-legs; but they never bite each other, and the keepers have never
seen them draw back their ears when angered. Rabbits fight chiefly by
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