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The Descent of Man.
Part II.

CHAPTER XVII.

Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals.

The law of battle—Special weapons, confined to the males—Cause of absence of weapons in the female—Weapons common to both sexes, yet primarily required by the male—Other uses of such weapons—Their high importance—Greater size of the male—Means of defence—On the preference shewn by either sex in the pairing of quadrupeds.

With mammals the male appears to win the female much more through the law of battle than through the display of his charms. The most timid animals, not provided with any special weapons for fighting, engage in desperate conflicts during the season of love. Two male hares have been seen to fight together until one was killed; male moles often fight, and sometimes with fatal results; male squirrels engage in frequent contests, "and often wound each other severely;" as do male beavers, so that "hardly a skin is without scars."[1] I observed the same fact with the hides of the guanacoes in Patagonia; and on one occasion several were so absorbed in fighting that they fearlessly rushed close by me. Livingstone speaks of the males of the many animals in Southern Africa as almost invariably shewing the scars received in former contests.

The law of battle prevails with aquatic as with terrestrial mammals. It is notorious how desperately male seals fight, both with their teeth and claws, during the breeding-season; and their hides are likewise often covered with scars. Male sperm-whales are very jealous at this season; and in their battles "they often lock their jaws together, and turn on their sides and twist about;" so that their lower jaws often become distorted.[2]

  1. See Waterton's account of two hares fighting, 'Zoologist,' vol. i. 1843, p. 211. On moles, Bell, 'Hist, of British Quadrupeds,' 1st edit. p. 100. On squirrels, Audubon and Bachman, 'Viviparous Quadrupeds of N. America,' 1846, p. 269. On beavers, Mr, A. H. Green, in 'Journal of Lin. Soc. Zoolog.' vol. x. 1869, p. 362.
  2. On the battles of seals, see Capt. C. Abbott in 'Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1868, p. 191; also Mr. R. Brown, ibid. 1868, p. 436; also L. Lloyd, 'Game Birds of Sweden,' 1867, p. 412; also Pennant. On the sperm-whale, see Mr. J. H. Thompson, in 'Proc. Zool. Soc.' 1867, p. 246.