It
will lie in wait for a man and chase him, and will inveigle a dog
within its reach by making a noise that resembles the retching noise
of a man vomiting. It is exceedingly fond of putrefied flesh, and will
burrow in a graveyard to gratify this propensity.
The bear is omnivorous. It eats fruit, and is enabled by the
suppleness of its body to climb a tree; it also eats vegetables, and
it will break up a hive to get at the honey; it eats crabs and ants
also, and is in a general way carnivorous. It is so powerful that it
will attack not only the deer but the wild boar, if it can take it
unawares, and also the bull. After coming to close quarters with the
bull it falls on its back in front of the animal, and, when the bull
proceeds to butt, the bear seizes hold of the bull's horns with its
front paws, fastens its teeth into his shoulder, and drags him down to
the ground. For a short time together it can walk erect on its hind
legs. All the flesh it eats it first allows to become carrion.
The lion, like all other savage and jag-toothed animals, is
carnivorous. It devours its food greedily and fiercely, and often
swallows its prey entire without rending it at all; it will then go
fasting for two or three days together, being rendered capable of this
abstinence by its previous surfeit.
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