The defenses of beasts

Having become thirsty with a piercing thirst, such that she even thrusts her tongue out of her mouth, she seeks to refresh herself by the coolness of the air. Having thus been filled with water, she comes to where the serpent hides, and having torn him out of the crevice, she crushes him and destroys him. If even a small part of her horns or hairs should fall upon a dwelling, she tears any beast to pieces that it might infect. Once she has cast off her horns, she seeks only solitude; she seizes an inaccessible thicket and pursues an uninhabited wilderness, as if having cast off her defense against other beasts.

Since, therefore, she has drawn herself toward the roots of the discarded horns, she dwells in a leafy place, so that her wounds might not be swarmed by flies, and she enjoys rest by night. When she sheds her horns, she drips in the east and the south. Desiring to test whether the horns have hardened for her—for being tender, they are broken by the sun—she rubs her head against trees and presses it against them, striving to know if they have become firm. Toward the wounds of the flanks, she licks, eating crab-like. The wild goat of Crete, if it is struck by an arrow, easily heals its wound by devouring the so-called 'diktamon'.

The leopards hunt animals easily. For they clearly know how other animals rejoice in their bites; they flee into deep caves; but those that sense a stinging sensation sniff around, and having approached the place, they are immediately devoured by the leopards. The panther, however, is a friend to all animals but an enemy to the dragon. His body is spotted and he is very quiet. Until he has need of food, he remains sleeping in his lair; but on the third day, having become hungry, he will rise and cry out with a great voice, and from his mouth there will come forth a certain aromatic fragrance, by which the other animals, being enticed, approach him from near and from far, following him, delighted by the variety of his body. The panther, having slightly gone before them, turns back and watches over them, and whatever of the animals pleases him, he leaps upon and seizes.

The elephant is pregnant for a time, for it bears its offspring after ten years, and when the offspring becomes old, it then dies. Whenever it is carried into a pit and another elephant sees it, having gone there, he gathers many elephants, and having come, they lift up the fallen one, quietly supporting him. The dragon that is according to India climbs up around the loins of the elephant, and seizes the whole throat; and if it happens to pierce a vein, it is greedily filled with blood, being carried away by a violent spirit and a sudden rush. The elephant kicks, and with its advantage strikes the sides, as if sitting upon the dragon; then, the blood being emptied, it is no longer able to leap, it stands trembling, and a little later it falls, and its legs having grown weak; then also it dies, and it takes the dragon with it. But the dragon, being unable to loose the bond which it had placed, and being pressed by the weight of the elephant, is suffocated and perishes.

The horse is hot toward the desire of the female. The donkey is dull, yet keen of hearing and mindful. The camel is vengeful. The wolf is lawless. The ox is steadfast. The dog is grateful and friendly to the master; for often he has died for those being killed on the road; but others have even pitied the killers, and have sought to persuade them to grant punishment. As for the hyena, some, having conceived that it oversteps, pays back the female nature upon the male, or the male upon the female. But it does not have it thus; for the animal, being exceedingly lewd, has before the passage an outgrowth beneath the vulva, near the female modesty, which has no passage, or only a cavity, having established a womb useless for anything, and receiving only empty lust. Because of this excessive perversion, the male and the female have this characteristic; for when the passages are filled, they occupy themselves around the cub, and in one another they work a mixture contrary to nature. Therefore it is most rare to find a female hyena; for the births do not happen continuously to the animal.

The hare is more uncontrolled toward copulation. The female gives birth according to the month, and having given birth, she is again filled by a chance hare, and she conceives again while still nursing; for one is not enough. They say the griffin is a most huge animal, as if performing the shadow of a cloud; and it snatches a lion as easily as an eagle snatches a hare from us. There is an animal, the charadrius, mentioned by Moses,