Theodore Roosevelt: differenze tra le versioni

*Il [[lupo]] d'America non è mai stato pericoloso per l'uomo come lo è stato il suo fratello asiatico ed europeo sin dai tempi immemoriali, eppure la differenza potrebbe essere dovuta alla diversità dei loro ambienti. È difficile però dire perché il [[puma]], grande quanto i grossi felini macchiati che si nutre di praticamente le stesse prede, non dovrebbe essere pericoloso per l'uomo quando sono dei lottatori singolarmente formidabili quando messo alle strette. Il puma più grande che uccisi fu lungo due metri e pesante oltre novanta chili. Pochissimi leopardi africani o pantere indiane superebbero queste proporzioni, e questo animale in particolare stava cacciando non solo cervi, ma anche cavalli e bovini, eppure lo uccisi senza alcun pericolo in circostanze in cui uno dei grossi felini macchiati d'africa o asia, o persino un giaguaro sudamericano, mi avrebbero caricato.

:''The wolf of America has never been dangerous to man, as his no larger no more formidable brother of Asia and Europe has been from time immemorial ; yet the difference may be accounted for by the difference of environment. But it is hard to say why the cougar, which is just about the size of the great spotted cats, and which preys on practically the same animals, should not be dangerous to man, while they are singularly formidable fighters when at bay. The largest cougar I ever killed was eight feet long and weighed over two hundred pounds. Very few African leopards or Indian panthers would surpass these measurements, and this particular animal had been preying not only on deer, but on horses and cattle ; yet I killed him with no danger to myself, under circumstances which would probably have insured a charge from one of the big spotted cats of Africa or Asia, or, for the matter of that, from a South American jaguar.''<ref>Citato in [[Frederick Selous]], ''[https://archive.org/stream/africannaturenot00selo#page/n25/mode/2up/search/wolf African nature notes and reminiscences]'', London, Macmillan and co., limited, 1908, pp. xviii-xix</ref>

:''A wolf is a terrible fighter. He will decimate a pack of hounds by rapid snaps with his giant jaws while suffering little damage himself; nor are the ordinary big dogs, supposed to be fighting dogs, able to tackle him without special training. I have known one wolf to kill a bulldog which had rushed at it with a single snap, while another which had entered the yard of a Montana ranch house slew in quick succession both of the large mastiffs by which it was assailed. The immense agility and ferocity of the wild beast, the terrible snap of his long-toothed jaws, and the admirable training in which he always is, give him a great advantage over fat, small-toothed, smooth-skinned dogs, even though they are nominally supposed to belong to the fighting classes. In the way that bench competitions are arranged nowadays this is but natural, as there is no temptation to produce a worthy class of fighting dog when the rewards are given upon technical points wholly unconnected with the dog's usefulness. A prize-winning mastiff or bulldog may be almost useless for the only purposes for which his kind is ever useful at all. A mastiff, if properly trained and of sufficient size, might possibly be able to meet a young or undersized Texas wolf; but I have never seen a dog of this variety which I would esteem a match single-handed for one of the huge timber wolves of western Montana. Even if the dog was the heavier of the two, his teeth and claws would be very much smaller and weaker and his hide less tough.''<ref>Da ''[https://archive.org/stream/huntinggrislyoth00roosrich#page/192/mode/2up Hunting the grisly and other sketches; an account of the big game of the United States and its chase with horse, hound, and rifle]'', G. P. Putnam's sons, New York, London, 1909, pp. 192-193</ref>

*Io non arrivo al punto di pensare che gli unici [[nativi americani|indiani]] buoni siano gli indiani morti, ma credo che nove su dieci lo siano, e non dovrei indagare troppo a fondo sul decimo.