Life in the Temperate Zones
In the Warm-Temperate Zone, though the Sun never reaches the zenith, yet during the long summer his rays are almost vertical; while the winter is so mild that snow and ice are of rare occurrence.
Here the vegetable world is less prodigal in species, and less luxuriant in growth, than in the tropical regions; still, verdure is continuous throughout the year, and fruits and flowers succeed each other almost without interruption.
The animal world shows a similar, though less marked, decrease in the exuberance of life. The higher orders are less numerous, the individuals less gigantic and powerful; yet the antelopes, among the most graceful of animals, and the camel, one of the most useful, especially characterize this zone.
How the Life of the Temperate Zone Differs from That of Warmer Zones
In the Temperate Zone, farther from the tropics, and receiving the Sun’s rays with greater obliquity, all the forms of vegetable growth are more modest than in the preceding. The forests are less dense and varied, the foliage is less luxuriant, and flowers of brilliant hues are confined to shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Though useful plants are numerous, yet scarce a species is of value in its spontaneous growth; and, above all, the long dormant season, when the trees and shrubs are bare and apparently lifeless, stamps the vegetation of this zone with an aspect of inferiority.
The animal world still shows a large number of noble species; yet there are some orders which, like the plants, are dormant during the winter; while many of the birds migrate to warmer climes. Associated with deciduous forests, boundless fertile prairies, and arid steppes—are the bear, the wolf, the lynx, the bison, and many species of elk and deer.
Original Home of Our Domestic Animals
Here is the home of the horse, the ass, and many varieties of oxen, sheep, and goats,—those animals which, domesticated by man, have accompanied him to all climes, adapting themselves to all circumstances. The American turkey, the European pheasant, and the Asiatic parents of many of our domestic fowls, also belong to the temperate zone; together with a multitude of song birds, whose sober plumage, contrasting so gloomily with the brilliant colors of their neighbors of the tropics, is compensated by the sweetness of their notes. Here, also, is the home of the honey-bee, and of the silk-worm, almost the only insects directly useful to man.