THE DEN OF LIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 8

THE DEN OF LIONS.

AT NEWTOWN PARK. MORE ABOUT LITTLE RICHARD. V' i" : ; /, " 'a spotty cub. FUND TO BUY A YOUNG TIGER. « (By Eev. J. Crewcs, President of the Wel- ; lington Zoological Society.). ['V: . j . I was standing near tho den of lions 1 in the Wellington Zoo, when up came ! two ladies, ono of whom introduced mo to the other. No sooner had wo spoken f to each other than one of tho ladies sighted lone of the little cubs of which ; I wrote soon after.ft .was born. "Oh!" ; exclaimed one of tho ladies, "there is ono i ■ of the little cubs." "YeJ," I said, and ).-: -was about to explain why only one could 1,-'-.- be seen! when the lady to wnonV I had just been introduced cut short my at- ; . tempt at explanation by saying: "On, we ■ know—the prominent ono must be 'Little . Rioliard,' 'of'.'course." -. r Tho lady seemed f to think that I ought to know that every I /woman of any- note reads The Dominion'; and that! every , reader of The Dominion ■ , - wads my unpretentious jottings. Wo will ! take for granted, then,, that every person i of note knows that little Eichard is an ! ' infa'nt-'-son, probably the only son, of k "King'Dick,":who, when ho was a cub, t ' was,crowned a king, and who is one of T • the most majestic, lions ever >cen... ; Love at First' Sight. : little 'Eichard has a strikingly impresv sive countenance. I must confess that I ; . fell ia love with tlio little fellow at first L ... , sight, and venture to prophesy that, given ! health alid freedom from accident., inter--1 . esting little Eichard will soon have hosts i ' of warm admirers. Ho is well worth > watching—just such an expressive little i .. fellow as ladies will be pleased to watch and tho late Dr. Darwin would have de- ' ■ lighted in.' But, what about, his spots? [-. i ; ' Little Eichard is. spotty. The spots on j" ~ his head are almost stripes.. 'On his back are,too tows of spots.' Tliero are other '■ spots on him, like the spots of a leopard, i Some teachers ask us to believe that.tho i ■■ spots are parts ofbroken stripes, and ! that they indicate that lions have des- ; . cended, as tigers have, from' striped ani- !'•- ir.als. 'Now wo know .that lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs are closely related : ' .. to each other. Hagenbeck has leared anii mals which aro neither lions nor tigers, ! but are descendants of : a lion and a [y ' 1 tigress.. Other breeders have reared hyf 'trid leopards. ■ ! ."A Hunting Leopard." i In the Wellington. Zoo there is an anl- !. mal which »is labelled "A hunting .ieopaid." But girls and boys—and even some l adults—will be unable to reconcilo ; , : with that label, animal referred to the description of a cheetah which they, v read at school. To' enable them to solve c ~- ' ' the' discrepancy, , I submit .that ,the labelled leopard is a hybrid, not a pure ' cheetah, but a leopard from a cross-be-tween a cheetah and a common leop'ard. AVhile, however, we must admit that ! the animals I have named • are i.very_ nearly related, the evidence of little Eichard's spots does not prove conclusively, or hint infallibly, that the little fellow distant s.ioaij, -AVqsairat: padu.js -jo Ifvo among reeds are striped, and in the light in' which 'they lie tho stripes suit their environment and aro protective; leopards that live and roam among trees, and climb them, are spotty, and the spots among the shadows of the leaves are protective; lions, that live more in the open, have an babyhood, the beauty, of spots,_ but in maturity when,'they..'have tho majesty ' . of manes, .they, aro clothed ,in a, quiet garb •••• of khaki. Little Eichard, then, while hn . * is an object of curiosity to hundreds of curious people, who line up in front of his den and long for him to move out from ' behind the partition of his bedroom, is an | ! 1 object of admiration to tho privileged few who see him, and is'very , amusing to widei awake little children, is also a problem i to studious and venerable zoologists, who ! long to decipher tho spotty hieroglyphics i . of the sheet of .mystery with which nature lias invested tho littlo lion. Tho Hon. "H. D. Bell and Mr. Ell, M.P. Both of these gentlemen have rendered . great servioes-to New Zealand, 1 and it ] ' ' ought to-gladden every patriotic New Zeab lander, and every ', zoologist outside New | Zealand, to see two. such -strong men, although they are prominent members of opposite political parties, 'Svorking intelli- " gently, unitedly, and determinedly to save from destruction some at least* of the in- ; ' valuable fauna of New Zealand, which I are bordering on-extinction. 'Mr. Ell dei serves to be held in everlasting Temem- !: brancel and gratitude for his persistent i " efforts to save' the- tuatara, and provide i. " . suitable 1 sanctuaries for some of the i avifanna of our richly-endowed islands, i' and the Hon. H. D. Bell is evincing the [ qualities,of.a great and strong statesman j' by exalting above party politics a inattei ; \ .which is of more than local, or party,, or even patriotic, interest, . and should be' re- ! j gardea as of cosmopolitan, importance. ' When Mr. Ell was a anomber of the New I 'Zealand Government,' the Wellington V . j Zoological Society approached him and 1 hod' a very sympathetic interview with i, him. on this matter; and before the Hon. t Mr. Allen went to London "the society ap. ■ pioached him and asked him to interview , fir. Mitchell, and disous3 with him an [ aspect which ho had dealt with at the meeting of the. British Association. Mr. Allen mas in thorough sympathy with the | Zoological Society, and promised to do what., ho could in the matter. It is '. therefore .doubly gratifying to the society j jto know that the Hon. fl. D. Bell 13 1 .['determined to work whole-heartedly to ! lensure tho safety of the .precious fauna (which wild cats might destroy, and in-: jterested collectors and their friends, with I iwell-intentioned but ill-informed protec[tors, by their "no-danger" cries, i endanger}

(ThrWhite Swan Cygnets, 'Tha young white swans'-are 'not white, !but they seem to indicate that they are ;not black. The curator of tho\Zoo and ihis indefatigable assistants may therefore bo congratulated,on'the..success of . !their extra efforts to; protect and 'raise to imaturity this year's progeny of the white swans.. The young are not full-fledged' yet, but they are strong and promising. Proper and plentiful fowling should force •ithem speedily to .full growth, ';Llon and Tiger Carnival Competition. Councillor Frost has, on behalf of tho Wellington Corporation,- completed tho purchase of the lioness Mary and her two playful littlo cubs. • Mr. John Castle, of tho Wellington Zoological Society, has been told that a. gentleman who is going to Singapore could purchaso for our Zoo ■a. youn» tiger at a prico mentioned. Mr. _C!astle last year piaccd in his shop a box for. the reception of business coupons customers may feel disposed to givo uway, and small coins, towards the funds of the ■Zoological Society. I, as president of the society, keep the key of the box, and see \ the box opened and tho contents counted at intervals. Since this collection was started, tho receipts from the box havo -amounted to J27 IBs." Now, as the weekly average of the receipts is rising rather than falling, Mr. Castle thinks that some definite object might bo placed before contributors, and that enough money could 1 soon bo raised by the box to buy tho tiger. I therefore proposo that the citizens of Wellington elect, by a large and influential vote, both Frost and Castlo to be members of tho City Council, and .that Frost's young lion and Castle's tiger bo entered to compete in a jumping contest at the next annual carnival in Newtown Park. How Far Can They Jump? Well, lions and tigers can jump so far that I havo never advocated ditch boundaries for small Zoo enclosures. Tho lions and tigers with which i Hagenbeck experimented, to learn how; wide and how deep to make his trenches.'jumped, without running, Gft. 6in, high. In the loag jump trial the same animals, without running, jumped just. 10ft. Panthers are better jumpors an<l can jump 10ft. high. It will be noticed then that Zoo ditches to make enclosures for lions, tigers anu panthers must be very wido and deep. Hag* -pubeck makes his ditches for such a purposo 28ft. wide. Lion, and tiger com-

petitions and contelts have ever been very IKipular. Wo would nut now proposo for gladiatorial citizens, or slaves, to meet lions in n'public arena; nor would we, .is menagerie proprietors did a few years ago, set dogs and lions to fight in the menagerie show.' Bat a jumping competition between a young lion.and a young tiger, would bo fair, sane, .humane, and a very great draw. However, whether wo get the competition or no we have the lion and we must get the tiger. Mr. Castle's box is open for tho tiger fund. The Waterside Workers' Band. Tho Waterside Workers' Band has agreed to give a selection ol' music in Newtown Park to-morrow afternoon and the City Council has consented, for my society, to take a collection in aid of our fund for the purchase of animals for the Zoo. It is only fair that the people should know that the society never takes a collection in the park 011 a Sunday, l'or which a band is subsidised t4 play there. Interest in the.Zoo, and confidence in the Zoological Society have moved the City Band, .lupp's Band, and now tho Waterside Workers' Band, to. give gratuitously the very best music they can supply, and as we have ordered three flamingufcs f''ovr» Australia, and ore. arranging to get beavers from Vancouver, we hope that the spirit of the public will bo as liberal towards 11s as the spirit of the bands, and the spirit of Tiie Dominion, and that with cheerful hearts and willing hands and beaming smiles, a very large concourse of the people of Wellington will visit Newtown Park, enjoy the music, and give a good collection.