ZOO NOTES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2410, 16 March 1915, Page 6

ZOO NOTES

1 "A. VERY INTERESTING COLLECTION,' IMPROVEMENTS SOME EXPECTED ARRIVALS [By John Crowes, member of the' Wellington Zoological Society.] ~ few-days ago I, as a member of tile Wellington Zoological Society, was I'i, to an em > nG "t member of the iNew Zealand section of tho medical profession, and was pleased to learn i n \ m " la ' ; ,' le had visited our Zco ana boon surprised. "There is a very interesting collection of animals up iw 6 ' 'l 6sa "I had not imagined that we had anything like that in New Zealand.' Now I venture to say that there are in New Zealand hundreds of thousands of people who have not imagined what our Zoo is like. Compared, or contrasted, with some of the big Zoos of the world, it is small, but regarded as an educational establishment, or as an exhibit that should interest the general public, if. is an Institution of which New Zealand as & young Dominion may well he proud. And the Zoo has in it so many features of somewhat special interest, and bo many of the animals are fit to bo compared with any of their kind in the ' Solil °. of us who know-what other Zoos contain do not. blush to ask Visitors who have, seen the world's big Zoos to come and see the quality, if not the size, of ours; aye, and when tha age of our city, and the number of the population of the Dominion, are taken into the size does not appear mean. Praiseworthy' Improvements, Extensive; numerous, effective, and not very expensive have been several improvements that have recently been wade for the accommodation and exhibition of some noteworthy animals in our Zoo. The large enclosed run for the peacocks has proved a huge success. On every fine day tho pride of the family has been immensely attractive, as, in his new and evidently congenial habitat, he has exhibited charms that wore not hinted at when he was kept on a smaller lawn. In this spacious run ample accommodation has been found for the wonderful brush turkey also, and for the strange hybrid between a weka and a domestic fowl. This run must be regarded as an important improvement. Yet, perhaps, as a striking illustration ot a combination of utility, beauty, and economy combined, the run next to it is much superior. In this the waste water from the aquarium is economically utilised, and the moving water, rushing over little embankments and giving continual freshness to several limpid pools connected by a running stream, nas a delicious rhyth-n and a refreshing appearance. The rustic rockeries also, and the promising shrubs, contribute to what promises to ■become one of (he rr.ost attractive features of the Zoological Gardon. Another inexpensive but very convenient and effective improvement is the accommodation that has been provided for the 'tuatara. A Zoo must be an exhibition, and the tuatara is a unique animal that' must be kept' where it may at all times he accessible to students aid other curious visitors; yet it should bo able at will to retire into the gloom in which at times, it likes_ to hide and fast. This has been provided' for by a very simple arrangement. The tank for the little lizardliko amphibia is 7 another addition that is very conveniently placed, and/Seems suitable for the purpose for which it was designed. "The lateat addition to accommodation for the Zoo animals is cheap but elegant and commodious. I refer. to the enclosure in which the American small cat has recently been domiciled. Every person, that I have hard speak of the improvements I hare mentioned has spoken approvingly,, and every t person else should congratulate Councillor Frost and the progressive committee working with him, Mr. Langridge and his efficient staff, and tho Mayor and council by whom they are, fiupported and encouraged, on the numerous noticeable improvements that they, with an excellent 'organisation of competent officials, are working while the world is widuring the greatest strain to which it has yet been subjected. Bathing Costumes. Tho Wellington City Council sometimes waxes 'warm when discussing the kind of costume that human bathers shall wear when they bathe in the ocean at Lyall Bay and other places under the jurisdiction of the council. But it is only in dealing with human animals that such fastidiousness is shown. The council has recently provided a bath for a class of bathers, that the Government of the Dominion has introduc--1 ed as immigrants, that are worse than the Rev. Sydney Smith, a distinguished clergyman of the Anglican Church, who once wroteto a modest old lady, "Heat, ma'am, it was so dreadful hers that I found nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones." Mr. Smith, when he put off nis flesh, did keep his skin on, but the Governments latest importations, that the City Council has provided a bath for, have not tho modesty to do that. Utterly regardless of the weight of experience of respeotable citizens, who say that Newtown Park is a horribly cold place, the little members of the . Japanese salamandrida family, that ■ have recently been placed in the Newtown Zoo, are taking off their skins, , and unconcernedly swimming about without tbom. When I was looking into the Aquarium a few dajs ago one of the little lata arrivals had begun to take off his tights. Later I saw the skin' that had gradually and successfully been sloughed off whole. • Not a Sorew Loose, A few days ago I was lying on a couch, resting for a few minutes, when the couch trembled,, and the house, in whioh I was shook, as though a screw had been loosened, in the machinery of the universe, or the axle of our planet had got out of order, and Old Earth had begun to wobble on its axis; but soon everything was righted again, and the machinery worked as smoothly as before. '• How wonderful it all is I The earthquake does not upset even a paintpot of Nature, or blur the. colouring of the collar of a golden pheasant, or the tail of a peacock. Everything is so ' true to the law of gravitation that a j little salamander can walk on tho bottorn of a tank, rise at pleasure in the ' water, and without any web to his feet ' swim just as he. pleases! Then wo aro ' told that for thousands of years sala--1 nianders have been producing salamanders —living machines have been prcduc- ; ing machines, and all the parts have ' been so nicely fitted and adjusted that Nature by machinery produced by ma--1 chinery set in motion thousands' of ' years ago, some say millions, skins the toes of a salamander, or even, the hairs ' of a shrimp, without hurting the ani- ' mal or mutilating tho skin. To tha theologian God seems to como wonderfuly near in a Zoo; and to the naturalist Nature becomes a power that magnifies man and causes liim to feel that to be a man attuned to Nature is a wonderful Forecasts. Within a week a pair of zebus should arrive; and some choicc pigeons may bo expected to put in an appearance soon. ■ Tho Government, tho City Council, and the Wellington Zoological Socicty aro all moving to improve the Zoo, and when they all move together .success is .iSSBMd, i . ■