ZOO NOTES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2655, 29 December 1915, Page 3

ZOO NOTES

REGENT ADDITIONS

A BABY SEA-LION

[By John Castle, Secretary of the Wellington Zoological Society.] ■

' Lions have a wonderful'attraption for Britain's lion-hearted sons; . BecentJy in the orowd standing looking, at tne cubs in tlio Zoo wore men in khaki, . some of the finest of New Zealand's sons, brawny and brave. Aye, and with them all were people worthy, of them. Never did a lioness look into the faces , of ■ a betterrfed, better-dressed, be'ttertempered. better-behaved congregation of onlooking human admirers tjian Maud looked into a few days ago. Another Star. .. Although the.cubs must be regarded as the star, attraction, at the Zoo just . now,'.the Zoo is not. show. On Christmas Day the most brilliant or the many much-admired animals in the Zoo was the Madagascar., weaver.. Ladies lavished; expressions of, admiration on, bim; husbands called the attention ot : their wives to him; young men, on whose arms their aged mothers leaned with pride, among the. most. beautiful • of many beautiful sights seen at the Zoo : on Christmas Day, were heard directing ■ weary "eyes to the flaming crimson, Ot .'"the fiery little'beauty ; and little boys gave, in long-drawn-out notes of exclamation, to tlie little Madagascar bird, " the name' of England's perky, pugna- , cious, petted "robiir redbreast." The Madagascar weaver is in'splendid condition, and, being neither obtrusive nor • retiring,, is seen -much >,more, than his the orange bishop weaver,' arid is i much admired: His physical proportions itrc small, but, like St.' Paul and' the .« Emperor Napoleon,. he attracts atten- ' tion. , - , : ( - A Calaxy of Notabilities. The young cubs are.not- all therecent additions .to the .Zoo. There is a yoiing ; -red kangaroo, in its mother's pouch, a greater natural.' curiosity even than a : young lion. Its mother takes it in her mouth*, opens. the' pouch with, her ; paws, -puts the baby into the bag, and allows ; it to ride with its head'in or out oi \ the wallet when able to, or get in -or out at pleasure. The young marsupial is one of the most interesting curiosities of natural history. Two thar, or ' Himalayan goats, have also recently ■ come to light; Our . climate and, the .. conditions they are, under • in our .park . suit, the thar perfectly. Then there are •' young, dingoes, that have -been imported* Technically they are white; but they carry a rather yellow. tinge. Aye, aud there, are .young'salmon fry, and young rainbow trout,-, and a fine . old bullfinch, ;' ' and' ! some, .beautiful' young cinnamon canaries, and some -youiig ."- ''budgerigafs, - arid somo' young gulls, and some young silver ; pheasants, and some, young golden pheasants, and some young magnificus . casitelli pheasants, and some 'young pigeons, l aud a yourig Paradise duck, and young mannikins, and, young zebra finches, and, young mule finches, and a good show'of honey-eaters, among which are some species never';before represented in our Zoo.' 'Aye, and there is. a new \ kangaroo,' whose species never before tasted the elixir of Wellington's breezy : - balms. -, Of course animals die in the Zoo, as animals die elsewhere, wherever .there are any to died; but the health 6heetof the .Wellington Zoo successfully challenges.,cpmpariso'n. with that of; any other Zoo'.in. the-:world, and the ex- ., clamation-of our Christmas visitors as they come to us fear after year. is,. . "ft>w the Zoo has improved since I was •here last, Christnias. .<■? . • . r.-' -. / V- . Christmas at the 100. I- 'have; been - told! 'that' more than three thousand adults visited tho Zoo on Christmas t Day., These paid for admission, so'that there is no doubt about . that'-number. Wo may fairly, assume - that an equal number of juveniles also entered. More than six thousand persons then were at'.the Zoo''on' Christnias Day. On tho day following, which was a Sunday, the number was much larger; -V but, as there was no charge, for admission on that day,. tho number. is not ascertainable. On Monday the number though not .'so largo was good. Wo may safely, say. that, between fifteen and twenty thousand'persons, pleasant looking and pleased, men, ivomen, and children; visited the/Zoo in-three'days. Moving. . My society has just now paid £od for a handbook to the Zoo; Now I am liold- \ 'Bg. £10 to be paid towards the purchase of two young camels, which are expected to arrive soon. We . are just passing on £3 for the purchase of a pair of porcupines; and we hope to get

later a. pair of regent birds,.which Mr., Langridge expects to obtain for üb. A New Wondflr. ' ■ Several young sea lions have been born in' captivity, but they were born so Boon after their mothers were captured mat they could not honourably claim to be citizens of the lands in which they were born. But on Tuesday morning there was heard in the Wellington Zoo. the voice of what I think was the first young sea lion ever regularly or naturally bred in a Zoo. There can be no mistake about this one, for his mother gavo birth to a young ono almost immediately after 6he was placed in the Zoo a good while ago, and 011 Tuesday, when I was in the Zoo, slid was suckling another young 'one. Our exchequer was . very low when I had written the precediug paragraph of these notes. But the ink of it was hardly dry when the postman brought me a permit to take up a collection' in Newtown Park nest Sunday, and I heard the young - sea lion calling in the cave. I hope that the youngster may live 011 until after Sunday, and that all well-wishers to the Zoo will on Sunday go up to see him and contribute kindly to the animal fund of the Wellington Zoological Society. What omens would have \beeiidrawn, what prophecies would have been embodied and illustrated, what poems would have been suggested, what History wouldi have been supplied, if m ancient Palestine, or Greece, or Rome, just 011 the verge of a New \ear, m the time of the greatest up-to-date war, a sea lion had been born m a Zoo. But this is not an ago of poetry, or history, or prophecy, or omens': this is preeminently an age of .big collections. May the Zoological Society have something worthy of the age at Newtown Park next Sunday.