ZOO NOTES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2825, 17 July 1916, Page 7

ZOO NOTES

"ARISTOCRATIC CONNECTIONS (By' John Castle, Secretary of the Wel- : " lington Zoological Society.) Some people proudly bossfc thai; tliey can- trace their ancestry back to the time of "William tho Conqueror." But if tlioy could trace it back to Adam and Eve, tlio ancestry would seem but a thing 'of yesterday, in comparison with that of 'tho tnatara family, which, stretcher Jxack to the Mezzozoic period. There aro in tho Wellington Zoo representatives of highly aristocratic families. Tho camels are of long- dcscent. I think that, in days far from us malo.camels tried the patience of the .model patriarch Job, and there seems to bo a lot of wickedness, if not of wildness/left in tho bumped monsters of tho masculine .'gender, even yet. Then "as to their aristocracy, the stately young stalkfirs in the Zoo look as though they had just stepped out of the Miocene period, so true' are they to the descriptions we have of their relatives that ruminated in the very long ag& Words for Girjs and Boys. .Don't be surprised if somo of our con. temporaries tell us that the camels in our Zoo are camclopards; we have been told stranger things thaii th.it. But to guard tho juvenflo readers of my notes against dangers of misrepresentation, just now, when the line young aiiimals recently imported from L'erth are" likely to attract much attention, and to set innumerable pens and tongues in motion, 1 must emphasise the statement that oamela must bo placed in three tho camel proper, which is . tho ordinary,- burdenbearer, one of the most useful animals in the world and the representative of the speoies, or at any rate tho variety, to which our Zoo camels belong. (2) The dromedary proper, a runner, or racer, as the name implies. This bears just the same relation or likeness to our camels as a purebred-racohouso does to a Clydesdale. - (3) The Baotrian came], which has two liumps. • j The £400 Elenliant. J The elephant that has been offered for .£4OO is young; she is .a female; she has proved herself quiet and reliable; and, on a gala day, recently she was used to collect ,£6OO for patriotic purposes. That young elephant ought to be placed in tho Wellington Zoo, one of the most patriotic institutions in New Zealand. Will any person offer to giva .£4OO to purchase the excellent young animal, that she may bo presented to the Zoo ? Thousands of young men before going to' fight for their, country have visited tho Zoo, and praised it. But Zoo in which thero is no elephants not quite up to date. Will four patriots give .£IOO each towards the elephant? flow , much will tho readers of my Notes offer? 1 1 shall keep on harping on this striiig until I seo on-elephant in tho Zoo; but why not allow our young men to. see it, and ride on it, before they go fortli .to'the war?, Peacocks. There is in tho TTeiluigtoa Zoo a while peacock... It belongs to. the Now Zealand Government, and is just now clothing itself with a new robs' of' whitens. Mr. Langridge, the curator of tho Zoo, assures' me' that there i 3 also, room far some variegated and. a gentloman who "recently visited the Zoo afterwards .read somo of mv Zoo notes, and now, in right down real'earnest. Is went on obtaining for the Zoo birds likely to exhaust the superlative adjectives of admirers of the natural wonder in whose incomparable plumage all the brilliant colours" that, glisten in the rainbow shine. ' ; / Adding Insult to Injury.

■ A well-belmved hair-seal gave birth- t» a. fine son, and nursed him tenderly, k Now. Zealand, skip went to the'island home of the liappy pair, and brought away 1 the infant. Tho little fellow adapted himself to his new circum•stancos, .ami was-affaLla to ererybxdr. In his!new homo.ho was noighbouu to a big burly male, that knew, just as mocu about playing with £ juvenile member of his tribo as many a man does about handling a baby. Soon in rough play tho big fellow killed tho littlo onedrowned , him, -probably. Now, maii this,. Ii am told that it has been published that the little sea-lion was killed by his mother. If that is not adding', Insult to injury, then what is it? A fond mother robbed of a darling son! Surely that was bad enough; tut what could I say- of accusing such a mother of murdering her own offspring when ho tos hundreds of miles away from her?