ROYALTY IN EXILE:

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 190, 12 February 1943, Page 8

ROYALTY IN EXILE:

ISIT the lion, the king of the jungle, as he walks behind the bars of his concrete-floored cage; watch the leopard swift and soundless as he moves against his double black netting; see the tiger burning bright even in that deep pit of boulders; here are the great cats confined to inches, feet and yards, when they were born to move spangled through the undergrowth shadows, through the harsh brown grasses in strong sunlight, to lie along the trunks of trees in a dark silence or to travel loping miles in the moonlight. But of the great cats in the Auckland Zoo only four-two of the lions and the two pumas-have ever known the jungle; all the others were born in captivity, either in New Zealand or in Australia. The six lions have the run of cages (in which they can be seen at close quarters), sleeping dens, and huge pits. They pace up and down in the cages, lie out of sight in the dens, or sun themselves on the rocks of the pits, hanging down their pliant tails and appearing at rest except for their alert ears and eyes, Only let Felis leo, grand- father and king, move from his rock with smooth walk and swift easy leap to the bars by the cage, and Mrs. Leo follows him minutely with her golden eyes, her eyebrows raised and her smooth head turning upon her shoulders, but with no other movement but the slightest wave of the tip of her tail. Leo is listening, breathing the air because blasting is going on in the nearby quarry; when he begins to roar, his sides bellow in and out as if he is panting after a long race; and when some Marines throw fine shingle at him-oh, it doesn’t hurt him, but surely he has enough to put up with?-he stands on his hind legs and reaches his head high into the air with a great roaring. This is the signal for the Zoo to come to life: everything that roars begins to roar, the elephant trumpets, the emus make their drum-beating noise, the sea lion barks, and, hideous of all hideous cries, the donkeys set up a braying. When Leo lowers his wedge-shaped body, so thick

and heavy at the shoulders, so lean and hound-like at the rump, gradually the noise subsides and only the constant bickering of the monkeys on the hill and the background bird-calls from the valley continue. Suppose You Fell In? The keeper and I stood looking down into the pit. "Now just suppose someone fell in?" "Well, we'd all bring the guns as quick as we could and do what was pos-sible-probably drive them into their dens as we do when we cleam the pits. Actually I doubt if they’d go for a man, they’re so used to keeping their distance from us. But if anything drops over the rails-my hat did once, for instancethey’re on it like a flash." "Well, perhaps I’d just as soon stop supposing someone fell in!" Two days in every week no food is given to the lions, tigers, leopards, etc. They are healthier if they have a chance to be fully hungry twice a week, and (Continued on next page)

Consider The Great Cats |

(Continued from previous page) the practice keeps the Zoo much cleaner and healthier for everyone. Cages and areas are disinfected and cleaned daily. Fearful Symmetry When William Blake wrote the Songs of Experience, in awe of the tiger, he said: "Did He who made the Lamb make thee?" But the tiger, walking, y .lking on his silent pads, brooding upon some gloomy thought of his own, does nct roar the answers to Blake’s questions:

"What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy featful symmetry?" I find myself as much in awe, standing in the Auckland Zoo in 1943, as Blake was in England 150 years ago. But here he is, sharp bright colours | of white and tan and black, and gloomy golden eyes that stare at you with that intense but unseeing stare of a Russian ballet dancer. Felis tigris-not a friendly puss. At the moment the leopards- Felis pardus, so well-named-ere the most popular

creatures in the Zoo, for Monsieur and Madame are the jealous parents of three beautiful spotty children. Not that Monsieur has yet been permitted to visit the nursery. (Some fathers don’t bother to eat their children; others do, if they are given the chance.) So he pads up and down, up and down beside his neighbour’s cage. And thereby hangs a tale. When this very Monsieur, now trying to look like a dignified papa, was a bounding cub he was too familiar with his neighbour the jaguar, and that very wily fellow waited his chance and grabbed the long and graceful tail of young leopard through the bars and, whoof-crrunch! bit the morsel off at the five-inch mark. So there walks Leopard Paterfamilias, with his haunches rolling-rolling and his stump of a tail wagging instead of gracefully moving through long eel-like gyrations behind him. Leopards Can’t, But Lions Do Suddenly, as I watched, the female sprang up a cleft in the rocks and stood with her sides heaving and her muzzle raised outside the nursery door. For two hours, morning and afternoon, she is shut out so that she may have fresh air and exercise and so that her cubs may be admired in safety by the visitors. On the lawn at the back of the cages, out of sight of the mother, the three sprawling cubs are in a chicken coop. They are rather like overgrown tabby kittens with spots of black on pale grey. When they are full grown the pattern will have become black and tan and white, with the black and white honeycombed on the tan. The leopard, as the proverb has always led us to believe, cannot change his spots; but you may be surprised to hear that lions are born with spots which they lose at about two months.

Already at the age of one month these kitten-like cubs have claws showing and jaws opening to cry "Yeow-ow" with a snarl on the upper lips. They close their eyes and raise their heads and perpetually yowl and fumble over and over each other. They sleep in a bunch, intertwined like the coat of arms of the Isle of Man. I believe I have heard that some Hollywood actresses have pumas for pets. And the keeper told me that they are really quite harmless. They love climbing trees and spend most of their time in the artificial ones rigged up in

their pit. They have faces as mild and wide and big-eyed as the friendliest and most spoilt pussy on the hearth, and are a soft fawn colour all over — hence their name, Felis concolor. They are meat eaters, and in their natural state hunt birds, mice, rats and, as the keeper said, anything that moves fast. The Rats Grow Cunning In all the pits at the Zoo rats thrive and grow very cunning. The Jaguar, Felis onca, may be quick enough to catch his neighbour’s tail, but

he can’t get underneath the rocks, and the chase becomes unequal, with all the advantages on the rat’s side, "Does anything ever escape?" I asked. "Only a leopard a long time ago," the keeper said. Well, that would cause excitement in the neighbourhood! And so it did. People rang up from every district in Auckland saying the leopard had been seen in their street. Imaginations leapt high that night. But the poor leopard had made straight up the hill to a tannery and jumped into a curing pit, drawn by the smell of the hides and meat, where acid was used; he had been badly burned and had rushed for the water at the bottom of the hill where he was drowned. Just a Simple Meal On one of the notice boards describing a member of the great cat tribe the following statement is made: "His food consists. mainly of monkeys, deer, and tapirs, as well as birds, turtles and fish." I take it that this is just his simple every-day food, nothing elaborate or festive; now, I think, if a beast the size of the jaguar eats so much (though, come to think of it, there’s nothing to prove he eats_it all at once), how much will a beast the size of the elephant eat? So I asked. And I was most surprised. I’ll explain why when I examine this lady with the surprising appetite. So I left the great cats and as I saw the sun shining on the beautiful jaguar I thought of Joyce’s lines: "On his wise shoulders shining down through the checkerwork of leaves the sun flung spangles, dancing coins," not written for him, but very suitable for him, and the lion, and the tiger, and the leopard, the royalty of the jungle.

J.