4
LIONRS3 AND CUB
. :. V.m, by T. C. McClure.)
r' . MAMMA, look! The dear, little
baby monkey! Isn't he cunnln'?"
j That ia the kind of exclamation
Jl heard continually at the "Zoo"
in any city of the United States.
. ;.i'lher It be the New York Zoological
'ark in the Bronx the finest of its kind
n tho world the "Zoo" in Philadelphia, or
-r. San Franclaco, or Benton, or Chicago,
ihe keepers will tell you the same thing.
"It Is the babies of the Zoo who are the
favorites with all our visitors. The cages
in which our baby animuls are confined
always have crowds around them, while
tho finest grown-up specimens are unheeded.
5ive the public a few funny four-footed
babies to look at, and it is happy; but the
Koo without babies is a dead show."
'"his Is not surprising. Baby animals,
like baby humans, have many captivating
little tricks, and the maternal love dis- .
played behind the prison bars of the Zoo
would put many a careless human mother
to shame.
ako Mamma Baboon the mother of that
"dear, little baby monkey." There is no
better mother in the world. She sits at the
back of her cage all day long, watching
every movement of her offspring with
happy pride. She lets him gambol about as
much as he likes, so that he may grow
strong and agile; but the moment she thinks
he is running Into the sllghest danger she
springs upon him, cuddles him tightly In her
arms, and retreats to the back of the cage,
chattering furiously.
"Ae a rule," said her keeper, "she Is one
of the beet-tempered monkeys we have
got, but now that she has this youngster
It's dangerous to go near her. We used to
be great friends, but now she snarls at
me even when I bring her food. She seems
to think the whole world Is In a conspiracy
to hurt the kid."
While he was speaking, the baby baboon,
clambered up the side of his home to look
at some orang-outangs in the next cage.
The cages were not separated by bars, as
is usual in zoos, but by a thick plute-glas
partition. Reuentlng the baby's Inqulsl
tlveness, the orang-outangs screamei
crossly at him. . .
Mamma Baboon's anger was aroused In
an Instant. - How dared those common
monkeys speak disrespectfully to her beau
tiful baby! For five minutes she tried to
work her way through the glass partition
bo that she might tear them to pieces. She
bit and clawed and butted and kicked, and
when at last she found It was Impossible to
get through, she contented herself with,
telling the orang-outangs what she thought
of them in language which sounded highly
profane.
A photographer come along and tried to
take the baby's picture. The little fellow.
Insatiably curious like most babies, was
willing enough to come to the front of the
cage and examine the little black box. But
the mother was suspicious. Again and,
again she dragged him as far from the
evil eye of the camera as possible, until
the photographer had eventually to gtve up
In despair.
"Are all monkey mothers as good as thl
one?" the keeper was asked.
"Yes." he replied. "They are ihe best'
mothers In the world. Most animals make
good mothers, but the monkey is the best
of all. The most pathetic sight I ever saw
was a monkey mother mourning over her
dead baby."
Not many monkeys are born In captivity,
especially of the larger kinds. Baboons
and chimpanzees rarely breed in coos.
There are more monkey babies born at
the Bronx eoo than In any other American
Institution, and, Indeed, more animal babies
of every kind. That Is because the au
thorities at the Bronx keep the animals as
nearly In a state of nature as possibles
Tliey give them larger cage than any
Nursing the Babies of the
WATCHING PHOTOOHAPIIETl.
other 100 In the world, with trees and
rocks, so that they may run and clamber
and swing themselves about as they would
do In their native Jungles and mountains.
The rigors of captivity are thus softened
and tho animal are kept In excellent
health and spirits.
To the question "How do you manage to
keep the babies alive?" a gray-haired, vet
eran keeper replied:
"It Isn't up to us as a rule. We leave
It to the mothers when we possibly can.
They know more about it than we do, and
nine times out of ten they wouldn't l-t us
Interfere, anyway, If they could help It.
You try to teach a lioness or a female
chimpanzee how to mind her baby, and
she will soon' let you know her views on
the subject.
"Now and then, however, the mother
dies, and we have to do our 'stunt' as dry
nurses. It Isn't easy. First of all, we
have to win the confidence and love of the
baby, which has been taught by Its mother
to regard mankind with suspicion. Often
the aggravating littlo creature won't eat
or drink, and food has to be forced down
Its throat.
"I know a keeper who brought up a baby
grizzly on the bottle. He used to nurse It
In his nrmi Just like a child, give it Its
milk and its pap, and sing lullabies to
hush It to sleep. It grew quite fond of
him, and as soon as it could walk it used
to follow him about the place like a dog.
"The question of the milk Is always a
serious one. It Is extremely difficult to
get a fluid resembling the mother's milk.
Mistakes are often made, and we have to
learn by experience.
"We use condensed milk mixed in boiled
water for baby monkeys. Its hygienic
qualities are superior to those of cow's
milk, and it Is less likely to cause distem
per, dysentery and other complaints
which monkey flesh la heir to. Into a
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quart of this milk we squeeze the Juice of
two bananas through a cheese cloth, and
also some orange Juice. Small monkeys,
such as ringtails and marmostts, are fed
from the bottle. Just like human babies;
but the larger monkeys are taught to
drink out of a cup from Infancy. They are
stronger than human babies, and can lift
the cup when they are very young.
"Sometimes baby monkeys cannot be In
duced to take any nourishment from the
keeper's hands. In that case tho skin of
nn animal or some hairy cloth Is laid upon
the floor of the cuge, with several bottles
of milk under It. Holes are cut In tint
cloth, through which the nipples of the
bottles protrude. The monkey Is then
left alone, and, sooner or later, he will
take all tho milk he nc-'ds.
"Mountain sheep," the keeper went on,
"are raised on ordinary cow's milk which
has been steeped In grass. Bear cubs are
fed upon milk and 'zwelback.' A grsat
many of these cubs are caught In ler
many, when their eyes are hardly open,
by shooting their parents, and 'zwelback' Is
regarded as being the best food for them.
"Wolf cubs are also fed on It sometimes,
but they get beef tea as well as milk.
Juvenile snakes are easily provided for.
All you have to do is to crush up grass
hoppers small enough for them to swal
low. Lion cubs are raised by the bottle
on milk and beef tea."
Baby antelopes, wolves, foxes and many
other animals have been successfully
raised on the bottle by keepers. Soino
tlmo ago a baby hippopotamus had to be
dry nursed at the Central park zoo in
New York. It was found that cow's
milk mixed with the Juice of crushed
grass was the nearest approach to the
milk of the mother. Central park's zoo
Is famous the world over for its success
In raising baby hippos. The hippopotamus
very rarely breeds In captivity, and prac
i j
. Or
' -"A;
FEKDINQ THE BABY AOL'DAD FROM A
Zoo
UABY ZKIUT AND ITS MOTHKR.
tically all those which have been pro
duced in recent years have come from
Central park. They arc traded ofT to
zoos In various parts of the. world in ex
ctiango for other animals.
"You talk as if you often had to dry
nurse these babies. Do tho mot hers die
so frequently?" the keeper who had given
all this information was asked.
"No, but wo often have to take the ba
bies away from their mothers," he replied.
"As I havo said, we always leave them
when we can; but sometimes the mothers
do their best to kill their babies through
over-kindness, and sometimes- though
much more rarely through neglect.
"I-ast winter n grizzly bear cub died
through exposure to tho cold. Its mother
went to her den and slept, leaving the
poor little thing outside. It had only
Just been born and didn't know enough to
get out of the cold. We found It badly
frostbitten, nnil applied all kinds ot
restoratives, but It died.
"That was an unusual ease. Over fond
ness Is more common. A lioness will be se
proud of her cubs that she will carry theta
about by the nape of the neck until they
choke, or she will fondly play about with
them until she knocks them against the
bnrs of the cage and beats their brains
out. We have to watch for signs of this
dangerous mother love, and when we see
any It's up to us to separate mother and
child."
The keeper paused, thinking of several
fierce encounters to which this necessity
had led.
"Say," he went on, "that's a tough con
tract. The lioness robbed of her whelp
Is no mere figure of speech In our business.
She's an awful reality.
"How do we separate them? Well, some
times we keep her off with a pitchfork
while we pass the cubs to a mnn at the
(Continued on Pjge Fifteen.)
BOTTI.H
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