STOCKING THE ZOO

CATCHING OF ANIMALS

' MANY RISKS RUN

USE OF AEROPLANES

The obtaining of wild animals alive for purposes of scientific study or public exhibition has ever been a theme beloved of the sensationalist, and has in the past been associated, with a good deal of cruelty. Fortunately, the wholesale destruction of mother animals in order that their offspring might .safely be taken alive has led in recent years to drastic legislation. Legislation .and farming have, indeed, saved.much of the world's wild life ■ from extinction. A vast number, of wild animals are farmed on a wholesale scale for food or clothing, and the list, which includes alligators, Arctic foxes, wolves, and ostriches, grows every day. A considerable number of beasts however, arerstiy outside the range of cultivation, and. this necessitates capture in their native "deserts, prairies or.jungles. The taking of adult apes' which is usually achieved by means of pitfalls, is to be deprecated. A few years ago, writes E. G. Boulenger in the ' Daily Telegraph," an enormous number of full-grown orangs, the majority of which lived only a few months under captive conditions, were shipped to Europe from Sumatra, but they are likely to become scarcer' every year, owing to the tightening of restrictions by the Dutch authorities, at the instance of our Zoological Society. The London Zoo authorities"have forsaken the purchase of adult apes, because of their temperamental uhsuitability for exhibition and the cruelty involved in their- capture. Monkeys lower in the scale can, however, be captured in bulk without bloodshed or producing shocks to their less highly strung systems.- The-hundred-odd Zoo baboons on the Monkey Hill, for instance, have become;quite acclimatised, breed, and often bring up healthy families. ' ' ',' '; '„■ ... Their captors constructed scores of huts with trap-doors camouflaged with bushes.and. these were baited witk various delicacies dear, to the simian heart. The baboons, once-inside, were retained by the sudden dropping of the doors. The animals were" then lured into cases, and . after a long journey by camel, steamer, and lorry eventually found themselves-in their present quarters in Regent's Park. Good food and artificial sunlight during the winter months have resulted in reconciling them to the English climate and the Zoo's copy of their Arabian home. ELEPHANT STOCKADE. • The elephant-possibly, heads the list of animals that are dangerous to capture, whether takeniri pitfalls, run down by relays .of tame elephants, or rounded up by the wholesale ■ method of the stockade. The elephant drive has been immortalised by. Kipling and magnificently filmed in "Chang." A ! special department of the Indian Civil Service is devoted to the periodical of elephants for draft-services, since tame elephants scarcely ever breed, even in. their own country. '■' An elephant stockade is really a gigantic edition of the "duck tunnel" still to be seen in Norfolk. Many weeks are spent on its formation, the...whole being built of the strongest timber and camouflaged with leafy boughs. During. its construction scouts are .employed to locate :the herd/arid soon hundreds' of men are working -; night a-nd d;ay for weeks together in a vast surrounding movement. The beaters moving behind screens of brushwood: slowly and insidiously drive the herd, consisting of possibly a hundred elephants, towards the entrance of the stockade. Torches, drums, and lung-power; give the final push that sends the herd, a roaring torrent of panic-stricken monsters, into the tunnel, and as the last crosses the threshold, a- gigantic hidden portcullis falls with a crash behind it.' It is impossible .to ; give any adequate idea of the uproar and confusion that ensue when, some days later, skilled mahouts, mounted on trained elephants, enter the enclosure, and the work of roping the. wila animals begins. If all goes well, a few months of good food and rough treatment con-

vert the wild animals into tame ones. But a hundred possibilities of disaster attend the business before the happy ending is arrived at. There is always a chance of the herd bolting back and breaking through the line of beaters, and a certain number of humau lives are annually added to the heavy price which must be paid for the successful drives. LITTLE DIFFICULTY WITH BIRDS. Hippo and rhino arc only taken when young, and the same applies to the larger carnivores, which, when adult, seldom thrive or become tame. The capture of birds presents . little swift horses, lassoed, or taken with traps, bird lime, nets, or other devices. The majority become very tame, and live to a ripe old age under captive conditions. The large, flightless species—ostriches, emus, and cassowaries—are usually run down by hunters mounted on swift horses, lossoed,. or taken with the bola—a rope having a ball at each end, which, when thrown with skill, twines itself round the bird's legs, bringing it to the ground.". ' Bolas have been found with the remains of prehistoric man—an interesting sidelight on the great antiquity of a weapon still popular in many parts of the wor!d. Modern equipment, ranging from aeroplanes to wireless, "has made the task of capturing wild animals an easier one than it was 1000 years ago, yet one is tempted to question whether the general principles employed have altered much. / The Bomans must have been expert animal collectors, as thousands of large carnivora were taken alive annually to be slaughtered m the arenas. ' Many of the emperors allowed leopards to wander at liberty in their palaces, and Heliogabalus, we are told, made a dramatic entry into Rome in a chariot drawn by four tigers. The exact manner in which these and other creatures were caught and tamed none can say, but it is certain that they did not enjoy the treatin the arenas. Many of the emperors civilised collectors and trainers. REPTILES' RAPID MOVEMENTS. The taking of reptiles alive demands a good idea of subtlety. Lizards, for example, have a way of leaving their tails behind them when seized by these appendages,- and -many, in common with most snakes, can. move with lightning rapidity. . Many kinds of terrapins and the: common alligator are farmed on a large scale, but the bigger snakes, especially the-largest constrictors, must be taken wild. The giant 25ft long pythons and anacondas are usually trapped by tethering carcasses of small deer where the snake is sure to find them. .The reptile, having eaten, is gorged and helpless, .and so easily falls to the efforts of a gang of natives, who, under the collector's guidance, pounce upon and box the giant snake before it can make any effective efforts at resistance. Acquiring specimens for the Aquarium is a.comparatively simple matter, the majority being captured in seine nets and submerged traps. Many fish can travel long: distances, indeed, indefinitely, provided the water in the travelling tank, is thoroughly aerated and kept- at the right- temperature andgravity. . . ...... " Some, of course, are' easier to- capture and travel better than others. Most pelagic species are obtained with difficulty. Herrings, for instance, shed their scales and die if taken out of the water for even a few seconds, and, therefore, "have to be caught and transferred to their travelling tanks under water. •••■-