THE TORTOISE WHO WOKE UP

Evening Star, Issue 21706, 28 April 1934, Page 5

THE TORTOISE WHO WOKE UP

Another- strange and amusing friendship has sprmig up iu tlie menagerie between Pauline, a baby wart-hog, and a young peccary from South America named Peter. These two animals are both orphans, hut although they belong to the pig family, and arrived at the Zoo within a lew days of one another last June, they Jinv’e only recently been introduced.’ But as Pauline was in need of a playmate and Peter obviously disliked the rodents and was crying out lor more congenial companionship, the Zoo decided to put them in the same den. At first a fight seemed probable, but soon these quaint baby animals began to lick each other’s faces, and are now the best of friends. They sleep side by side and eat off the same dish, and though Pauline is certainly no older than her playmate she persists in mothering him. The Zoo has been presented with another giant tortoise. He came irom the North of England, and as he travelled in an open box he arrived at the menagerie in a torpid condition. However, he soon recovered, and caused a disturbance in the tortoise house by his liveliness. His housemates had tucked themselves round a stove and were preparing to hibernate, but the newcomer was so pleased to be warm again that he had no desire for sleep! Two other new arrivals are ocean waifs, one an owl, which lauded on a ship in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the other a heron, which collapsed on a liner 3,200 miles off the Brazilian coast. A late Zoo baby has made its appearance in the Rodent House, and is a Maholi galago, or bush-baby. These > little African lemurs are gentle animals, much favoured as, pets. A galago with a baby is always a charming sight; for the first years of its life the baby clings to its mother’s body with its arms, legs, and tail. The Monkey House at the Zoo now appears to have a kind of rogues gallery, for all the cages on one side of the building display a notice in red letters warning visitors that the occupants are dangerous and liable to bite. Visitors are inclined to be much too trusting with these short-tempered creatures, who will take offence on the slightest provocation. Recently a visitor lifted a child over the barrier in front of the mandrill’s cage, and though the mandrill does not look any too amiable the child was allowed to squeeze his tiny arm through the bars of its cage. Happily George was looking the other way, and before he had time to spot the tempting arm the keeper pulled it back to safety.