A STRANGE FRIENDSHIP

Evening Star, Issue 21992, 30 March 1935, Page 5

A STRANGE FRIENDSHIP

One of the strangest friendships the Zoo.lias known for several years is to be seen in the North Mammal House, the animals concerned being a ring-tailed lemur called Kiki and an armadillo called Charlie. Most monkeys have an instinctive dislike for armadillos, but. although the ring-tailed lemur, sometimes described as a Madagascar cat. is distantly related to the monkey tribe, it does not have the same reactions as a monkey, and so when a housing problem arose it seemed safe to let an armadillo and a lemur share a cage. The idea of the two animals making friends was never considered, but it was hoped they would live together in peace. At first they were more or less indifferent, but Kiki soon became interested in her strange companion, and now the two animals are xiever apart. Thev curl up together in the same sleeping box, they eat off the same dish, and they play together. What is more. Kiki makes the armadillo carry her about on his back, and sometimes when she is having a ride and the armadillo stops to pick up food she reaches over and takes a share of the food from his mouth. . . Charlie never shows any sign of irritation. and if his playmate ever wanders away from him he does his best to make her return. This friendship resembles one that existed many years ago between a monkey and a wombat. These two odd playmates shared a home, and the wombat regularly gave the monkey rides on his back. The Zoo is taking keen interest in a pair of African milky eagle-owls which began to nest toward the end of December. Although the hen eagle-owl merely laid her eggs at the back of a high ledge in the indoor section of the aviary she chose a corner directly over some hot-water piphs; and, as part of the birds’ food consists of rabbits, she carried two or three rabbitskius to the

ledge and arranged them round the eggs. Two sociable vultures from Africa have been seen examining the ledge in their cage and behaving generally as though preparing for eggs. But the vultures offer less hope' thani the eagleowls. because’on previous occasions the hen bird has laid eggs and sat on them for as long as four weeks only to have them unexpectedly destroyed by her mate when she left the nest for a few minutes to take a meal.