JAGUAR KITTENS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23637, 22 October 1938, Page 18

JAGUAR KITTENS

TWINS BORN AT AUCKLAND ZOO SURVIVAL HAILED AS RECORD (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND. Oct, 21. Something in the nature of a zoological triumph has been achieved by the birth of a pair of strong and healthy jaguar kittens at the Auckland Zoological Park. For these animals to be bred successfully in captivity is a rarity, but the latest additions to Auckland’s zoo family are thriving, and they have already constituted a New Zealand .record by being the first to survive for more than a few hours. For the zoo authorities care Vof the jaguar queen has presented almost a Plunket problem. A possible cause for the impulse of the mother to kill her kittens has been found in results of analyses of milk and bones of nursing jaguar queens killed in the wild. While the milk was found to contain abnormally high contents of lime and phosphates, the bones were so deficient as to be exceedingly fragile and brittle. As a result of these discoveries, the investigators believe that the mother actually draws on the substance of her bones to ‘ feed her kittens, and when fresh supplies of calcium and phosphoric acid are unobtainable in her food she is driven, by the instinct of self-preservation to make good the loss by devouring her young. It was stated that a comparable case was probably found in the’ susceptibility of the human mother to dental caries while nursing her child.. The birth of the kittens at Auckland initiated another zoo domestic drama. Paternal pride and remarkable interest in his new responsibilities: was shown by the male jaguar. Afterlicking the mother’s face and the kittens from head to foot, he took the head of one of the twins in his mouth and carried it around the arena before returning it unharmed to the queen’s side. It was at this stage,, however, that the zoo authorities took a hand. For fear of accidents, it was thought well to segregate the head, of the family, and the mother and children are now left to work out their own salvation.