Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park 5

Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park 5

SECTION I.—THE MAMMALS.

 

 

The Hoofed Animals.

 

The forming of a collection which shall fairly represent the hoofed

animals of the world is necessarily a work of years. It is now (in 1915)

fifteen years since the Zoological Society entered upon this task, and

during that period the work of providing installations and living

specimens has been pursued with unflagging industry. In no feature of

our development has the Society been more liberal than in the purchase

of specimens for this collection, and the gifts to it have been both

numerous and valuable. In our 82 species and 330 specimens we feel that

the Order _Ungulata_ is strongly represented. On April 1, 1913, the

summary of groups stood as follows:

 

Summary of the Ungulates.

 

Deer 24 species 164 specimens

Giraffes 1 “ 2 “

Bovines: Bison, etc. 3 “ 38 “

Musk Ox 1 “ 6 “

Wild Sheep, Goats, etc. 8 “ 41 “

Antelopes 22 “ 41 “

Hippopotamus 2 “ 4 “

Wild Swine 3 “ 5 “

Camels and Cameloids 5 “ 10 “

Rhinoceros 2 “ 2 “

Tapirs 2 “ 3 “

Wild Equines 6 “ 9 “

Elephants 3 “ 5 “

Total 82 “ 330 “

 

The arrangement of this section of the Guide Book begins at the Buffalo

Entrance with the Bisons, and follows the ranges, corrals and buildings

for Hoofed Animals, along the southern and western sides of the Park, to

the Axis Deer Range. The Elephant House is introduced as the visitor

leaves Baird Court, going south.

 

The large, open pastures are called “ranges,” and the smaller fenced

enclosures are known as “corrals.” The fences are chiefly of hard steel

wire, so strong and elastic that the animals cannot break through them.

 

[Illustration: AMERICAN BISON: BULL.]

 

Warning.—Visitors must _never_ stand close beside a wire fence or gate,

because its elasticity between posts might enable a charging animal to

strike a person so standing and inflict a serious injury, even though

the fence or gate is not in the least affected by the blow.

 

 

THE BISON RANGES, Nos. 51 and 52.

 

Stretching from the Boston Road to the large Antelope House (No. 50),

and from the Rocking Stone to the southern boundary, lies an open

expanse of rolling meadow land, with a total area of about twenty acres.

It is almost surrounded by shade-trees. Its easterly edge is a low-lying

strip of rich meadow, which lies under the shelter of the rocky,

tree-covered ridge that forms the natural retaining wall of the higher

plateau toward the west. This is the Bison Range. It is the first

enclosure seen on the left as the visitor enters the Park from West

Farms by way of the Boston Road.

 

On the north side of the main range, near the Rocking Stone, are the

four corrals, and the Bison House. The latter is a rustic hillside barn,

eighty feet in length, with a semicircular front, affording shelter and

feed storage for thirty-four buffaloes. The flat roof of the Buffalo

House is open to the public from the main walk, and has been specially

designed as a convenient lookout over the main range and corrals. There

are other corrals, and a shelter shed, at the Buffalo Entrance.

 

[Illustration: EUROPEAN BISON: BULL.]

 

The American Bison, or Buffalo, (_B. americanus_), is the largest and

the best known of all North American hoofed animals. What was once the

universal herd, which occupied the whole pasture region of the West, was

cut in twain in 1867, by the building of the first trans-continental

railway. The great “southern herd,” of several millions of animals, was

destroyed by skin hunters during the years 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874,

and the practical extinction of the northern herd was accomplished

between 1880 and 1884.

 

At present there are but two herds of wild bison in existence. The

largest band, now containing by estimate about 300 individuals, inhabits

a wide stretch of barren and inhospitable territory southwest of Great

Slave Lake. About twenty head remain in the Yellowstone Park, more than

nine-tenths of the original herd having been slaughtered by poachers

since 1890. There are now about 2000 bison alive in captivity, chiefly

in large private game preserves.

 

Usually bison calves are born in May, June, and July. Full maturity is

not reached until the end of the seventh year, when the horns of the

male—at first a straight spike—have attained their full semi-circular

curve. Like all thick-haired animals of the temperate zone, the American

bison sheds its coat in spring, and does not regain full pelage until

October or November.

 

The bison breeds in confinement about as readily as domestic cattle. In

appearance, it is the most imposing of all bovine animals, and with two

exceptions it is also the largest. In captivity its disposition is mild,

though inclined to stubbornness. Occasionally, however, an old bull

becomes so vicious that it is necessary to seclude him from the herd,

and treat him as a dangerous animal.

 

With the exception of a very few individuals, our entire bison herd is

the gift of the late William C. Whitney, and the increase therefrom. The

total number of head on hand on April 1, 1913, was forty-two.

 

In 1906, the New York Zoological Society presented to the United States

Government a herd of fifteen bison to serve as a nucleus for an

independent National herd. The Government very promptly fenced an area

of twelve square miles of fine grazing grounds in the Wichita Forest and

Game Reserve, for the proper reception of the herd. The plan was

consummated during 1907. The effort has proven completely successful,

and on April 1, 1913, the herd contained thirty-seven bison, all in fine

condition.

 

European Bison.—In a corral adjoining the Buffalo Entrance, on the

Boston Road, are to be found two specimens of the rare and almost

extinct European Bison, (_Bos bonasus_). This species is the nearest

living relative of the American bison, and the two specimens (male and

female), now exhibited, came quite unexpectedly into the possession of

the Zoological Society in April, 1904. They were acquired from the small

captive herd in the forest of the Prince of Pless, in Silesia,

south-eastern Germany, and are the first living specimens of the species

to be exhibited in America. They were presented to the Society by Mr.

Norman James, of Baltimore, Mr. Charles Sheldon and Dr. Leonard J.

Sanford.

 

The distinguishing characters of this species are shorter and less

abundant hair on the head, neck and shoulders than our bison, a tail

densely covered with hair throughout its length, very long legs, and a

short body.

 

But for royal protection, this species would long ere this have become

extinct. In the year 1857, about 1,898 head were living, but in 1892 the

total had decreased to 491. It appears, however, that an increase can

safely be announced. An estimate recently published (1906) places the

total number of wild and semi-wild individuals at 1,400, while in the

captive herds of the Czar and the Prince of Pless there are 46 more.

About 700 of the survivors inhabit the forests of Bielowitza and

Swisslotsch, Lithuania, west Russia, and are strictly protected by the

Czar. Other bands still exist on the northern slope of the Caucasus

Mountains around the sources of the Laba and Bjellaja, sometimes ranging

up to an elevation of 8,000 feet. Wherever found, they live in scattered

bands of from three to ten individuals. All the survivors of this

species are so jealously guarded that very few of the zoological gardens

of Europe have been able to procure specimens.

 

This animal is very often miscalled the “aurochs,” and from this error

much confusion has arisen. The true aurochs, (_Bos primigenius_), was

the wild progenitor of some of the existing breeds of domestic cattle,

but it is now extinct.

 

 

MOUNTAIN SHEEP HILL, No. 44.

 

The wild sheep and goats of the world form an exceedingly interesting

group of animals. In form they are odd and picturesque, and in temper

and mentality they are everything that could be desired. All the year

round, deer are either nervous or dangerous, and difficult to handle.

Wild sheep, goats and ibex appreciate man’s interest in them, and even

when not fond of attention, they act sensibly when it is necessary to

handle them.

 

The Zoological Park collection of wild sheep and goats is one of the

most interesting features of the Park. Mountain Sheep Hill is the first

high ridge west of the Rocking Stone, and its northern end is very near

the Bear Dens and Reptile House. It consists of a ridge of pink granite

500 feet long and 25 feet high, its southern end fully exposed, but the

northern end well shaded by oaks and cedars. For grazing animals that

love to climb, and pose on the sky line, the slopes of bare rock, set in

patches of hard, green turf, are almost ideal. In the eastern face of

the ridge, rock excavations have been made, and five roomy caves have

been constructed in such a manner that they are cool in summer, warm in

winter, and dry at all times. On April 1, 1913, the six wire enclosures

on Mountain Sheep Hill contained the following species: