Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park 10
In size the Guanaco is between the llama and vicunia, and its shoulder
height is about 4 feet. Its hair is thick and woolly, of a pale reddish
color, and there are naked patches on the legs. This species is found on
the Andes, from Ecuador to Terra del Fuego, and appears to be most
abundant in Patagonia.
The Vicunia, (_Lama vicunia_), is the only member of the cameloid group
which is not clothed with a mass of long hair. It is the smallest member
of the group, comparatively short-haired, its color is a uniform light
brown, its head is small, and there are no callosities on the hind legs.
The Vicunia is found from southern Ecuador, through Peru to central
Bolivia.
NORTH AMERICAN DEER.
Elk, Mule Deer, White-Tail, Caribou and Moose.
The American members of the Deer Family will be found in the ranges
situated on the hill west of the Wild-Fowl Pond, stretching from the
Llama House northward to the Service Road.
After several years of experiments, we must admit that to all the
American members of the Deer Family save the wapiti white-tailed and
mule deer, the climate of New York City is decidedly inimical. This
densely humid and extremely saline atmosphere is about as deadly to the
black-tail, caribou and moose as it is to the Eskimo; and thus far we
have found it an absolute impossibility to maintain satisfactory herds
of those species in the ranges available for them. In great tracts of
forests, some of them might become acclimatized; but, be that as it may,
all experiments made thus far both here and in two of the great game
preserves of New England, prove conclusively that black-tail deer, mule
deer, caribou, moose, and also prong-horned antelope, are among the most
difficult of all ruminants to acclimatize anywhere in the United States
eastward of the great plains.
Although the Zoological Society will continue its experiments with some
of these preserve species, and will always strive to exhibit some of
them, our original hopes regarding them have been abandoned. We are
certain that the difficulty lies not in the food, but in climate
conditions, that are beyond our control, and especially our very salty
atmosphere.
The American Elk, or Wapiti, (_Cervus canadensis._)—Of all the numerous
members of the Deer Family, this animal is second in size to the moose
only; and in the autumn, when its pelage is bright and luxuriant, its
sides well rounded, its massive antlers clean and held conspicuously
aloft, the elk may justly be called the king of the _Cervidae_. It is
well that in the Yellowstone Park we have an unfailing supply of Elk,
which bids fair to perpetuate this handsome species for another century.
Our Elk Range might well stand for a mountain park, in which is set a
natural lakelet of real value. In October, when the splendid groves of
beech, oak, and maple along the eastern ridge put on all the glorious
tints of autumn, and the big thicket of sumacs, ash, and haw on the
northern hill fairly blaze with scarlet—then are the elk also at their
best. There is no finer picture in animate nature than a herd of elk in
October, with such a setting of greensward, tree-trunk, and foliage.
[Illustration: AMERICAN ELK.]
[Illustration: EUROPEAN RED DEER.]
The maximum shoulder height of the Elk is 5 feet 4 inches, or
thereabouts, and the heaviest weight noted thus far is 927 pounds.
The calves are born from May to July, and are spotted during the first
six months. During the first year the antlers are merely two straight
spikes, called “dag antlers.” As in all members of the Deer Family, the
antlers are shed every year—which to many persons is almost beyond
belief. Any person who visits a zoological garden in midsummer will see
that the old antlers have dropped off bodily, just below the burr, and
that new antlers, covered with hair, soft, full of blood, and with
club-like “points,” have sprung up like mushrooms in place of the old
ones. In supplying the great drain on the system necessary to support
this remarkable growth, the Elk grows thin, and the fear of hurting his
tender young antlers makes him quite timid and inoffensive. He is no
longer the tyrant of the herd, and a constant menace to his keepers.
At this point it is not amiss to call attention to the differences
between _horns_ and _antlers_.
A _horn_ is a hollow sheath, growing over a bony core, and except in the
case of the prong-horned antelope, is never shed. Horns are worn by both
sexes of all bison, buffaloes, cattle, antelope, sheep, and goats.
An _antler_ is of solid bone throughout, growing from the skull; it is
shed every year close to the skull, and quickly renewed. Usually antlers
have several branches. They are worn by nearly all male members of the
Deer Family—moose, elk, caribou, deer, etc., and also by the female
caribou. The prongs on an antler are no index of the wearer’s age. Some
of the finest and most massive elk antlers have only twelve or fourteen
points. During August and September the hairy covering, or “velvet,” of
new antlers is rubbed off against trees and bushes. This period is
quickly followed by the mating season, during which the neck of the bull
becomes unusually large, and often the animal becomes dangerous.
Although the Elk is essentially a timber-loving animal, it also wandered
far into the plains bordering the Rocky Mountains on the east—until
driven from them by man. The ideal home of this animal is the timbered
foothills of our western mountains, up to 8,000 feet. Although once
found from Virginia and New York to Oregon, and from northern Manitoba
to the Gulf of Mexico, it is now numerous only in and adjacent to the
Yellowstone Park, in central Colorado, where it is well protected, and
in western Manitoba. The number of Elk in the National Park is variously
estimated at from 10,000 head to a much larger number.
In a wild state, the Elk feeds on grasses, weeds, and the leaves and
twigs of various trees and shrubs. Of all American deer, it is the most
easy to acclimate and breed in captivity. Large herds are now being
maintained and bred in numerous private game preserves in New Hampshire,
New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. About 200 head have
been released in the Adirondacks.
The Mule Deer, (_Odocoileus hemionus._)—This fine animal is universally
known throughout the Rocky Mountain region, which constitutes its home,
as the “Black-Tailed Deer.” Because of its very large ears, _and the
absence of a black tail_, it is known to naturalists as the Mule Deer.
Inasmuch as its tail is not black, the above more common name properly
applies to _Odocoileus columbianus_, the true black-tailed deer of the
Pacific coast. In Manitoba this animal is called the “Jumping Deer,”
because when running at a gallop, it makes a series of stiff-legged
jumps, or “bucks,” of great length.
The weight of full-grown bucks ranges from 250 to 300 pounds, and
specimens have been known to reach 325 pounds. The antlers of the Mule
Deer are larger and handsomer than those of the white-tailed deer, and
are much better poised on the head. Instead of dropping forward, they
partake more of the set of an elk’s antlers, and many a “tenderfoot”
hunter has mistaken a heavily-antlered Mule Deer for an elk. The antlers
of a Mule Deer are easily distinguished from those of the white-tailed
species by the two Y-shaped prongs on each antler. It will be remembered
that instead of these, the white-tailed deer antler bears three
straight, perpendicular spikes.
The Mule Deer makes its home in rugged ravines and bad lands so common
along the creeks and rivers of the Rocky Mountain region, extending well
eastward into the plains. Of late years it has been driven out of the
most accessible of its former haunts, and forced to take shelter in the
rugged fastnesses of the foothills and mountains. West of the Rocky
Mountains it was formerly found along the whole Pacific slope, from Cape
St. Lucas to British Columbia, although in northern California it is
almost replaced by the Columbian Black-Tail, (_O. columbianus_).
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANTLERS OF A MALE DEER.
These pictures show the stages of growth of the antlers from the time
the old ones are dropped, to the full development. Number 1 shows the
bull with the one antler gone—picture made early in March. Number 6
shows the full grown antlers, with the velvet hanging in strips. Number
6 was made August 24 of the same year as Number 1. This remarkable
antler development takes place every year in the life of all male deer.
[Illustration: 1.]
[Illustration: 2.]
[Illustration: 3.]
[Illustration: 4.]
[Illustration: 5.]
[Illustration: 6.]
The White-Tailed Deer, (_Odocoileus virginianus_), is the species most
widely known throughout the United States, partly by reason of the fact
that it was the first species with which the early settlers of America
became acquainted, partly because of its wide distribution, and also its
persistence in holding its own. In various localities this animal is
known under various names, such as “White-Tailed Deer,” “Flag-Tailed
Deer,” and “Fan-Tailed Deer.” Although not at all in need of it, quite
recently it has received still another name—American Deer. The small
deer of Florida, and also of New Mexico and the Southwest, have been
described as separate forms; and if size is to be accepted as a factor
in the differentiation of species, the diminutive proportions of the
proposed southern species are quite sufficient to establish their
separate identity.
The White-Tailed deer of Virginia and the northern United States is a
fine animal—large, strong-limbed, heavily-antlered, and hardy. Between
it and the deer of Florida the difference is as great as that between a
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