Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-24
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Quality and Quantity Of Food Eaten by AMI
mails In the Geological Garden.

mails In the Geological Garden.
From the Public Ledger
awe feed our animals almost entirely
upon horse flesh, said exKeeper Dickinson,
now butcher at the Zoo 'Some of tho
| horses are presented TO us, but most of them
arc bought at rates varying from about 50 TO
| so. There is mistaken Idea that the great
| er part OF the animals we kill are broken
| down street car horses we get them from
| nearly all walks of horse life. Many of them
| are fat when they como 10 US. There are
people who have been the possessors Of
| horses for dozen a score of years. and,
| who, when 1t becomes necessary TO part with
them, prefer letting us take the animals rath-
| or than see them go to work In places where
they might not be gently treated I'm their old
age.
| 1--WE Kill, on an average, about three horses
a week. Some come from points ten or
twelve miles from the city. A large number |
of them arc 'knuckled,' the joint above the |
boof having been strained. Occasionally we |
find opportunities to buy beef that Is gar
| licky, but horse meat il more relshed than |
beef by our wild animals. II is jucier j
think that In winter there IL little difference
: between the taste of horse flesh and that of
: beef except that the former is little sweet
et. Our carniyOra eat moro i'll winter than i'll
, summer"
Animals That Eat HorsenesIl.
! "Among our animals that cat the horse
, | meat are the lions, tigers, pumas, leopards,
4 | jaguar, hyenas, ascelot wolves, foxes,
5 badgers, skunks, eagles, owls, vultures and
@ condor About once a month we give some
: Of the meat to the bears. They would eat 1t
: oitener, but there is too much strength in 1t
. for animals ia captivity. About 225 pounds Of
a meat are eaten every day by the animals in
y the garden during the summer. In winter
= that quantity IL exceeded.
q, "None Of our cgrnivcrous animals are fed
"a more than once day, the time being 3R
II o'clock. They would probably like to eat
d oftener, but by our present system we keep
:, their appeties in good condition, and rs far as
y possible prevent disease. A full grown lion
n or tiger eats from twelve TO fifteen pounds Il
" day The best of the meat Is given to the
~ lions tigers leopards pumas, jaguar, Hc.,
20 aud the inferior qualities to the wolves, hy-
a. cnaS, uingoS, eagles DC From three to six
al pounds day arc eaten by leopard, jaguar
le or puma. The fifteen animals in the lion
and tiger house consume from one hundred
,e to one hundred and twenty-five pounds a
q. day. The food given to the hyenas is mainly
at bone. They grind the bones to powder and
A. swallow all Of it The meat given them Is
% generally the shin and other tough parts.
er " Little or none of the dressed horse goes
mr. to waste. In preparing food for birds, for III,
v. stance, we chop the rib bones and meat al
ip | mp together. The ground bone answers the
re purpose of gravel in the birds stomach.
en- Soft bones ground up are given to the quad
yo | rupeds whenever such food Is necessary TO
put their stOmachs in good condition. In
.cy | their wild state many Of these animals howl
m. and howl all night In captivity they gene
,iv rally sleep all night, because their hunger
- is regularly appeased. In state of nature
a9 they arc sometimes obliged to go ten days
cI without food, and when they get it they
i,a gorge themselves
ief In the Elephant House.
? The elephant "Jennie," which is about
gh twothirds grown and weighs about three
W. and a-haf TONS eats daily on an average o
ia 100 pounds Of hay, half-a-bushcl Of peas anC
,rn a peck of potatoes. Nobody knows how
/, i many grOuudnuts she and the other ele
Ipe | plants and "Pete" the rhInoccrOs, cat, bu
It's Mr. PIendergrast, the keeper Of the animal
iis | in the elephant house, says that on Sunday
mt and other holidays the little merchant at tn
rcd door Of that house, sometimes sells six bush
re- els Of groundnuts. Mr.. Prendergast says th
cr- groundnuts do no harm TO the elephants o
hes IhInOcerOS, but visitors are not allowed to CIV
on them or anything else TO the hippopotainus
ess The principal food Of the elephant is hay
els Occasionally they are given bread, and ono,
yas or twice a weak, they receive oats. "Jenne
'ol- drinks about sixty gallons of water daily
to She and the other elephants are fed once
Dot | day.
vcr The wild boars and peccaries are fed twic
lalf day, their food being generally the same a
self | that given 10 common pigS. Each OF theI
nd. | will eat daily two loaves Of bread and
r of quart of potatoes.
me | old and weighs l,2U0 pounds, or about one
her seventh of the weight of the full g.,-->,S,
ed animal eats food similar TO tlj,-s5ra hors
|
,bs two daily meals.
lii The principal food ~S,>~Esete," the rll
the n6cnr5s; II Iay- -rPote'' is ten feet lon
nor. exclusive Of his tail, and weighs about thre
heir and-a-half tons or more. Occasionally he
Ight given vegetables and bread, the latter beir
rom especially relished by bin. Bread is give
him for the same reason that sometime
dim prompts the gift of candy to children.
4 bs, Mr.. PrendergaSt says, "'Pete' sometimes ge
nat sulky or mad and slashes around his cage
nee "A fearful way. When he is in that moo
side bread will generally pacify him. lie ga
G 20 sixty or seventy pounds of hay in a day, an
lent | is given about half bushel of bran two
ord three times week. He drinks daily abOl
and sixty gallons of water. None Of the anima
the in the elephant house eat meat RhinOcerOS
rain will crush man or other animal with the
yav. tecth but, it is said, they will not eat fles
the | .Pcte' enjoys his shower bath these war
ipht days. He is the only animal in the pla
,0ye that possesses this luxury.
= us The food given the zebra is like that OF {
nose ordinary horse. The " 200 specimen is n
uIp savage, but very stubborn, and dangero
D Is bitter and kicker Recently, when it W
the necessary TO trim the animals hoofs, nil
We'd men were required to hold her.
lred The two lions eat eighteen pounds
aph fish daily, being fed twice day. The eI
y6d curean chimpanzee is given bread, mil
lred honey, extract OF malt sweet potatoes al
that occasionally oranges. The keeper must