Thomas County cat., 1890-07-17

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They are not savage, but have no par
ticular respect for the keepers or the
public.
The 1iOness weans her cubs whe.i they
are nine months old. Before they at
tain that age she takes all meat and
solid food away from them, although
at times they would very much like to
have some. At the end of nine months
she selects the tenderest pieces of meat
to give to them. Soon after that they
are taken from their mother and placed
in .esidences of their own.
PECULIARITIEs OF BREEDING.
Tigers, leopards and other felines
must be left alone with their young. II
they are not separated from the other,
including males of their own species,
they will probably kill the young ones.
Not long ago leopard ate up her three
cubs simply because she was stared at
so much, and did not want her offspring
to grow up to live life like hers.
In case it is not possible, on account
of bad temper, death or illness, for tho
mother to suckle them, young lions,
tigers, leopards and wolves are given to
Newfoundland or St. Bernard dogs to
suckle. They only remain with the
dogs four or five weeks. After that
there might be danger that there would
gobble up their foster mothers. Ami
mails reared in this way are not so
healthy as those sucked by their own
mothers. They are apt to have the rick
cts.
Lions and tigers have three or four
young ones at time, the leopard five,
bears three or four, monkeys one, ele-
plants one, giraffes one, nylghaus two
and antelOpes one.
Monkeys do not breed much in the
captivity of menagerie, because they
are always dying. The monkey who
goes around with his Italian master in
all weather gets as hardy as it is possible
to be. But the menagerie monkey is
pampered and kept in warm cage, so
that shower of rain or a draught of
air will kill him. The white Chinese
monkey possesses the strongest con-
stitution of any simian. He is a big
fellow, with an arm like blacksmith's
and apt to be quarrelsome. The man.
drill, who is distinguished by blue cheeks
and a red nose, is affectionate and very
delicate.
AN ELEPHANT STORY.
The mother elephant bestows the
greatest care and affection ON her Off
spring. This fact is illustrated by the
following story:
A gentleman well known in this city
paid a visit, when 10 years old, to cir
Gus in Brooklyn.
An elephant and her young one were
the center of attraction for crowds of
Brooklyn small boys. The young ele-
phant had not attained by the course of
years that discretion which would enable
him to decide what was within his
powers of digestion, and he would have
swallowed hat as cheerfully as
bundle of hay. On this account his
mother took all the articles which were
handed to him, examined them for an
instant and then, if they were quite
good to eat, she gave them to him; if
they were only moderately good she ate
them herself, and if they were not good
at all she returned them to the generous
giver.
Several youths found amusement in
handing in their caps, which were re-
turned as no good, because they were
made of cloth. The youth of whom We
speak was never lacking in enterprise,
and he, too, passed in his hat. 1t was
promptly eaten by the mother elephant.
It was large new straw one. The
sufferer complained very loudly to the
manager of the circus, but was unable
to regain his property.
Animals born and raised in confine-
ment are usually as strong and healthy
as their relatives from the wilderness.
But, strange to say, they are much less
easily tanned Familiarity with man
has bred contempt. Such animals arc
not always savage, but they calmly de-
cline to make an exhibition of them
selves by doing ridiculous tricks.
Trainers say that for their purposes
animals born in confinement are useless
New York Evening Sun.
-
Why he Bought the Pies.