The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-10-19
4 BABY HIrPoPorAMUs.
Child Born to Mrs. Murphy and Caliph
I'm Central Park.
Mar vorar Tsrna~

Child Born to Mrs. Murphy and Caliph
I'm Central Park.
New York Times.
Great Is the JOY in the house of Murphy,
hippopotalni at the Central park zoo, since
second child has been born unto them.
1t Is such lively little beast that hope il
entertained that it will live to attain tom
mage equaito that of Its father, Caliph, or
its mother. Annie. Unfortunately, the
newcomer as yet has to be referred to as
lit, !" for whether it Is 4 male or female no.
body knows. for the reason that Is yet
nobody has been allowed to go near it.
As its keeper, Mr.. Donohue, remarked yes.
terday: "Hippopotami is strange cattle.
and If you monkeys with the young 'un
you'll Gave dead pachyderm to dispose of
in short order.''
Mr.. Donohue's wisdom is born of expe-
rience, for it was only last December that
he tried to bring to maturity q son of the
Murphys. That little one lived only few
days. Consumption. disease with which
hippopotami are generally afflicted, was
stated in the death certificate as the cause
Of his demise, but there are those who state
that the poor young thing died of grief. It
was christened "McGinty" Death came
so soon after the christening az to give sup
port 70 the allegation that the little beast
passed on to another life rather than stay
here living monument to an ancient
chestnut"
McGinty's brother or sister (time only
viii tell) was born at LOS O'Clock Saturday
morning In the carnivora house Of the Zoo.
Its mother, Annie. and Caliph, its
daddy have been out in the big open air
tank all summer, but two weeks ago the
mother was taken indoors in anticipation
<rff h. <sAH L.
Since that time the old lady has been very
nervous and has laid around her cage with
. most melancholy expression on her
broad features. Caliph, on the contrary,
has been waIlowing around in his out
door tank with . satisfied smile on his face.
To the morning greetings of his furred and
feathered' neighbors he replied, with q
supercilious sniff, and even growl of con-
graduation from the king Of beast was ut
terly ignored.
The carnivora house is kept closely
guarded so that nobody can approach to
disturb Annie Murphy and her offspring
When McGinty was born Annie seemed to
have dislike for him, so much so that
the keepers had to take the namesake of
to bring it up on . bottle. Annie displays
great affection for the present little one,
however, and feeds it as q good, ladylike
hippopotamus should. This is greatly at
variance with the well-established zoologi-
cal truth that affection among hippopo-
tami has been found not to exist. As q
matter of fact it is considered quite proper
in fashionable hippopotami circles for the
parent to end the existence of the child by
planting its ponderous foot on the young
ones neck. This and the lung trouble to
which they are 90 liable account for the
fact that hippopotami are such q luxury.
Whether or not Mrs Murphy's affections
will prove tickle it is hard to say. but she is
being closely watched, and if she shows
any symptoms of a desire to perpetrate i'm
fanticide the young one will be taken away.
1t is to be hoped that she will continue to
nourish the little one, for on that depends
almost its only hope of life. Breeding hip
popotami by the bottle process has been
found to be almost q sure way of killing
them. Young Murphy appears to be
strong and healthy. 1t looks like little.
hut very unshapely pink pig, with dark red
polka dots all over its person. 1t weighs
about seventh pounds, but if tlives a week
il will weigh 200 or 800 pounds and the red
polka dots will spread and gradually turn
regulation gray color.