The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-14
DOMESTICATIHG ZEBRAS
EXPERIMENTS OF BARON FALZ-FEIN
ON HIS RUSSIAN FARM.
The Animals Is Easily Trained and
Likely TO Prove Useful-Immune
to Horse Diseases.
of the Indianapolis Journal.

ST. PETERSBURG, Dec. 1.-The dread
horse pest "tsetse,' that cost England 200
600 animals in the late Boer war, and which
is the most serious drawback to warfare in
semi tropical and tropical countries-not to
forget the Philippines-may be unconQuer-
able, but Russia is about to give the world
new domestic animal for use in war and
peace-the zebra and crossbreds between
zebra and different specimens of horses.
Experiments with the zebra have been
going on for some years at Ascania Nova,
in the south Russian steppe, from where
your correspondent has just returned. The
director of this first and only zebra stud
farm is Baron Falz-Fein, the African ex-
plorer, who began business on a small
scale with a single pair of tiger horses
which he brought with him from German
southwest Africa. The baron consented to
tell his own story.
"The sad experiences of foreign nations
with imported and native horses and other
cattle in tropical and semi-tropical coun-
tries led me to think he said, that our
domestic animals for mounts, draught pur-
poses and food are no longer what they
ought to be. As culture and environment
has loaded civilized man with all sorts of
diseases the savage knows not-headache,
nervousness, biliousness, paresis, etc.-so
our horses and beef are amenable to thou
sand ills. doubtless due to long associa-
ton with man, condition of the soil and
fodder. The rinderpest has decimated the
cattle of Russia; it threatened at one time
to wipe out that of England. The same
disease impoverished the farmers of Afri-
ca as far as the dark continent is under
European sway. And for this, as for the
foot and mouth disease, there is no cure
save to kill and bury. THE United States
government is doing this at present with
the live stock of the New England States.
-Editor1
And kill and bury-Professor Koch not
withstanding-is the only cure Great Britain
and Germany have so far discovered for
the tsetse plague, that in the late war
killed fifty times more English horses than
Boer bullets fatigue and general diseases.
''These considerations gave me the idea
| for the zebra stud farm. Long continued
| experiments in Africa had convinced me
| that the tiger-horse is not subject to tsetse,
| or, in fact, TO any of the innumerable dis
| eases to which our horse is heir-in a re-
| cent Encyclopedia find no less than sixty
| two mentioned 1 also knew that the
stories about the zebra's utter unfitness
| for domestication were untrue; finally, 1
| found that, once trained, he is a good
| worker. Why not reclaim him. then, from
| the wilderness and make him work for his
| living?
ZEBRAS TAKEN TO RUSSIA.
with that end in view L laid out the
| animal farm Ascania Nova, where wild
! animals have almost as much liberty as at
| their home. with that difference however,
| that gradually, very gradually, they are
accustomed to the society of man and to
his civilizing and domineering influence.
"Ascania Nova contains 5000 acres of
fenced-in ground, mostly steppe. 1 grow
| here, besides zebras, ostriches, antelopes
and Monaghan wild horses. All these ami
| mails roam about at will, with certain re-
strictions, of course, but there are no
| special ostrich parks, or antelope kralls''
or horse meadows. AS in Gods free nature,
the animals mix, but there is little or no
| friction. Indeed, the zebras and antelopes
| are fast friends.
II brought with me from Africa a pair
| of zebras of the kind that is known after
| it's discoverer as Bdrchelrs zebra. They
are natives of German Southwest Africa
and belong to the species the Beers call
quagga, stout animal, standing on the
average about thirteen to fourteen hands
high. This zebra has short ears, a long
and well-deve!oped name and a thickly-
| haired tail. 1t Is also remarkable for the
| absence of the transverse bars connecting
| the stripe on the middle of the back with
| the uppermost of those on the launches,
| and likewise by the union of every alter
| nate body-stripe with its fellow on the
| middle of the under surface of the body.
| The tail and legs are quite devoid Of
stripes. The ground-color varies from
| white to yeliowish brown, and the stripes
| are brown or black The hoofs are formed
like a pony's. 1 selected the species be-
cause it is a plain-dwelling animal, the
typical representative of the striped group
and commonly found associating with
ostriches and antelopes.
"Ostriches I intended breeding alongside
the zebra, and antelopes were added to my
| menagerie for experimental purposes. This
animal you must know, is easily subject to
rnderpest and kindred diseases.
zebra hunting is excellent sport. I got
my specimens north of the Victoria Nyan-
"a, where herds of from two to twelve in
dividuals are frequently met with. The
largest male always has charge of the herd
while antelopes keep watch. If not urged
too much at the start they kept in single
file, the stations being in front, but when
hard pursued they ran more in lump, and
at such times it required a really good
horse to overtake them. When one was
wounded it invariably separated from the
remainder of the troop. The neigh of this
species resembles the subdued whining
bark of a dog.
| "As we were after the live animal ]
adopted the method usually pursued at ele-
plant hunts-that is, 1 engaged a large
number of beaters-in and placed and ma
neuvered them so as to form a huge circle
around the herd after it had been located
+ OF course an Enclosure to hold the prison
ers, If made any, had been previously
provided.
1.-The living chain. at a certain hour and
minute, moved forward from all sides