The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-27

ooh, mamma, look! The dear, little
baby monkey! Isn't it cunnin'?'
That is the kind of exclamation heard
continually at the Zoo in any city in
the United States. Whether 1t be the
New York Geological Park in the
Bronx-the finest of its kind in the
world-the Zoo" in Philadelphia, or in
San Francisco, or Boston, or Chicago
the keepers will tell you the same thing.
ut is the babies of the Zoo who are
the favorites with all our visitors. The
cages in which our baby animals are
confined always have crowds around
them. while the finest grown-up speci-
mems are UNDECIDED. Give the public
few funny four-footed babies to look
at, and it is happy; but the Zoo With
out babies is q dead show.
This is not surprising. BABY AMI
mails. like baby humans, have many
captivating little tricks and the ma
ternal love displayed behind the prison
bars of tibet Zoo would put many a
| careless human mother to shame.
Mrs. BabOon the Pattern Mother.
Take Mamma Baboon-the mother
of that dear, little baby monkey.
| There is no better mother in the
world. She sits at the back OF her
cage all day long, watching every
movement of her offspring with happy
pride. She let's him gambol about as
much as he likes, so that he may grow
strong and agile but the moment she
thinks he is running into the slightest
danger she springs upon him, cuddles
| him tightly in her arms, and retreats
| to the back of the cage, chatterlnS
| furiously.
"As a rule" said her keeper, she
is one of the best-tempered monkeys
| we have got, but now that she has
| this youngster it's dangerous to go
near her. We used to be great friends,
| but now shes snarls at me even when
| ! bring her food. She seems to think
the whole world is in conspiracy to
| hurt the kid"
While he was speaking the baby
| baboon clambered up the side of his
/ home to look at some orang- outangs
| in the next cage The cages were not
| separated by bars, as is usual In
ZOOS, bur by a thick plate glass parti-
| ton. Resenting the babys inquisi-
| tiveness, the orang-outangs screamed
GROSSLY at him.
Mamma Balloons anger was aroused
| in an instant. How dared those COM
| mon monkeys speak disrespectfully to
|
| she tried to work her way through
! the glass partition so that she might
tear them to pieces. She bit and claw
| ed and butted and kicked, and when
at last she found 1t was impossible to
get through, she contented herself
with telling the orang-outangs what
| she thought of them in language
which sounded highly profane.
A photographer came along and
tried to take the baby's picture. The
little fellow, insatiably curious like
most babies, was willing enough to
come to the front of the cage and ex-
anime the little black box. But the
mother was suspicious. Again and
again she dragged him as far from the
evil eye of the camera as possible
until the photographer had eventually
to give up in despair.
Are all monkey mothers as good
as this one?" the keeper was asked.
Yes" he replied. "They are the
bets mothers in the world. Most ami
mails make good mothers, but the
monkey is the best of all. The most
pathetic sight 1 ever saw was a mon
key mother mourning over her dead
baby"
Zoo Babies are Not Common.
Not many monkeys are born in cap
tlvity, especially OF the larger kinds.
Balloons and chmpanzees rarely breed
in ZOOS. There are more monkey ba-
bies born al the Bronz Zoo than In any
other American institution, and in
deed, more animal babies of every kind.
That Is because the authorities at the
Bronx keep the animals as nearly IN a
state OF nature az possible. They give
them larger cages than any other roo
10 the world, with trees and rocks. 50
that they may run and Chamber and
swing themselves about a. they would
90 in their native lungles and noun
talns. The rigOrs Of captivity are thus
aoftened. and The animals are kept IA
excellent health and spirits.
10 the question, How DO you MANI