The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-10
MODEL MOTHRRSAF THE zoo
THE BABIES IN DANGER OF TOO
MUCH CARE.

-SFhe LIoness Robbed of Her
wheIps" No Mere Figure OF Speech
Dry Nursing the AnimaIs-Ons Cruel
Grizzly.
At a geological garden the baby ami
mails are the favorites with the public.
A crowd is always found in front of
their cages.
This is not surprising. Baby animals,
like human babies, have many capti-
waiting little tricks, and the maternal
love displayed behind the bars of the
cages often makes pretty sight.
Take mamma baboon. There is no
better mother in the world. She sits at
the back of her cage all day long,
watching every movement of her off
spring with happy wide.
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 danger she springs
into him, coddles' him tightly in her
arms and retreats to the back of the
cage, chattering furiously.
4.AS a rule said her keeper, 'she is
one of the best tempered monkeys we
have, btu now that she has this young
ster it's dangerous to go near her. She
seems to think the whole world is in
conspiracy to hurt the kid
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 examine 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. "a.
YES" he replied; "they are the best
mothers in the world. Most animals
make good mothers, but the monkey is.
the best of all. The most pathetic
sight ever saw was monkey mother
mourning over her dead baby
To the question, Elbow do you man.
age to keep the babies alive?' gray
haired, veteran keeper replied:
1T isn't up to US as rule. We
leave it to the mothers when we can.
They know more about it than we do,
and MEN times out of ten they wouldn't
let US interfere, anyway, if they could
help it. You try to teach lioness or
a, female chimpanzee how to mind her
baby, and she will soon let you know
her views on the subject.
Now and then, however, the mother
dies, and we have to do our stunt as
dry nurses. It isn't easy.
First of ALL we have to win the
confidence and love of the baby, which
has been taught by its mother to re-
gard mankind with suspicion. Often
the aggravating little creature won't
eat or drink and food has to be forced
down its throat. i
sI know a keeper who brought up
baby grizzly on the bottle. He used to
nurse it in his arms just like a child,
give it its milk and sing lullabies to
hush it to sleep. 1t grew quite fond of
hirnssRnd as soon as it could walk it
- tss1.aE him about the place like
THE question of the milk is always
serious one 1t is extremely difficult
to get a fluid resembling the mothers
milk Mistakes are often made, and
we have to learn by experience.
I'VE use condensed milk mixed in
boiled water for baby monkeys. Into
a quart of this we squeeze the juice of
two bananas through cheesecloth
and also some orange Juice.
Small monkeys, such as ringtails
and marmosets, are fed from the bot
tie, just like human babies; but the
larger monkeys are taught to drink out
of a cup from infancy. They are
stronger than human babies, and can
lift the cup when they are very young
Sometimes baby monkeys cannot be
Induced to take any nourishment from
The Keepers hand. In that case the
skin of an animal or some hairy cloth
is laid upon the floor of the cage with
several bottles of milk under it.
Holes are cut in the cloth, through
f which the nipples of the bottles pro-
trude. The monkey is then left alone,
and, sooner or later, he will take all
the milk he needs. +, ~ III
f'Mountain sheep are raised on ordi-
mary cows milk in which gass has been
STEPPED. Bear cubs are fed upon milk
and zweibaek. A great many of these
cubs are caught in Germany, when
their eyes are hardly open, by shooting
their parents; and zweiback is regarded
as, the best food for them.
Wolf cubs are also fed on it some
times, but they get beef tea as well as
milk. Juvenile snakes are easily pro-
vided for. All you have to do is to
crush UP grasshoppers small enough
for them to swallow. Lion cubs are
raised by the bottle on milk and beef
tea
Baby antelopes, wolves, foxes and |
many other animals have been success
fully raised ON the bottle by keepers.
Some time ago a baby hippopotamus
had to be dry nursed at the Central
Park Zoo in New York. 1t was found
that cows milk mixed with the juice |
of crushed grass was the nearest ap-
preach to the milk of the mother.
The Central Park Zoo is famous the |
world over for its success in raising
baby hippos The hippopotamus very
rarely breeds in captivity, and practi- |
cally all those which have been pro-
duced in recent years have come from |
Central Park. They are traded off to |
- =.