Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-09
TRAGEDY AND FARCE
Many Queer Things Happen
in the Zoos.
SOME ANIMAL STORIES
STRONG IN THEIR FRIENDSHIP
AND STRONG IN HATRED.
An AmiabIe Polar Bear - a Lion
Fight-Kangaroo Knocked
Out Buffalo.
SOME ANIMAL STORIES

I Written for The Evening Star by Owen Saunders
Every geological garden is rich in stores
of queer incidents in the lives of it's inhabi-
tants. and these stories are full OF tragedy
comedy pathos excitement
In San Francisco there is large recrea-
ton park which is partly made up of a
menagerie Some years ago two orang-
outangs were imported and placed therein
THE orang-outang is naturally gentle
tamable animal but these two specimens
were unusually 80. A miniature bed room
was fitted up for them, containing table,
chairs bed with a mattress, and covers
and dishes from which they ate.
On Sunday Darby and Joan, as the pair
were called, were allowed to show their
housekeeping methods to the public. one
side of their little house was taken out and
replaced by a wire screen, so that they were
fully exposed
Joan was dressed a woman should be,
and Darby was gorgeously arrayed in
pair of short red trousers, green coat and
a leather belt. They would amuse them
selves at playing housekeeping, which they
| did in unusual way by picking their
| teeth with the chair legs. pulling the mat
tress off the bed and showing it under the
! table. OF pushing each other under the bed
| They seemed to enjoy the fun almost as
much as the crowd outside
Darby had an investigating turn Of mind
J NO new article introduced into the room
eyer escaped his eyes. He would seize upon
| it. and by repeated experiments learn it's
use. This habit cost him dearly.
One day a small boy tossed u match in
between the wires. Darbys eyes lighted
with new interest. and he picked up the
match. his mouth screwed up in naive Won
der
/ First he put 1t in his mouth-hfs first test
of any new article-but it did not taste
well. lie found its true use sooner than he
expected Taking the match from his
mouth, Darby rubbed IT on the table, and
| Il fared up into flame. 1t fell on Joan. Her
skirts were made of some inhammab BILE ma
| terial. and the lighted match set them
afiame
; Had she been cool about It, there would
have been no danger, but Joan did not I'M
derstand fire, SO she few from side to side
| of the little room, while her skirts famed
about her Before the keeper could come
! to her rescue she fell on the bed in an
Ehysterical heap. She was taken out and
her burns treated with sweet oil. but the
fright and the smoke and flame she had, in
lhaled proved fatal Next day Darby found
himself a widower.
+ Animal Friendships.
/ Friedship is not uncommon among citi-
zens OF the 200. even between the repre-
sentatives of different species In the New
york Central Park Zoo a big polar bear
and his distant cousin, a grizzly, were con-
fined In tho same pit, but ii was considered
Eexpedient to separate them by a strong
partition of bars. Both were full grown
thusby specimens of their breed, and had
( they ever come together with intent to kill
III is probable that the entire force of keep
'ers could not have separated them
One day small boy threw paper box
| containing some suSared popcorn into the
grizZlys side of the pit 1t fell close to the
partition, and in trying to shove ii away
with his muzzle, the grizzly clumsily pushed
IT into hole just under the partition bars.
The greater part of the hole was the
polar bears side of the house, and he
could easily have pushed out the box. but
he seated himself on his launches and
watched his neighbor trying 10 get his big
paw down the opening of the hole. 1t
fproyed too small. and the box was too deep
down. At last the grizzly gave it up and
sat ruefully regarding his lost treasure.
} Suddenly the polar bear rose to the occa-
ssion. He waddled over to the hole on his
side. rolled over on his side, thrust his paw
down and showed the box up into the griz-
zly's yard.
; Ever after that the two giants were good
friends. The polar bear would often
istretch himself out beside the partition on a
lhot day and poke his long, slim muzzie in
lbetween the bars. Grizzly would drop
tdown, too. and shove his snout over against
his friends, and thus they would sleep for
thours. grunting their dreams into each
'other's ears.
Evened Up the Score.
Another bear story comes from Raymond
l.. Ditmars. head keeper OF the New York
theological Park. but 1t is of a different ma
lture. A pair of brown bear cubs were put
into the same pit with black bar The
latter was almost full grown and larger
than the little brown cubs together. So he
proceeded to bully them. nipplng their tails
when they ate. tumbling them about and
iducking them in the water tank in the mid
idle of the Enclosure. Protest did them no
igood. and the only peace they ever found
twas when they crawled into a little cavity
ibetween the rocks, too small for the black
bear to follow.
K But while the black bear remained much
kthe same size. the little brown cubs grew
Eapace. and soon they approached the size
tof their bully. For time both sides seem