The Washington herald., 1907-10-24

Capt. Ronald Amundsen's recently an
nounced plan 10 use polar bears as
draft animals to reach the north pole
in 1910 is only another proof Of twentieth
century mans determination to further
divert the strength of the lower animals
10 his own use. Capt Amundsen's four
great bears are now being broken for the
work by Hagenbeck. the famous animal
trainer.
The civilized nations in general and the
United States in particular have in the
past century made many valuable in
vestisations in the animal world. The
most recent and interesting work of this
nation is that Of producing a new hybrid
animal lsnown as the zebrula, a cross be
tween horse and q zebra. The expert
ment is considered one Of the greatest of
modern Tins, as the Zebrula is believed
TO have al the best qualities Of both
horse and zebra. and 20 be larger and
stronger and more capable of heavy work
than the mule The American expert
mcnt is being conducted at the govern
ment station at Bethesda, near Wash
ingtou, the beautiful zebra that King
Menel!k sent the President having been
sent out there from the Zoo.
Three mares have been successfully
bred 10 MenelIks zebra. two of the
'Percheron type and the third driving
mare Of patriciau LoudOun County, Va,
stock. This Virginia mare is none other
than Baby, who was driven for some time
by Supt. Baker. Of the zoo. and is widely
known to Washington folk. Baby is just
now the object of much care and solici-
tudc on the part of the attendants at the
experiment station. for about December
! she is expected to present TO the Amcri-
can government its HTst ZebTula, ana so
offer the nation a substitute for the
mule.
The zebrula has. to a small extent,
been known abroad for ten or twelve
years. The first one successfully bred
in England was In 1896 Now, Lord
Rothsehild has a team Of these. as well
as one of fuH-blood zebras. Carl Hagen
beck has been successful with crosses
between the Chapman zebra and pony
built mares. conducting an experiment
station at his zoo near Hamburg; and
Baron DO Parana. of Brazil, has also
been successful in securing a good zeb-
Tula The animals heretofore used have
chiefly been Chapman's or Burchells
zebras, which are not much longer than
a donkey. The American experiment
should prove better, because the So
maitland zebra chosen is of vastly larger
build. That the efficiency Of the zebrula
has been proved is shown in a report
of Consul General GuentEar four years
- w CT IN NH fau
many. He cited instances where It had
been successfully tried by the Indian
government IN army transport work.
The zebrUla, which Baby is expected
TO present to the government. viii. when
grown, have the characteristics and ap-
pearance Of both horse and zebra, with
striking marks not so deeply defined as
on the father and his kin of the African
wids and VIII be larger than the aver
age mule. The ears viii De three inches
longer than a mules ears, and the head
three feet long. II is an old saying in
the South that a go0d-sized mule must
have head and ears longer than a flour
barrel, and If the comparative statistics
of mule and zebrula are reliable, the
Zebrula will easily stand the test with
ea~-tips well over the measure. Ola
Abyssinian traditions declare that King
MCnelik is a direct descendant Of King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. and if
this be true, II is not a hard matter 20
find the source Of that wisdom which led
TO the selection Of this valuable gift 10
the United States, and so be Indirectly
responsible for a new draft animal in
q land Of commercial enterprise.
The United States. with Congress ever
clinging to her skirts in half-voiced pro-
test against too great expenditures, has
nevertheless made some most remarkable
strides in the development of her doTes-
tic animals. Columbus records IN his
diary that he found among the Indians
"dogs that did not bark" wolves, per-
haDs, that had been brought from West
ern America. These We're the only do
nestle animals then on this CONT
neut. Horses and hogs came in the
train Of Cortez. TO later run wild and
become progenitors of small and hardy
he-ds, and the bloodhoUnds he brought
10 guard his Indian slaves were fol-
lowed centuries later by the more tract
able animals of the Spanish, English,
and French settlers. Within the three
centuries Of the nations existence almost
every other useful animal has been
brought over and improved upon, until
the United States ranks high in ali
branches Of animal industry. More than
once interesting attempts 10 induce Old
World beasts of burden to help solve
Americas problems Of agriculture and
transportation have been tried.
One Of the most interesting Of these
was the introduction Of camels by the
War Department in 1856. to be used for
military and postal work in the desert
countries Of the Southwest Jefferson
Davis, then Secretary Of War, was the
prime mover in the novel scheme. Through
his efforts an appropriation Of $4,000 for
this purpose was secured from Congress
on March 3, 1850 and in May Maj. Henry
c. Wayne, Of the army, and Lieut.. D.
D Porter, Of the navy, were sent to buy
the animals. The men studied the camels
IN the ZOOS of England, France, and
Germany, and interviewed native and
foreign army men in Salonica. Damascus.
Palmyra, KuTdistan. and Cairo as to the
efficiency of the camel in war. In the
Cr.mea they saw Col. MclIurd0, who said
he then had 5000 camels in military
service and had found them of inval-
liable aid in the expedition against Sind.
1t was found that two soldiers mounted
back to back on a camel could do ef-
fective gun work, that on q march an
animal could make seventy miles be-
tween sunset and sunrise, and in trans
porting military supplies they were in
valuable. All these facts the American
ENJOYS communicated to Secretary Davis
with the information that the presents
Of such animals had been offered by the
Sultan Of Turkey and the Viceroy Of
Egypt. Hekekyan Bey. an Egyptian gem
tra70aD urepared a brochure on the camel