The Washington herald., 1911-04-16

Now is the time for the nature lover
to study the marvels Of world in its
new birth. The place is the National
Zoo. Here may be observed the annual
miracles of birth in the vegetable king
dom and the effects, physiological as
well as temperamental of the spring
time upon our furred and feathered dis
tant cousins of the animal world.
You may not have thought of 1t, but
it is a fact that the coming of these
first real days of spring has as marked
an effect upon the denizens of steam
heated cages as upon their brothers
roaming through the native wilds. Cap
tivity alters many Of the habits Of the
animals, but their innate Instincts re-
main unimpaired, and when springtime
comes many of them display most
marked changes both in appearance
and disposition
Activity is the keynote Of these days
at the Zoo. Man, in his role of skilled
workman, is hard at work preparing
the summer homes for his charges. Birds
are blooming forth in new and radiant
Easter dress; our shaggy friend Bruin
chambers growing about his den or
blinks genially in the warm sunshine;
the beavers are busy at their dams; the
scaly inhabitants of the reptile house
shake off their winter torpor and cape
hungrily about in search of the first real
food they have tasted since winter set
in; the big cats rub noses and talk over
the plans for the summer housekeeping.
and the lonely old elephant Dunk"
grows FESTIVE, quarrelsome, and danger
Gus, as the spring wakes in him memoir
les of the jungles and mates of other
days.
Easter Crowds Visit Zoo.
And this is the time of year that the
people of Washington take their Sun
day afternoon stroll through the animal
houses and along the shady lanes of the
Zoo. Last Sunday nearly 10000 people
took the sun in this most interesting
of Washington's public resorts, and to-
day and tomorrow the crowds should
run TO several times that figure. To-
morrow, of course. will be children's
day. Last Easter Monday $500 people
spent part of the day at the Zoo. AS a
place for the annual egg-rolling it has
eclipsed in popularity the White House
grounds.
DR.. Frank Baker. superintendent of
the Zoo, and his assistants have made
every effort to protect their animal
charges from the mischievous pranks of
the hordes of youngsters expected out
Tomorrow. As a further precaution, the
moving of a number of the smaller man.
mails and birds to their summer homes
will be postponed until after tomorrow,
as the after effects of the visiting chill |
dren's generosity with peanuts and their |
often too strenuous curiosity on previous |
Easter Mondays have sometimes proved |
unfortunate
For instance, there is poor old Dunk, |
the elephant, who has been the particu-
lar delight of Washington children,
young and old. for the past eighteen
years. Dunk used to look forward TO
Easter Monday with mountaineering an
ucipation. for ii was the one day of |
the year when he was sure of getting
all the peanuts he could possibly eat
For long time the vast quantities of
these nourishing and delicious little mis-
sileS. hurled into his mouth or tucked |
in his nostrils under the curled tip of
his trunk, had no appreciate i'll effect.
But last Easter Monday the record
breaking crowd made it a record pea
stuffed with peanuts He took all that
came his way and then went about pick
ing up those that had fallen 10 the floor
around him. When evening came he had
consumed several bushels of peanuts by |
actual measurement. In the middle of
the night he became violently i'll, and
for a number of days he kept his keepers
on the jump with medicines and soothing
drinks.
Stuffed HippopOtamus.
While Dunk was making himself ill
On peanuts, the Hippo was being
stuffed with hard-boiled eggs 1t had
been discovered by the egg-rolIing
youngsters that old Hippo's tremendous
cavelike mouth, which he willingly |
stretched TO its utmost at the first sug- I