Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-24
Nature Faker Is Beaten by
True Tales About Animals

L
consists of a daintily served saucer of
rice, chopped meat and sliced bananas,
with raw egg spread over the top
of it. He never takes a bite until the
offering has been thoroughly shifted.
If the egg is not perfectly fresh he
will decline to eat a bite of his din
ner. going off to a far corner and
sulking like a child or husband.
Like Their War Bread.
co far as the twenty-eight bears in
~ the Zoo-polar. cinnamon, black.
grizzly, and all others-are concerned,
the world war is still going on at
full blast. Like their two-legged
brothers and sisters. the bears were
obliged to eat war bread during the
economical days of the overseas hos
tilities. 1t proved to be SO very bene-
fetal to the health of the bruins that
it's use was made permanent. Each
afternoon at O'Clock the keepers
hand each bear loaf OF bread, which
is made from mixture of graham
and wheat fiours and bran 1t is de-
voured with the same rapldity ana
enjoyment as Nermonter eating a
wedge of pie, or a Texan tamalie.
Horse meat is the only other KIND OF
food given the bears, except occa-
sionally a few vegetables or some
grass. Prior to the war beef was
used. but it was found that horse meat
was enjoyed just as well, besides cost
ing less. The bread for the bears Is
baked at the Zoo, 300 pounds OF IL
being required daily.
Exactly one hour before feeding
time all the bears commence RAPID
parade back and forth across their
dens, always on the side nearest the
path traversed by the Keeper, VINO
frings the bread and meat in wheel
barrow. The moment they hear the
creek of that wheelbarrow they al
most go wild with joy, jumping u'
and down like hungry kiddies al q
picnic.
Concerning the Bears.
MANY persons naturally suppose
A'A that polar bears suffer from I'll.
heat during the summer months The
keepers will tell you that the lions
and tigers, natives of hot countries
suffer far more from summer heat
than either the polar or Alaskan
bears Strange, isn't II?
The European brown bear is the
one usually seen accompanying ltln-
Grant street exhibitions 1t naturally
stands erect on its hind feet much
more than do the other bears, and is
consequently, much more readily
trained for such purposes.
The great and confusing variety OF
bears found in northwestern America
has puzzled naturaliStS since the firsi
discovery of those huge beasts. Some
of the brown bears OF Alaska, notably
those of the Alaskan peninsula anG
Kodiak Island are the largest OF al
living species and appear to be in
timately related to the brown bears of
trvan va
bears of Europe. Several species OF
the great Alaskan brown bears are
shown in the Zoo.
The grizzly bear is perhaps the most
celebrated of all the bears and has the
greatest reputation for strength and
ferocity. In the early days of the
west the grizzly was very plentiful.
and no story of adventure in that re-
gion was complete unless it intro
duced the "silver tip" at some point
in the tale. Nowadays grizzly bears
are rare or completely eXterminated
over most of their range in the United
States, but are still found plentifully
in the Yellowstone National Park
from which place most of the Zoo
specimes come. In the Rocky noun
tains OF Canada, and particularly in
e arlao fonDd ny nsa Species
and subspecies Of grizzlies are now
recognized.
Horse without Horse Sense.
HORSE without horse sense il
about the only way the famous
wild horse at the Zoo can be charac
terized. He is fairly sociable little
animal until some one tries to put
halter on him, and then he suddenly
gets the idea that he is a hair-trigger
combination of whirlwind, cyclone
jaZzy lightning and TINT. He leaps
in the air, kicking and believing with
wild rage and pitiable fright. endeav-
oring to land with all tours on the
detested object with a halter in his
hands No halter has thus far encir-
cled his neck. and the chances are
that one never Will.
This wild horse is of the Monaghan
species called Przewalskfs horse:
which is the only living species of
truly wild horse. 1t inhabits the
Cobb desert region of central Asia.
where living specimens were captured
by an expedition organized by Ha
genbeck in 1900. The descendants of
logical gardens in many parts Of the
world. In his long, shaggy winter
coat this horse is a creature of rare
appearance.
Eats Feathers md All.
da is not troubled about the II.
c. L. He never eats more than one
meal a month. which consists of Il
four or five pound chicken. devoured
in one gulp, feathers and all. He has
no trouble in digesting both feathers
and bones, but if any corn happens
to be in the craw of the chicken it
will remain undigested.
The boa constructors make their.
monthly meal on from one to four
rats, according to their size. Birds
and mice are the food of the black
snakes. The big pythons eat from
three to four pigeons every ten days.
During the cold months of Novem-
Der, December and January the alli-
gators eat practically nothing. At no
time are they what could be termed
big eaters. The biggest of them never
eat more than five or six fish at
meal.
The sea lions are the big Ash eat
ers. They gulp half of a large buck
etful at each meal. Sea lions never