Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-30
THE WILD ANIMAL BUSINESS-By Frederic j. Haskin

tigers and leopards. There is at least one
pelt of totally black tiger in the United
States.
On the fur of the black leopard, in the
proper light, the outlines of the spots may be
seen easily. This over-supply of pigment in
some other birCs and animals is not uncom-
mon, some varieties of hawks often being
much darker than the ordinary color of their
brothers and sisters.
The offspring of black leopard might all
be the usual spotted animals, but in some
other kinds of beasts, by careful selection and
breeding, INST of the young ones born will
be augmented to sucf an extent that all will
present an appearance very different from the
original animal In one notable instance, the
darker animals have been produced in COM
mercial quantities, and excellent specimens
command prices hundred times as great as
the lighter coloreo specimens of the breed.
This case is that of the so-called silver
black fox. This fox is exactly the same fox
the common red one. Occasionally in the
United States among litter of young foxes
melanistic puppy was discovered, and in
canada this was more common. Sometimes
some of the young ones would be darker on
some parts of the pelt, and this skin is known
commercially as the "cross fox
Breeding Silver Foxes
Careful selection Of the blacklist of the
melanistic foxes from generation to genera
ton developed the silver black fox, some
specimens of which are worth So, 900, as COM
common red fox brings.
Fox farms where these beasts are raised
for the fur they bear have become quiet COM
mon in the United States and Canada. The
department of agriculture says there are
about 400 fox farms in this country devoted
mostly to the propagation of silver black
foxes, and that there are more than 5000
such foxes now in the United States. Several
hundred are killed each year for the fur
trade.
In developing the silver black fox, it was
found that in parts of Canada, particularly
Prince Edward island, the black fox puppies
occurred more frequently than in the United
States, and most Of the black foxes imported
here came from Prince Edward Island. Can
ada, according to the figures in the possession
of the department of agriculture, now pos
sesses about 5000 silver black foxes in cap
tivity.
The black fox and the black leopard and
few other melanistic forms are common
enough not to be freaks, and therefore have
a legitimate place in ZOOS. Most animal ex-
perts contend that out md out freaks have
not, as they are not representatives of any
breed of animals, but are accidents of nature.
However, Superintendent Rollister, of the
Geological Park in Washington says he is con-
tinually having offered to him five-leggeu
calves, two-headed serpents, md every ether
conceivable strange formation of animal life.
Without exception, these offers refused.
The only beasts approaching an unusual type
of animal harbored in the Washington zoo are
a cross between female ass and zebra, and
a cross between a male zebra and a horse.
These Mr.. HOLSTER pointed out, were not
freaks, but such economic experiments in ami
NAL industry a. the cross between the bison
and the common COW.