Evening star., 1926-11-15
RECORD CROWDS
FLOCK TO THE zoo
85,0 900 Believed to Have
Been in Park Yesterday to
See New Animals.

The biggest attendance ever known
at the Zoo milled through the animal
houses yesterday, drawn by the new
and rare wild animals on exhibition
which were brought back by DR.. WI
liam NJ. Mann from the Tanganyika
province of East Africa.
William H. Blackburn, headkeeper,
estimated the attendance at more than
IS 900 and an exact count probably
would have raised this figure. Zoo
officials, however, were prepared. The
record attendance week ago was
warning that, If the day was fair. the
attendance yesterday would break all
previous marks.
During the afternoon the park roads
were almost a solid mass of autOmo-
biles. yet the traffic was handled so
efficiently that the congestion did not
result in any smash-ups. Any con
tention that the Zoo mainly attracts
children was disproved yesterday.
Children actually were minor per
centage of the crowd.
Giraffes Big Attraction.
Probably the giraffes were the great
est attraction. 1t was impossible 10
get within many feet of the big cage
at the north end of the birdhOuse. once
the crowd was under way. Many,
even among the older people, never
had seen a giraffe before and very
few had seen baby giraffe. The two
were on their best behavior and
seemed only slightly nervous at the
thousands of staring eyes fixed upon
them. They pranced about like ex
tremely graceful dancers. They rubbed
necks. Their great, moist eyes gazed
with an expression of curiosity upon
the peculiar two-legged animals who
were coming to their new home IN
such numbers.
But during the afternoon 1t some
times required foot ball tactics to get
into the lion house. Here there was
q real thrill. The four leopards. genu-
inc man eaters, saw right In front OF
| them the most plentiful. tasty. juicy
dinner they ever had known--enough
good, live meat to keep them from go
ing hungry for a year. 1t seemed to
them that 1t only was necessary To
reach out paw and grab squirming.
screaming man or woman as q bird
grabs q worm.
But there was something mysteri-
| GUS in the way-cold, narrow bars OF
| iron. This appealed to the leopards
of the creatures they had just got ac-
quainted with. Antelopes, giraffes.
goats and such, upon which they feed
| in their native land, never had re-
sorted to anything so unfair to keep
from being eaten.
LeOpards i'm Bad HumOr.
Thoroughly angry and disgusted at
such treatment, the four leOpardS kept
of ino
snarling and gnashing of teeth. There
| was a real thrill to the crowd in the
| thought that they stood within few
| inches of horrible snarling death and
! that only few bars protected them
1 from the bloodthrSty beasts. Zoo
attendants were on hand to see that
| they did not poster the beasts, and
they had to content themselves with
| making faces to stimulate the wrath
of the captives. But this usually sue
Lceeded very we'll. The leopards seemed
| to take turns. Every now and then
one of them would decide that the
whole thing was beneath contempt
and lie down for little while.
Much the same sort of thrill was
experienced by the crowds before the
case of the deadly Egyptian and
black splitting cobras. Just a foot
| away was about as certain death as
| 1t is possible TO imagine. 1t would
| follow q sting of those fangs within
a half-hour unless practically unOb-
| tainable serum were applied. Blu
| the visitors could bait death here
| with perfect security.
| Some of the most valued animals.
| from the standpoint of rarity ami
| scientific interest, did not attract
nearly as much attention. There was
record crowd in the antelope house
| all day, but such animals as the
greater Koodu and the graceful.
| beautiful little impalla didn't give
the crowd the thrill that comes with
proximity to danger. They couldn't
have hurt anybody, even if they were
running around loose.
Elephant Shrew Absent.
| There were frequent inquiries for
| the elephant shrew. the curious little
| creature who looks like a combina =
| ton of mouse, an elephant and a
kangaroo, who is not yet on eXhibi-
| ton. He probably will be one OF
| the last of the collection placed be
fore the public, as he is very delicate
and has to be nursed as carefully as
any baby.
! The monkey house had more Wis
itors than ever before, and the
| monkeys, new and old. enjoyed it.
| They played for the crowd. cutting
up all sorts of capers. Sometimes
more than a dozen of them could be
| seen at one time clinging to the top
Of the bars of their cages and ap-
| parently studying the people who
milled by.
| 1t was hard test for the personnel
of the Zoo, it was stated today, and
| they came through it remarkably
we'll, considering that there was not
a single accident and no very bad
| Jams, even in the giraffe house.