Evening star., 1927-08-07

ears still are invaluable associates Of
the imagination and who are anIe 'C
transform the lion house into me
depths Of an African jungle with
great beasts couched in the bushes to
spring upon them.
The scientific students and the art
lists are a small but select group who
come day after day for months at
time to study the traits of individual
animals. Upon the basis Of such
observations, notable contributions 10
scientific literature have been made.
A notable example is that Of Ernest
Thompson Seton, che noted American
naturalist and author of books On am
NAL lore. who spent more than
month last Summer studying the Ia n
r,laCe and communal habits of the
prairie dogs. Mr.. Seton found that
the Zoo colony offered him more al
vantages for such Il study than would
Western prairie dog community,
and he was able to determine that the
little animals used certain simple
words which constituted sort Of
| "inhection language" different de-
grees OF emphasis conveying some
elemental ideas. such as fear, love and
! jealousy.
Other notable studies have been
made at the Zoo Of the habits OF the
| American eagles, and some distin-
gushcd animal psychologists, both
American and European, have made
use Of tho facilities Of the monkey
house in an effort to probe the intelli-
gence Of these forest creatures. The
most recent of these scientific studies
was made By a California naturalist
on the habits of the giant Galapagos
! turtlet.
| Artists are. frequent visitors and
| often spend weeks studying the con
tours and poses of some particular ami
NAL Stephen Haweis, notable mod
| erniSt painter. has been at the Zoe
for several months engaged in an in
tensive study Of the characteristic
lines of various African mammals
which he is placing on canvas
| Sculptors frequently are to be founc
| in front of the various cages, and
taxidermists take advantage Of the
| opportunity to learn something Of tbs
life appearance Of creatures which
| they expect to stuff.
This group of students naturally
| constitutes a small minority OF the
three million. But their observations
are considered of more permanent
value than those of all the other visi
tors, and every effort is made to pro
vide special facilities for them.
The Washington Zoo, officials point
! out. differs fundamentally both in or
ganization and purpose from other
American animal collections. 1t was
not intended primarily for the amuse
! ment of the people. but as an adjunct
10 a great scientific institution. The
first animals which constituted the
! nucleus of the collection were kept or
the grounds of the Smithsonian In
|
mems, and the idea OF students shar
ing their possessions with the public
came later. The Zoo, started by Sec
retary Samuel p. Langley of the
Smithsonian Institution, still remains
! under the administration of that sci
entifc body and is employed not only
as a valuable adjunct to the stuffed
and bottled collections there, but q:
an important laboratory for the Blu
reau of Animil Industry, the Biologi
cal Survey and other Government de
partments concerned with the inten
sive study of animal life. The collec
tons are greatly augmented from
year to year by the contributions par
ticularly of the Biological Survey.
x* -
4 PRIMARY object is to make thu
"A Zoo a depository for live Nortl
American animals, particularly thos'
living within the continental United
States, Alaska, Hawaii, Samoa, The
Virgin Islands and Porto Rico. Thl
purpose is met partially by the Nortf
American waterfowl pond, which ha:
been built up largely from Biological
Survey contributions, and by the
splendid collection of American cats
bears and small mammals. An i'm
portant part of American territory
the Philippine Islands. is almost un
represented because of various epizoo
tics which have made it necessary t.
bar importations.
But the Zoo must serve the pur
poses not only of a scientific institu
ton but of city park. During the
past few years in particular all the
larger American cities have beer
building up extensive animal collec
tions. and these now are considered
essential parts of the municipal or
ganization. New Yo~k's Bronx Zoo
is the finest in the world. Philadelphia
has built up the second finest zoo ir