Evening star., 1931-06-21
PLANS JUNGLE TRIP
!. FOR QUEER BEASTS
Dr. William Mann to Lead
Zoo Party lin Guiana
Next Month.

Or. william M. Mann, director Of the
Zoo, will head an snir al-collecting ex-
pAdition into the jungles Of British
Guiana next month. y
sDr. Mann plans to establish his head
quarters among the bush Indians Of
this region and cover q wide area with
traps. Some of the worlds strangeSt
creatures are among the objectives Of
the expedition. ~
Is q "mermaid"-that is, South Amer
lean nanatee, the creature whose curl
Gus appearance and habits are re
sponsihle for the mermaid legend. The
manatee Is q mammal which lives in
the slow-fiowing rivers. The female
sometimes stands upright In the water,
holding her infant between her f1ippers,
Although. DR.. Mann says, she looks
take on a certain human appearances,
especially In poor light, which in the
past resulted in the mermaid illusion.
Die In Captivity.
"MermaidS" do not live well In cap
tivity and now there are none in cap
tivity in the United States. One has
lived for two years in the Amsterdam
200. There are few animals of the
'same general family still left in Florida
rivers but they cannot be captured.
Another animal Or. Mann wants Is
Q bush dog. One Lived for years at the
z9o and was. famous as the dog that
sang like a bird Except for this
specimen no white man ever has seen
oil iva nd De a
jungle Indian ever has set eyes on one.
The one which was shown in Washing
ton was purchased by DR.. Mann from
a Brazilian Indian who had happened
to capture it. :,
1t is a little red dog with partially
webbed feet, quite way on the road
toward becoming an otter. The
chances are, DR.. Mann says, that ii
lives only in the deepest swampS and
is an entirely nocturnal creature. Not
even the Indians venture about the
swsmpS at night.
Became Pet at Zoo.
Once captured, however, the bush dos
Is very docile creature and the one
kept for so many years in Washington
vas a general pet.
There is a possibility, DR.. Mann said
that the expedition may capture gian
armadillo. So far as is known, there
never has been one in captivity. It i
a monster burrowing creature, with Z
shell 3 feet long and powerful claw
AS long as 8 inches; With these claws
says DR.. Mann, it could literally wall
throgh board" and If one is captured
it will be necessary to have metal con
tainer to get 1t out Of the jungle.
Another rare creature sought by DR.
Mann is the pitheria monkey, notable
for the long hair which covers tn
whole Of its body. He also wants II
get a family OF howler monkeys. The,
often have been brought to the Unitet
States, but have lived only a few
months. They seem to die, the Zo'
director said, Of combination of som
dietary deficiency and loneliness. Will
f1ve or six to keep each other company
he believes the nutritionAl problems ma.
be overcome.
Lives On Human Blood.
This Is the country of the great yam
pire bat, which sucks human blood
II DR.. Mann is able to capture one h
that It Is practically impossible to keel
one of them In captivity. First there
q difnculty Of feeding them on tnei
favor1te diet. Even II they could b
given enough blood, it has been fount
that they need lot Of exercise. Re
strained in cage they soon die.
British Guiana, DR.. Mann said, IS ;
paradise for the reptile hunter. Amonl
the creatures he hopes to bring bacl
is the Surinam toad. AS soon as thu
female of this species lays her egg
the male picks them up In his claw;
. and Stuffs them into little pockets or
her back. Here they hatch out and re.
main for several days so that the moth
er's body Seers completely covered with
emerging babies. He will look out also
for the dendrobateS frog, tiny creature
with very vivid black-green coat which
secreteS from its skin one of the mos
virulent poiSons known to man. The
Indians use it to poison their arrow
tips and once 1t enters the blood stream
1t is fatal OF course. no men ever are
killed by the frogs themselves because
they have no way of getting their
venom into the blood stream by their
own efforts.
Giant Toad Sought.
There is another frog which carries
her young In a pouch on her back
Buffo marinus, the giant toad which is
sometimes q foot long, Is one of the
prizes sought.
One Of the birds sought by the ex-
pedition is "sloth-eating eagle" which
DR.. Mann describes as the most DOW
erful Of all birds of prey. He Is Sc
curing from Africa the "monkey-eat-
ing eagle, close relative of the South
American bird. He also hopes to secure
some Of the brilliant plumaged birds of
the Guiana tungles, including the UNI
brella bird. the cock-of-the-ro and
the bell bird.
He plans to enter the country with
one attendant from the zoo staff, push
on to. the, Indian country, and hire
natives to scout the bush for all the
birds. mammals and reptiles they, can
secure.