Elephants' Tongues

1895

"Only a few of the many people who have thrown peanuts into the elephants' mouths," said Head Keeper Manley of the zoological gardens to a Philadelphia Record man, "have noticed that the tongue is hung at both ends. A tongue hung in the middle is a human complaint, but elephants have a monopoly on those hung at both ends. The trunk suffices to put the food just where it ought to be, and the tongue simply keeps it moving from side to side over the grinders. When a peanut gets stuck on the elephant's tongue he raises it in the middle, like a moving caterpillar, and the shell cracks against the roof of the mouth, to then disappear down a capacious throat."


Didn't Want to Sneeze

A whimsical old Englishman who died over a century ago left a will in which he stated what he wished done at his funeral. His first request was that sixty of his friends be invited, accompanied by five of the best fiddlers to be found in the town. Second, he wished no tears to be shed, but, on the other hand, insisted that the sixty friends should be "merry for two hours," on penalty of being sent away. And, finally, that "no snuff be brought upon the premises, lest I have a fit of sneezing." — Harper's Young People.


A singed cat dreads the cold.

Hires Nurse to Care for His Pets

1915

Nothing's too good for the pets of the Grant Park Zoo at Atlanta, Georgia.

That's what the zoo keeper, E. T. Boyd, believes. Seven weeks ago a baby lion was born in the zoo. This caused quite a commotion round the place and hundreds of persons became interested in the cub — none, however, as much so as Boyd.

There's a young woman in Atlanta — Miss Margaret Carlisle — who shows much interest in animals of all kinds, especially stray and homeless ones. She, too, became interested in the lion cub. So it came about that Boyd contracted with Miss Carlisle to have her act as nurse for the cub as well as for a small fox terrier, playmate of the baby lion. And now the pets get regular nourishment from their bottle and are waxing fat and healthy-looking.

Czarina the Peevish Python Force-Fed

1910

Star Monster Made to Devour Two Eight-Pound Roosters

New York — The regal or reticulated python Czarina, measuring 24 feet in length, weighing 200 pounds and possessing a color pattern of a richness that rivals oriental tapestry, had to be fed on two eight-pound roosters, feathers and all, at the Bronx park zoo a few days ago, and now it is satisfied and preoccupied with digestion.

Czarina, the star monster of her kind, has been very peevish of late. The keepers in the reptile house notified Curator Raymond L. Ditmars that the big snake had refused food, and it was then decided to force the python to eat. So three husky keepers fearlessly took the creature from its glass cage out into the open. There the reptile wiggled for a half hour while the three keepers tried to straighten it out so that it could be stuffed. And they had to be extremely careful, for if the python should coil itself around the body of one of them it could with great ease crush him to death. After a hard struggle the big snake was forced to swallow two roosters which had been purchased in a Bronx butcher shop for the banquet.

In captivity the regal python is vicious and resents any familiarity on the part of the keeper. While confined it prefers to feed on poultry and can engulf without difficulty, as it did a few days ago, two eight-pound roosters in full feather. Two such fowls usually constitute a square meal, but a very hungry snake of this species will consume four chickens of this size and be ready for more within ten days' time.

During the first few months of confinement very large specimens of this variety of snake appear to suffer from the restraints of captivity, and refuse food. Whenever a large serpent is thus languishing and approaching a suicidal end, it is necessary to feed it by force and thus counteract its sluggish appetite.

Generally young rabbits are killed and tied together with twine; the snake is then held by the keepers as nearly straight as possible and by means of a pole the meal is forced down its throat a distance of about six feet. Food thus administered usually changes the snake's demeanor toward captivity. With such a meal once digested, there comes an appetite for food, which usually can be detected by the snake's actions, although for a time the reptile may lack sufficient courage to feed voluntarily.

Attention on the part of the keeper usually renders a repetition of compulsory feeding unnecessary, although occasional specimens are very stubborn, as in the case of Czarina at the park.

The Zoo By Night

1907

Gleaming Eyes In the Blackness Give a Flavor of the Wilds

The average grownup who visits the zoo thinks it rather a dull sort of show, for the fact that the animals are captive robs them of all the romance that would attach to them in their native forests.

But let the blase sightseer obtain permission to visit the zoo at midnight, and his impressions will be very different. Darkness hides the bars and the boards, and the eyes of some wakeful creature gleam maliciously at you. For the moment you imagine that you are in the wilds, on equal terms with the creatures around.

Poised on the swings and platforms at the top of their cages sleep the monkeys, instinct surviving their loss of freedom, for in the forests they had to sleep thus to avoid the beasts of prey.

Here rests a lioness, prone upon her back, her legs rigid in the air and her paws hanging limply down. There reclines her lord, asleep upon his side, his paws turned in and his general pose not unlike that of a dog.

The more cunning and more cowardly of the animals do not seem to sleep at all, for as soon as they hear our approaching footsteps they give us their greeting with snarls and malevolent glowering and watch us suspiciously till we depart. — Pearson's.

Teaching Parrots To Talk

1900

An Undertaking That Requires Good Judgment

The natural tendency of some species of parrots to learn to talk is well illustrated at the zoo, where a collection of parrots was recently added to the animals and birds on exhibition.

In the confusion of sounds — the roaring of lions, the trumpeting of the elephant, the chatter of the monkeys, the stentorian commands of the animal trainers, and the blaring of the band — may be heard the shrill screech of the parrots.

An intent listener will discover that the birds are imitating the sounds they hear and some of them are repeating words which they catch in the general jargon of the place. Even Lecturer Rollins is imitated in some of his sentences describing the animals or the feats about to be performed. Alexander Day, assistant superintendent of the zoo, says that, like the wild animals which are capable of being trained, the parrots will early give evidence of their aptitude to learn to talk.

The best way to train a parrot to talk is, he says, to keep it in a room away from other birds or animals, and with its cage covered when the lessons are given. This is to teach the bird to distinguish the sounds alone and not the individuality of the teacher. The gray parrots are said to be the best talkers, although the Amazonian or green parrot is a good talker and is the one most commonly seen. These come from South America and the West Indies. The rosellas and macaws, which also come from the West Indies, can rarely be taught to talk. — Baltimore Sun.

Dine With Serpents "Adorning" the Table

1920

"Queen of Snake Charmers" Is Guest of Honor

NEW YORK, N.Y., Feb. 26. — With golden dragons as wall decorations, real, varicolored snakes upon the tables, and Jersey City's "Queen of Snake Charmers" present, the Reptile Study Society of America held its annual dinner in a Chinatown restaurant.

Jersey City's snake charming queen is Miss Alma Casals, blond and blue-eyed, who determined her vocation after a visit to the Bronx Zoo.

"They let me pick up a king snake," the young woman said. "Would you believe it, it was delightful. It formed a necklace for me and then a bracelet. I found snakes were easy to handle and I think they are just lovely."

Just to prove it, the "Queen of Snake Charmers" lifted a snake from a bag. She, as well as the other diners, was dressed for the unusual occasion in very usual evening dress. They represented the most prominent snake hunters in the country. Bags of snakes, with polysyllable names, testified to that. So did the discussion on the dear things, for the diners talked much of adequate legislation for the protection of reptiles.

Elephant to Give Birth at Brookfield Zoo

1940

Stork Hovers

Biggest blessed event of the year is scheduled to take place either in August (if a boy) or September (if a daughter) at the Brookfield zoo, near Chicago, where Nancy, a 5-ton elephant, is expected to give birth to a baby pachyderm. The bird has special interest because never before in the history of America has a baby elephant survived birth more than a few weeks. In every other case the mother has developed murderous tendencies, refused to nurse the calf and tried to crush it to death.

—The Cullman Democrat, Cullman, Alabama, August 22, 1940, page 7.

Marlin Perkins Bitten by Poisonous Snake

1929

TRY TO SAVE SNAKE KEEPER

Reptile House Curator Is Bitten By African Viper

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 1 -- (UP) -- Physicians hoped today blood transfusion would save the life of Marlin Perkins, 24, curator of the reptile house at the St. Louis zoo who was bitten by a poisonous snake.

They said Perkins would have died almost instantly yesterday had not an assistant at the zoo dangered his own life by promptly sucking the venom from the wound.

The snake was a gaboon viper, one of the most poisonous of West African snakes.

--The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, January 1, 1929, page 1.

Comment: This is the exact same Marlin Perkins later famous for hosting Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on TV.