THE CAMEL HOUSE, No. 39.
Speaking in a collective sense, the Camel is much more than an ordinary animal unit in a zoological park. On the high plains of central and southwestern Asia, and throughout the arid regions of Africa, it is an institution. Without it, many portions of the Old World would be uninhabitable by man. Take either Dromedary or Bactrian Camel, and it is a sad-eyed, ungainly, slow-moving creature, full of plaints and objections; but remember that it goes so far back toward the foundations of man’s dynasty, that beside it the oldest American history seems but a record of yesterday. It is only a species of the utmost tenacity which could for fifty centuries or more withstand constant use and abuse by man without being altered out of all resemblance to its original form. All races of mankind and all breeds of domestic animals save one, change and continue to change, indefinitely, but the Camels apparently go on the same, forever.
ALPACA.
The Bactrian Camel, (Camelus bactrianus), he of the long shaggy hair—when not shedding—and the two great humps, is the beast of heavy burden, the four-footed freight-car of the desert sands. He can carry 550 pounds of freight, for three or four days between drinks; but a swift pace is not for him. It is an animal of this remarkable species, from distant Turkestan, southwestern Asia, which daily in fine weather offers its services as a riding animal, at the stand near the Large Bird-House.
It is unfortunate that the Bactrian Camel is in its finest pelage only in winter, when visitors to the Park are few, and camel-riding is out of the question. Promptly upon the approach of warm weather and a million visitors, it sheds its long, shaggy brown coat, and stands forth as if shorn by a shearer. Of this species, the Zoological Society possesses two fine specimens (the gift of Captain John S. Barnes), one of which will at all times be found regularly exhibited at the Camel House, close by the Crotona (southwest) Entrance.
VICUNIA.
The Dromedary, or Single-Humped Camel, (Camelus dromedarius), is a smaller animal than the preceding, of lighter build, and therefore capable of much more speed in travelling. This species never is clothed with long hair.
Next to the Camel House and corrals is the installation for the nearest relatives of those species,—the Llamas, Guanacos and other cameloids of South America.