The zoological gardens of Europe, their history and chief features

by C. V. A. Peel

Passing the great fish-pond, which in summer is ornamented with swans and in winter is very popular for skating, we come to the piggery, a pretty building in blue-gray basalt covered with natural red tiles. Each pig has a roomy eating and drinking trough, and is kept clean and free from smell. The floors are on a slant, and the drainage is excellent. Here are wart-hogs, some European wild boars (huge animals), small peccaries, and the brilliantly-coloured red river-hog. Next door are the birds of prey. Their building contains fifteen large flying cages, the one in the middle being the largest. At both ends of the rows of cages are twenty smaller cages. The great flying cages contain trees and a brook of flowing water. There are huts for nests built into the walls. The small cages are built of stone with bars in the front; shrubs are put into each.

There are two sorts of vultures, thirty species of hawks, and ten of owls.

A bridge of stone close to the eagle rocks connects the old part of the Garden with that of the new. The street below has not been destroyed, doubtless owing to its historic character. From the bridge there is a beautiful view over the Mühlheim heath of the town beyond. Five-sixths of the space of the new part of the Garden is taken up by a large lawn covered with shrubs. At the end of this we come to the sea-lion grotto; the Garden guide calls it the chef-d’œuvre of the Garden. From a large rockwork overgrown with moss and plants the water flows into a basin 15 yards long and 8 yards wide. At the back of the rock are huts for the seals.

Retracing our steps, we come to the buffalo houses, three pretty, massive wood-block houses. In one are to be found no less than five American bisons; in the others are the Indian bison, the yak, the Cape buffalo, the gaur, the banting from Java, and the gayal.

Going back over the bridge, we see to the right, rather hidden by bushes, a road leading to the antelope and elephant house, fitted with large outside pens with water-tanks. Here is to be seen a hippopotamus. Opposite the tank is a beaver enclosure; not far from the beaver house is the otter tank, with perpetually flowing water. The so-called elephant house is a plaster building in the Moorish style, with little towers and minarets. Going through folding-doors, we step into a wide hall. Near the door are the equidæ. The idea of uniting the antelopes and elephants is for the sake of economy. The pens are separated from each other by rolling doors. The animals are fed from the front. There are one African and two Indian elephants. The Indian female elephant has been in the Garden since 1872 and is now thirty-two years old; the African elephant, a young male, is eight years old—Mangasia he is called, after the famous Abyssinian Ras. The old hippo, which was born in Antwerp, is now dead, and has been replaced by a baby one. This little fellow tumbles about in his tank in a most amusing manner.

Tapirs, Indian and American, are found in this house. Amongst the ruminants are the anoa, an addax, a magnificent sable, Oryx beisa, and three Oryx leucoryx (both the latter have bred here), the gnu, some Arabian gazelles, and a dwarf antelope with a young one, the latter in a special glass cage with bars on the top. This cage stands on a table. In the cages are sleeping compartments. In the centre of the room was a glass case containing four baby kangaroos, and a pretty sight it was to see them playing with each other. There are a pair of Somaliland wild asses, which have bred here, and also Burchell’s and Chapman’s zebras.

The small-cats’ house is not a beautiful edifice; the cages are very narrow and badly lighted. Here are to be seen the serval, the caracul, leopard, zorilla, ichneumon, etc.; the local animals have the worst cages in the Garden.

Close to the small-cats’ house is the large-cats’ house, an unpretentious building, which has ten extensive semicircular cages. The outside cages are roofed over and have cement floors; inside, the cages are floored with wood. The four biggest cages have grottoes at the back, also wooden floors. The grottoes, however, are difficult to clean. The floors, which slope to the front for drainage, can be taken out. Bars can be put in to divide one cage into two if necessary. Tree-trunks are put inside. When the Rhine overflowed in 1882 and 1884, the cats saved themselves from being drowned by climbing up these tree-trunks. Two marks on the eagle aviary show the height of the water on those occasions. Many ducks and swans swam away and were killed by so-called sportsmen. The Garden was turned into a Rhenish Venice, and the feeding was carried on in boats. In the house are three lions, and three young born in the Garden, leopards, cheetahs, puma, and black leopard, a pair of hunting leopards, a jaguar, a pair of Bengal tigers, and a pair of Siberian tigers (the female born in Berlin). These animals live day and night in the open air. The lions in winter are often seen lying in the snow, perfectly contented.

Leaving the square with shady trees we come to the great aviary. The flying cages are small in comparison with those of the Berlin aviary; the ironwork is so complicated up above that the birds cannot fly about at the top for fear of damaging themselves. They have only a poor bath and a few mangy-looking trees. The birds mostly perch on iron bars and parts of the wall at the back. They are too crowded: doves, seagulls, pheasants, herons, and starlings jostle each other. It is not quiet enough for them to breed well. It was an amusing sight to see the gulls fed; they made such a noise, and fought so hard for the tit-bits of meat, bread, and green food thrown to them. Close by the great aviary are the stilts and a primitive wooden winter house containing peacocks, etc. At the back of the peacock house are the storks, one of the finest collections in Germany. There are thirteen different species. In summer they inhabit the green banks of the flamingo pond.

Close to the place where the children do not play there are a quantity of old houses for poultry, pigeons, etc. There are five ponds: one a large skating-pond, in summer frequented by swans; a second the flamingo pond mentioned above. Three other ponds are the Island and Temple ponds, called after a little clock-temple close by, and the pond which unites them. These stretch across the Garden from the Director’s house to the lion house. They simply swarm with ducks of every description, pelicans, eight species of swans, and twenty-six species of geese. The pelicans are a very fine collection, and contain eight species in all.