In 1900 the brindled gnu bred, the first instance recorded in the Gardens. The Society’s income amounted to £28,772, the number of Fellows was 3,250, and the admissions to the Gardens were 697,178.
In 1901 certain persons raised charges against the Society, complaining of the inadequate and unwholesome housing of some of the animals in the Gardens. They endeavoured to advertise their grievances in the cheap newspapers; but the charges were ably met and unanimously condemned at a meeting of the Society, the Duke of Bedford (President) being in the chair.
GRÉVY’S ZEBRA, LONDON.
In 1902 the young male giraffe (Southern form) died. The following animals were deposited by His Majesty the King, who received them as a Coronation gift from the Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia: five lion cubs (one male and four females) and two Grévy’s zebras (females). Colonel Mahon presented a young male and a female giraffe of the Northern form, the first imported from Kordofan to this country for nearly thirty years.
Admission: adults, one shilling; children, sixpence.
Secretary: Dr. P. L. Sclater.
Superintendent: Mr. Clarence Bartlett.
These Gardens are so well known to us that only a short description of a walk round will be necessary. They occupy at the present time an area of about thirty-one acres in the Regent’s Park. The Gardens are divided by the Inner Circle and the Regent’s Canal into three portions, known as the South Garden, the Middle Garden, and the North Garden.
Entering by the main entrance and turning as usual to the left, we reach the eastern aviary and the northern pond. Passing some llama pens and turning again to the left, a tunnel leads to some of the most important houses in the Gardens. After the parrot house, containing a very rich collection, we find the elephant house, which contains some remarkable animals—Indian and African elephants, Sumatran rhinos and Indian rhinos. This house has large open-air paddocks with water-tanks. ‘Jingo,’ the big African elephant, has been in the Gardens since 1882. We now come to Houses Nos. 60 and 61, containing the hippopotami and giraffes respectively. At the present time (July, 1902) there are two hippopotami, one giraffe of the Southern form, acquired in 1895, and two giraffes of the Northern form, just added.
We next come to the wild asses and zebras, which form a series having no rival in Europe. Here are to be seen specimens of all the four known zebras—Burchell’s, Grévy’s, Grant’s, and the mountain zebra—besides the onager, the kiang, the Egyptian wild ass, and the Somali wild ass, the last with legs striped like those of a zebra.
Passing the moose yard and retracing our steps, we come to the canal bridge, and after crossing it we are confronted with the northern aviary, pheasantries, and the insect house, in the last of which is to be seen (and felt) an electric eel, which kills or stuns with an electric shock the tiny fish thrown into its tank before it eats them. There are also some amusing talking-birds in this house.