ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT.
The Indian Gazelle, (Gazella benneti),—frequently called in its home country Ravine “Deer,”—is a habitant of the sterile, water-washed ravines of northern and central India, which are the oriental counterpart of our western “badlands.” This animal inhabits the same regions as the black-buck, but because of the religious scruples of the Hindoos against the taking of life, both species are secure from attack—until the arrival among them of the white sahibs. A full-grown Indian Gazelle is 26 inches in shoulder height. The females of this species possess horns, which are very slender, and vary in length from 4 to 8½ inches.
Miscellaneous Mammals.
The Small-Deer House will at all times contain various mammals which are there shown because it is a practical impossibility to provide a separate building for each group.
The Wild Swine of the world are here represented by three noteworthy species:
The Red River-Hog, (Potamochaerus pencillatus), of West Africa, is about the only handsome species of swine that Nature has produced. In form it is compact and well-turned, its long pencil-tipped ears are of pleasing pattern, and its hair is a rich auburn color, and the temper of our specimen is everything that could be desired. Beside it is shown “Clarence,” the East African Wart-Hog, (Phacochaerus aethiopicus), who is equally interesting, but in a different way. This species is very weird in form. The Collared Peccary, (Tagassu angulatum), beside it is more like the wild swine of Europe and Japan, and is not nearly so dangerous as general reputation demands.
The Kangaroos.—Seldom is there found in Nature a group of large-animal species whose members are so monotonously similar in general appearance as are the Kangaroos and Wallabies, of Australia. The great majority are either gray or gray-brown, and the only striking variation is found in the big Red Kangaroo, (Macropus rufus).
THE WHITE MOUNTAIN GOAT, No. 48.
Fortunate indeed is the zoological park or garden which can exhibit even one living specimen of the White Mountain Goat. It is a very difficult matter to take an animal from a rarified dry atmosphere, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, and induce it to live at sea level, in a dense and humid atmosphere, on food to which it is by nature wholly unaccustomed.
We have been successful in establishing here, on a breeding basis this rare and difficult animal, (Oreamnos montanus). One kid was born in 1908 and another in 1910, and both have thriven, the former now being so large as to look like an adult specimen.