WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY. 6lJ 



The Rhinoceros is. un the other hand, a stupid animal. 

 Bartlett says : — 



When very young and small it is usually not bad tempered .... 

 but long before the beast becomes adult it is dangerous to enter tlie den 

 or paddock when the animal is at liberty 



Hagenbeck says they are ea.sy animals to tame Avhen young-. 

 This has been my experience with both our specimens. The male 

 is now about eight years old, and just about adult. He is also 

 beginning to become nasty, sometimes attempting to poke people 

 who approach too near the fence. The little female purchased 

 in December, 19 14, is ridiculously tame, and walks solemnly up to 

 the fence as soon as she is called by name. With the lTipi)o- 

 potamus I have not had any experience beyond the bull which 

 has now been in the collection for over eight years, and which 

 gets periods of unruly and uncertain temper much like the 

 " must '' periods of a male Ele])hant. 



Deer and Antelope. — Bartlett has the following paragraph in 

 his " Wild Animals in Captivity " : — 



t)n the other hand, take the vegetable-feeding class, such as stags, 

 antelopes, oxen, sheep, or goats ; obtain any of these from their birth and 

 rear them by hknd, and in all instances, with few exceptions, they become, 

 when adult, the most savage and dangerous animals in existence. . . . 

 Another remarkable fact connected with these vegetable-feeding horned 

 animals that have Ijeen bred in capitivity (not petted and handled) and 

 reared by the parent, is that they are the wildest creatures in the world if 

 anything is attempted to be done with them in the shape of catching, 

 packing up, or moving them from one place to another. 



This I can heartily endorse. The males of Deer ( Stags) 

 sometimes become ver}- vicious in the breeding season, and Bart- 

 lett says it is advisable to cut off the antlers of such males as 

 soon as they become hard, in order to prevent them from in- 

 juring the females. I have not yet tried this, but we have from 

 time to time lost female Deer through the savage nature of the 

 Stag, which had in j tired the hind so badly that she either died 

 from the effects of the injury or had to be destroyed. For- 

 tunately such instances have been rare in the Pretoria Zoological 

 Gardens; but here, again, my former assertion holds good, vis., 

 that one has to know the nattux of each individual animal. Some 

 years ago we had a Samliur Deer Stag so vicious that he had 

 to be destroyed. At present the Gardens contain three stags 

 of this species, and they are the most sociable of animals. This 

 applies to Red Deer and Rusa Deer Stags as well. 



W^ith reference to the Antelope, I have found Bushbuck and 

 W'ildebeest the most pugnacious of animals in captivity, but even 

 amongst these animals an occasional ram will be quiet and 

 friendly. We had several bull Wildebeests and ram Bnshbucks 

 which injured several females in succession, so that they had 

 to be left without mates, but at present the collection contains 

 males of both species that live amicably with their mates. The 

 first I.echwe ram we possessed was an absolute terror, and had 

 to be shut up in his night-house before the camp could be swept. 



