SECRETARY'S REPORT 139 



November 20 he attended the foniial opening of the new zoo in 

 Phoenix, Ariz. On March 1, he traveled to Fort Worth, Tex., for the 

 board meeting of the American Association of Zoological Parks and 

 Aquariums. On March 31, accompanied by Richard Dimon, project 

 architect for the new consti-uction at the National Zoological Park, 

 he left for a short study tour of European zoos. 



J. Lear Grimmer, associate director, attended the meeting of the 

 American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums in Kansas 

 City, and Travis E. Famitleroy, assistant to the director, attended the 

 midwinter conference of the same association at Fort Worth. 



In 1963 there were 210 authorized positions, an increase of 5 posi- 

 tions over 1962 : office of the director, 11 ; operations and maintenance 

 department, which includes the mechanical division, police division, 

 grounds division, and sei"vices division, 122, an increase of 4 (1 me- 

 chanic, 1 hydi-aulic equipment operator, 1 tree maintenance worker, 

 and 1 laborer) ; animal department, 76, an increase of 1 (night 

 keeper) ; and the scientific research department, 1. 



ANIMAL DEPARTMENT 



In preparation for reconstruction work planned for the National 

 Zoological Park, several existing areas were made suitable to house 

 evacuated animals. The entire stock of the birdliouse was moved to 

 various outdoor enclosures and to the old antelope house, which had 

 been closed to the public for several years. Converting the antelope 

 house into a temporary birdliouse required the construction of one 

 large flight cage and the rewiring of some of the old antelope stalls. 



A number of animals that were heretofore housed singly were care- 

 fully introduced to one another, and by keeping several together in one 

 cage, additional space was made available. 



To utilize space further, the animal department continued the pro- 

 gram begun last year of wintering tropical animals outdoore. A 

 "flight cage" which had originally been built for indoor use by gibbons 

 was rebuilt on the northeast side of the lion house. It was equipped 

 with cinderblock and concrete shelters with one heat lamp and soil- 

 cable floor heat in each shelter. A group of four young animals and 

 a fully adult breeding pair were moved into this outdoor enclosure in 

 August in order to give them sufficient time to become accustomed to 

 the gradual drop of temperatures in autumn. The female of the 

 adult pair gave birth to a baby in December, which she carefully 

 nursed, bringing it outdoors for at least 2 hours a day except during 

 bad weather. 



Theoretically much less suited to withstand severe winter tem- 

 peratures outdoors was a pair of South American tapirs, transferred 

 to the so-called beaver pond late in summer. A shelter with tinfoil 



