260 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



v/eek, with one day out of seven of complete fasting. Some of the 

 reptiles eat only once every month or two. Some yomig animals 

 must be fed throughout the night ; always, there are two experienced 

 animal men on duty at all hours of the night to look out for these 

 special charges or for new arrivals that the stork may bring. Cu- 

 riously enough, a fine large European stork in the park once died 

 the da}' after the birth of a baby hippopotamus. 



One of the great problems in the zoo is to keep people from feed- 

 ing the animals. Unfortunately, as much as people like to do this, 

 the officers in charge must frown on the practice. Sickness and even 

 death are not infrequently due to such acts of mistaken kindness on 

 the part of visitors. Peanuts are not the best of food for all animals, 

 especially in such quantities as would be furnished on a day of large 

 attendance, were the keepers and guards lax in their duties. It is 

 particularly distressing to see a person take a bite from a piece of 

 cake or fruit, remove it from his mouth, and toss it to a rare and 

 delicate monkey. If such miscellaneous feeding were allowed the 

 death rate among those animals especially susceptible to the con- 

 tagious diseases would unquestionably be greatly increased. Cer- 

 tain native plants are highly poisonous to some of the animals, so 

 that it is not entirely safe to allow uninformed visitors to pass green 

 food into the inclosures. I am sure that every zoological garden 

 man in America would be glad if every visitor refrained from toss- 

 ing anything whatever into a cage or paddock. 



In addition to the animal division and the office force the Zoologi- 

 cal Park must, of a necessity, employ gardeners, mechanics, police, 

 laborers, and attendants. The grounds must be planted and kept 

 in order, the Government's property and the visitors must be pro- 

 tected, and repairs must be made to buildings, cages, walks, and 

 roads. The main exhibition buildings are economically heated from 

 a central plant, and around this plant are grouped the machine 

 shop, blacksmith shop, paint shop, and carpenter shop. Repairs in- 

 volving the security of animals or the safety of visitors can not be 

 delayed, and are sometimes immediately urgent. 



The expert mechanics on the list of permanent employees are 

 able to do almost any kind of construction work in wood and metal, 

 and almost all of the mechanical work done in the park — from the 

 construction of a building to the making of an automobile road — is 

 done by the regular force with the assistance of such temporary 

 laborers as may be required. 



THE RECORDS 



Every animal received at the National Zoological Park is cata- 

 logued, given a serial number, and further recorded on a large filing 



