THE NATIONAL ZOO AT WASHINC^TON," A STUDY OF ITS 

 ANIMALS IN RELATION TO THEIR NATURAL ENVL 

 RONMENT. 



By Ernest Thompson Seton. 



At the beo^inning of this century the continent of North America 

 was one vast and teeming oame range. Not only were the ])uffalo in 

 millions across the Mississippi, but other large game was fully as 

 a])undant, though less conspicuous. Herds of elk. numberitig 10,000 

 or 15,000, were connuonly seen along the Upper Missouri. The ante- 

 lope ranged th(» higher plains in herds of thousands; whitetail deer, 

 though less gregarious, were seen in bands of hundreds; while bighorn 

 sheep, though still less disposed to gather in large flocks, were rarely 

 out of sight in the lower parts of the eastern Rockies, and it was quite 

 usual to see several hundri^d ])lacktail in the course of a single da3^'s 

 travel. 



But a change set in when the pioneer Americans, with their horses, 

 their deadly rifles, their energy, and their taste f<^r murder, began to 

 invade the newl}- found West. 



The settlers increased in numl)ers. and the rifles became more deadly 

 each year; but the animals did not improve in speed, cunning, or 

 fecundit}' in an equal ratio, and so were defeated in the struggle for 

 life, and started on the down grade toward extinction. 



Aside from sentimental or {esthetic reasons, which I shall not here 

 discuss, the extinction of a large or highly organized animal is a serious 

 matter. 



1. It is always dangerous to clisturl) the balance of nature by remov- 

 ing a poise. Some of the worst plagues have arisen in this wav- 



2. We do not know, without much and careful experiment, how 

 vast a service that animal might have done to maidcind as a domestic 

 species. 



The force of this will be more apparent if we recollect how much 

 the few well-known domestic species have done for the advancement of 



"Reprinted, by ])erinission of the autlior and of Tlie Century Company, from The 

 Century Mayazmc, vol. lix, March, 1900; vol. Ix, May, 1900. Copyrighted, 1900. 



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