ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



613 



Asia is particularly rich in species of Ibex 

 and Mountain Sheep : but unfortunately the 

 largest and finest species are nearly as difficult 

 to acclimatize and keep in captivity for any 

 length of time as is our Prong-horned Ante- 

 lope. Xevertheless. the Siberian Ibex and the 

 Persian Ibex have been exhibited in the Park, 

 and the latter species is thriving here to-day. 



The long-haired, wind-blown Tahr of the 

 Himalayas is the hardiest of all the mountain 

 animals of Asia that we have attempted to 

 acclimatize. It is so well established here 

 and breeds so successfully that our herd now 

 contains nine individuals. The Biirrhel, most 

 beautiful of all the small mountain sheep, has 

 inhabited the Park intermittently ; but the 

 Arcal Sheep has been with us always, and 

 breeds here successfully. 



Of the Asiatic antelopes, we possess the rare 

 and beautiful snow-wdiite Beatrix from the 

 Arabian Desert, the very large but well-nigh 

 hornless Nilgai of India, the beautiful little 

 Dorcas Gazelle of Arabia, and the Indian 

 Gazelle of the plains of northern India. \'ery 

 satisfactory, indeed, are the round-horned deer 

 of Asia, with which we are well provided. Of 

 the Wapiti group we possess the Hangul, the 

 Tashkent Wapiti, and the Altai Wapiti, and 

 all three are breeding here. The ]\Ialay Sam- 

 bar and Indian Sambar both breed so success- 

 fully that the increase has become positively 

 burdensome. The same may be said of the 

 Barasingha and the very rare Burmese Tha- 

 meng, both of which are represented in the 

 Park to the point of embarrassment. 



The Axis Deer, most beautiful and satis- 

 factorv of all deer to keep in captivity, comes 

 the nearest to a cervine fixture of any species 

 we have attempted to keep. The Molucca 

 Deer, Hog Deer, Muntjac, Japanese Sika and 

 Chinese Water Deer, all are permanent except 

 the last-named, of which we have had only one 

 specimen. 



C)f the many Carnivores of Asia, the Snozc 

 Leopard is the rarest of the larger forms, and 

 also the most beautiful. Excepting at brief 

 intervals, this species has been constantly an 

 inhabitant of the Park, and the same may be 

 said of the rare and beautiful Clouded Leopard. 



The Tiger, the Common Leopard and the 

 Manchurian Leopard are permanent resi- 

 dents : but the Ch<:etah is intermittent ; and of 

 the rare and beautiful Golden Cat we have 

 had only one specimen. 



Most persistent of all Carnivores in cap- 

 tivity are the members of the Civet-Cat Family 

 {Vivcrridae) , in species of which we have 

 long been richly provided. There is time to 



mention only the \\'hite-Whiskered Paradox- 

 ure, which has been here ever since the Park 

 was first opened to the public ; the Malay 

 Civet-Cat and the Binturong ; but the group, 

 as a whole, to-day contains about eight other 

 species. 



Next to North America, Asia is the con- 

 tinent best supplied with bears, and from its 

 fauna we constantlv exhibit six species. These 

 are the Himalayan Black Bear, the Hairy- 

 Eared Bear from Central Asia, the IMalay Sun 

 Bear, the Japanese Black Bear, the Great Yezo 

 Bear of Japan, and the buff-colored Syrian 

 Bear from Asia Minor. 



Of the members of the order of apes and 

 monkeys (Primates), we have been able to 

 exhibit the rarest and most interesting species 

 found in the Old World outside of Africa. The 

 red-haired and amiable Orang-L'tan we are 

 never without : but the rare and little-known 

 Sianiang. standing halfway between the 

 ( )rangs and the Gibbons, never has reached us 

 but once. Indeed, we doubt if any other speci- 

 men ever came to America than the one 

 brought to us by Captain Thomas Golding. 



Of the various Gibbons that have lived to 

 reach the Zoological Park, all, without excep- 

 tion, have been young and puny animals, and 

 not one of them has long survived the fatigue 

 of the journey and the reaction following 

 arrival. Our most valuable and persistent 

 primates from Asia are the Rhesus Monkey, 

 Moor Macaque, Black Macaque, Bonneted, 

 Pig-Tailed and Burmese Macaques, and the 

 Wanderoo Alonkey. The Gray Langur is 

 beautiful and interesting, but delicate, and of 

 the few specimens that have reached us, none 

 have survived longer than two years. The 

 Loris and the Slow Lemur are interesting, 

 but lacking in the stamina that is essential to 

 a long-distance change of location from a 

 hot climate to a cold one. 



The Rodents of Asia are sufficiently numer- 

 ous ; but very few of them are so interesting 

 in form and in color as to justify their trans- 

 portation half way around the world. The 

 number of species that have represented the 

 .\sian fauna in our collection has been very 

 small, and the most conspicuous ones are the 

 Indian Porcupine, the Malabar Squirrel — 

 largest of all living squirrel species — and Pre- 

 vost's beautiful squirrel of black, white and 

 gray. 



.\FRIC.\. 



Zoologically, the procession from Africa is 

 the richest in species of commanding impor- 

 tance. Both from the standpoint of the show- 

 man and the zoologist, the mammalian fauna 



