HIPPOPOTAMI IN CYPRUS 



do so is of interest in this matter. Remains of hippopo- 

 tami have been found in Madagascar, which is known 

 to have been for aeons separated from the African 

 continent ; they must have originally got to that island 

 by a marine route failing a land bridge, which latter of 

 course accounts for their remains in Europe, Asia, and 

 in the valley of the Thames. The same explanation 

 may account for a recent and most exciting " find " in 

 the island of Cyprus. Plenteous bones of a hippopo- 

 tamus have been unearthed in that island, which 

 clearly belonged to quite a small animal, not larger than 

 an average sized pig. It is striking as a fact of com- 

 parison that Malta harboured in days gone by an equally 

 tiny elephant. Thus a minute environment appears 

 to produce in some cases a small frame in its inhabitants. 

 There was great excitement at the Zoological Society 

 on December n, 1850, when a letter was read to the 

 meeting announcing the sending of the first live hippo- 

 potamus to the Gardens. It was presented by 

 H.H. Abbas Pasha, who detached a guard of honour 

 to bring the young beast into Cairo. It was there 

 liberally treated with thirty quarts of milk daily. Since 

 that year the Society has never been without hippo- 

 potami. It is a testimony to the care bestowed upon 

 wild animals at the Zoo, in the past as well as in the 

 present, that the hippopotamus has bred so often at 

 the Gardens. On no less than three occasions have 

 young been born, one young male in 1871 and two 

 females in 1872. Since then the animal has been reared 

 in other Zoological gardens, for example at Amsterdam. 



