THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK 



By Frank Baker 



NTEREST in living animals is a characteristic 

 of both savage and civilized man. Doubtless 

 this was at first a mere curiosity to know more 

 of the creatures he pursued in the chase or 

 against whose attacks he had to guard, but 

 later it rose to that desire to understand the phenomena of 

 life in general, to obtain some insight into the mysteries of 

 being, which is at the root of all scientific zoological studies. 



Royal preserves and menageries are as old as the civiliza- 

 tions of Assyria and Egypt, and it was from the East, by 

 means of the Roman conquerors, that the first collections of 

 animals were brought to Europe. The displays of the Roman 

 triumphs and the conflicts of famishing beasts in the arena 

 were but little calculated to advance the interests of zoology, 

 but it is from these that we trace the genesis of the zoological 

 collections of to-day. Exhibitions of animals for the purpose 

 of impressing the populace with the wealth or power of the 

 ruling sovereign were common during the Middle Ages. 

 The Emperor Frederick II had at his Sicilian court a notable 

 collection, from which he sent to Henry III of England three 

 leopards, in compliment to the three animals of that species 



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