r 7 8 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



signs of age is by no means failing. In the ' felidas ' 

 size seems an index to longevity, the lions living 

 longest, and the tiger cats seldom reaching more than 

 the fifth or sixth year after their arrival. 



When once established in the Zoo, many of the 

 bears survive to a considerable age, though none 

 have as yet attained the years of the Arctic species. 

 Even Malayan bears, natives of a hot climate, have 

 been known to live and thrive into their c twenties/ 

 The old ' honey bear/ which died last spring, had 

 been over twenty years in the Gardens. The oldest 

 of the family, now confined in the terrace, is a 

 brown bear, which came into residence in 1878. 

 The age of deer in the Scotch forests is probably as 

 well determined as that of any wild animal. Yet 

 though it is agreed that after twelve or thirteen years 

 the horns of the stag deteriorate in size, the normal 

 limit of life is not certain. The Wapiti deer at the 

 Zoo are usually in splendid condition. A hind born 

 in 1880 has not only borne a number of calves, but 

 last year suckled a pair one belonging to another 

 hind. The mother of this animal lived twenty-two 

 years in the Gardens, and its father, a splendid stag, 

 twenty -four years. In the case of the deer and 

 antelope size also seems to bear a relation to length 

 of life. The oldest of the latter tribe in the Gardens 

 is an addax antelope, rather larger than a fallow deer, 



