NOTES FROM THE SCOTTISH ZOOLOGICAL PARK 203 



NOTES FROM 

 THE SCOTTISH ZOOLOGICAL PARK 



Seals in the Zoological Park. — It is interesting to note 

 that two young specimens of the Common Seal were amongst 

 recent arrivals in the Zoological Park, and are both doing well 

 there. One might suppose that an animal so common as a Seal 

 could be easily obtained and kept, but the contrary has been found 

 to be the case, and though, during the past nine years a large 

 number of Seals have been sent to the Park, many of them died 

 in transit, and with the exception of one which lived for about 

 four years, all the others died within a very short period. 



Young Seals, which are captured when they are still being 

 suckled by the mother, are generally very difficult to feed; they 

 will never suck from a bottle and do not seem to have learned that 

 fish is a food ; it would almost seem that some process of education 

 by the parent must accompany the change of the young one's diet 

 from milk to fish. Even when the captured Seal has accustomed 

 itself to the diet of dead fish, it is still very apt to die This 

 applies only to the group known as " true " or " earless " Seals ; in 

 the case of such of the eared Seals as are commonly found in 

 captivity, no such difficulty has arisen, and Sea Lions are hardy and 

 easy to keep. Statistics tend to show that the "true" Seals in 

 captivity almost invariably die of gastro-intestinal disease, while the 

 "eared" Seals represented by the Sea Lions, when they die, usually 

 succumb to diseases of the respiratory system. In the fresh water 

 in which the Seals are usually kept, there may be present some 

 micro-organism to which the Seal has a low immunity, or perhaps 

 the root of the difficulty may spring from the difference between 

 fish hunted and swallowed almost before it is dead, and that which 

 has passed through the trawl and the fish market. 



Fruit Bats, — One of the most interesting of recent arrivals 

 at the Zoological Park is a group of half a dozen Fruit Bats. The 

 Fruit Bats are somewhat distinct from the insect-eating bats, and 

 they grow to a very much larger size than any of the insectivorous 

 species, some of them measuring as much as four to five feet 

 from tip to tip of the outstretched wings. Their size, and the 

 comparative ease with which suitable food can be provided for 

 them, make them admirable representatives, for exhibition purposes, 

 of one of the most outstanding groups of living mammals. One 

 naturally associates the power of flight with the bird, but when 



