ZOOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY BULLETIN 91 
SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS 
On this oceasion we secured, in addition to skin and skele- 
Small carayans were used for many side trips made during the Congo Expedition. 
ton, the first plaster cast ever taken of the muzzle of a white rhinoceros (carried by porter fourth from left), a valuable aid to the correct 
mounting of specimens for the Museum's habitat group. 
the call of forward struggling civilization is still 
faint. They are protected by the natural in- 
dolence of natives, and the commercial poverty 
of nature They have a fair chance to survive 
the native spear. but not modern gun and pow- 
der, and today the negro marvels at the small 
bullet that brings him so easy and big an ex- 
change in meat 
Judging from observations made 
Nemuber by others and ourselves, from 
White 2000 to 38000 white rhinoceroses 
Rhinoceroses May still be alive in the entire 
northern range. Just how rapidly 
their numbers will decrease, depends upon the 
protection afforded them. Their fate now lies 
in the hands of three Colonial Administrations: 
the northeastern Uele district of the Belgian 
Congo, the adjoining portion of French West 
Africa, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.  Per- 
haps complete restrictions to traftic in the horns 
of white rhinoceroses would be the most impor- 
tant step toward saving from extinction one of 
the few huge beasts dating back to Pleistocene 
times. 
According to Colonel Roosevelt “the white 
rhinoceros is, next to the elephant, the largest 
of existing” land mammals. Among living giants 
it is the only one that has been considered ex- 
In the foreground an ideal pasture for these broad-mouthed monsters. 
tinct, the only one never brought alive to civil- 
ized countries. In Museum collections mounted 
specimens are still scarcer than of the rare 
okapi, which thanks to the remarkable pluck of 
a Belgian woman, Mrs. Landeghem, recently 
reached Antwerp alive. 
Is any American sportsman will- 
Capture ing to help capture so coveted 
ee a prize? Or will any one be so 
Specimen S = 
for New generous as to enable the New 
York York Zoological Society to be the 
first to exhibit a monster that has 
successfully daunted skill and courage? It would 
be a fitting and well deserved triumph for one 
of America’s leading institutions, which, backed 
by keen enterprising spirit, has aroused the ad- 
miration and envy of century-old competitors 
abroad. Fortunately rhinoceroses in captivity 
have proved to be among the longest-lived crea- 
tures in the world. For half a century a white 
rhinoceros might interest the millions of New 
York city. 
The Nile route is open. December to June 
Six months of sport and 
Shall 
is the best season. 
adventure might bring crowning success. 
America be first? 
