“ 
ANIMAL ANECDOTES. 
One of the most exciting fights ever witnessed 
between two animals took place 
twenty-seven years ago in America. 
The combatants were a full-grown 
lioness and a donkey, and the result of the duel 
was as unexpected as its beginning was intentional. 
The affair took place in the early days of the 
Cincinnati Zoo, when the nucleus for the present 
collection of ani- 
mals was made up 
from specimens 
secured from half 
a score of travel- 
ling shows. Am- 
ong the animals 
purchased was a 
young, but full- 
grown, lioness, 
which, for pur- 
poses of con- 
venience, was 
placed in a half- 
ruined cireus 
cage, stationed in 
a brick-covered 
structure near the 
entrance of the 
Zoo. Several 
hundred work- 
men were em- 
ployed about the 
place, among 
them several boys 
who teased and 
annoyed the few 
animals then in 
the enclosure. 
One day a boy 
astride a donkey, 
bearing water for 
the workmen, 
protruded a long 
A Curious 
Duel. 
the donkey had regained his feet and turned to 
meet the second onslaught of the lioness. 
For an instant the honess crouched; as she 
sprang again the donkey reared, pawing the air 
with his steel-shod hoofs, which descended with 
crushing force on the skull of the lioness. Scores 
of terror-striken workmen were fleeing for safety, 
and here and there one, more daring or more foolish 
than his fellows, 
had sought re- 
fuge in the trees 
and watched the 
curious battle of 
the beasts. 
First the lion- 
ess, then the 
donkey, seemed 
the victor. The 
donkey fought 
with teeth and 
hoofs; the lioness 
with teeth and 
claws. The thick 
hide of the little 
burro hung in 
shreds. His blood 
poured from open 
ghastly wounds, 
while the fierce 
growling of the 
jungle beast took 
on a lower note. 
As the battle 
progressed _ the 
donkey gained 
courage. He met 
each onslaught 
with a brave 
front, and the 
watching work- 
men cheered him 
cautiously. The 
pole into the hon- 
ess cage. Far e 
back in the shadow of the cage the tawny form 
was crouching. With a roar that shook the frail 
little building she sprang; and the force of her 
body’s impact sufficed to render asunder the slight 
metal bars of the cage. She struck the hind- 
quarters of the donkey, bearing him down in the 
shock of the collision. The boy, rolling in the 
cloud of dust upraised, escaped. A moment later 
“With a roar that shook the frail little building she sprang.” 
28 
fight had gone 
on scarcely ten 
minutes when the lioness, vanquished, bruised 
and torn, slunk away, seeking refuge on a 
little knoll some distance from the scene of 
battle. There she lay for an hour, lapping 
her wounds and lashing her tail, while she 
glowered at the men in the tree-tops. Finally, 
an old musket mercifully sent a bullet through 
her brain. 
