ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1365 



unavailing. Both chimpanzees will permit a 

 hand to touch them through the cage-work, but 

 they seem to consider this barrier necessary for 

 their safety. "Koko" is always maliciously anx- 

 ious to induce some one to trust a hand within 

 his reach, whereby several fingers might be bit- 

 ten off. "Koko" is likely to become very trouble- 

 some. 



Prairie Dog House-cleaning . — Impatient of 

 the frequent and abnormal snowfall of the early 

 spring, and feeling the effects of the steadily 

 warming rays of the sun, the prairie dogs did 

 not wait for the ground to become bare, but 

 commenced an early spring chattering. It is 

 an unusual thing to see these rodents above 

 ground when the latter is covered with snow. 

 It is, however, a still more unusual sight to 

 see these cheerful little animals shoveling snow, 

 from their burrows, making it fly like earth, 

 but this was several times observed in early 

 March. That the prairie dogs are not comfort- 

 able in snow is very apparent from the way 

 they shake the flakes from their feet. Natur- 

 ally these little animals were impatient for the 

 bare ground of March, when there is a gen- 

 eral house-cleaning in prairie dog town. They 

 were determined to commence on time, despite 

 a foot of snow and its attendant discomforts. 



Pacifying the Jack Rabbit. — For the past 

 eight months we have succeeded in keeping the 

 western jack rabbit on exhibition. All previous 

 attempts with this excessively nervous animal 

 have been failures. New arrivals frantically 

 try to escape, and become so frenzied they run 

 blindly against the cage-work and suffer fatal 

 injuries. A specimen which arrived last sum- 

 mer was given a big box in which to hide, and 

 gradually we made friends with him by enticing 

 him out with food. When he began investigat- 

 ing his yard without symptoms of panic, an- 

 other specimen was ordered from the West. 

 The second specimen at once gathered confi- 

 dence from the calm demeanor of the first, and 

 the pair now live happily. Visitors are at once 

 interested in these animals, owing to the rab- 

 bits' grotesque ears, which are of enormous size, 

 and according to the mood of the animal are 

 directed at eccentric angles. This successful 

 experiment of maintaining the species has led 

 us to consider plans for a colony of jack rab- 

 bits. The idea is to exhibit them in a roomy 

 enclosure like that of the prairie dogs. 



Under-Sea Instinct.- — ^We cannot remember a 

 winter for many years when persistent cold 

 over such lengthy periods froze our ponds and 

 pools to such a depth as in 1916. On larger 

 bodies of water it was impossible to keep open 



a greater area than mere air-holes. This has 

 been the condition of the big sea-lion pool and 

 incidentally has worried many visitors who 

 have thought the animals would drown. To 

 those uninitiated into the ways of these crea- 

 tures, it is disconcerting to see the big Stellar 

 sea-lion plunge into an opening of the ice about 

 four feet in diameter, note the agitation of the 

 small area of water absolutely cease, then look 

 over the large surface of solidly-frozen pool. 

 Visitors reason that the animal can never find 

 its way back to the opening, but after several 

 minutes of painful suspense the object of ap- 

 prehension pokes out his head, barks vigorously 

 for his associates to join him, then dives again. 



Ante-Seasonal Moths. — With snow and cold 

 outside, it was quite a novelty to see many 

 large and gorgeously-hued moths fluttering 

 about the main hall of the Reptile House. Un- 

 der normal conditions the cocoons containing 

 these creatures would be in the trees exposed 

 to cold weather and the emergencies of the in- 

 sects would not take place until the balmy 

 weather of June. The tropic atmosphere of 

 the Reptile House, brought about by high tem- 

 perature and also the humid conditions occa- 

 sioned by the evaporation of the pools, causes 

 our butterflies and moths to emerge in mid-win- 

 ter and early spring. These specimens are pre- 

 served for souvenirs, which may be obtained at 

 the Bureau of Information in the Lion House. 



An Incorrigible Giraffe. — A well-known trait 

 of captive giraffes is to get into all kinds of 

 unnecessary trouble unless ceaseless vigilance 

 of the keeper eliminates all possibility of mis- 

 haps. Sometimes giraffes develop traits that 

 point to future trouble, and that must therefore 

 be forestalled. Owing to the habit of our pres- 

 ent specimen of standing with his fore feet in 

 the porcelain drinking trough, two feet from 

 the floor, we built a protecting wooden ledge 

 to prevent him from slipping out of the smooth 

 basin. He then developed a disposition to 

 thrust his elongated forelimbs so far through 

 the front bars of his cage that it was necessary 

 to cover the lower part of the cage with wire 

 netting. Persistently bumping his nose against 

 a door ledge was counteracted by a rounded 

 moulding. When he started to rub the hair 

 from his neck on an iron brace about twelve 

 feet from the floor, this was duly prevented, and 

 then the animal started to gnaw the door frame. 

 With the wood protected with sheet metal, the 

 giraffe concentrated his attention upon the pias- 

 ter top of a column, from which he playfully 

 bit generous fragments. We covered the top of 

 the column with wire mesh, and next morning 



