90 



rnriTT^AR official guide. 



HYAENA DOG. 



The large and handsome White-Whiskered Paradoxure, 



{Paradox nrtis leucomystax) , has been in the Park about six 

 years, and to-day it coughs and snarls at the visitor just as 

 it did in the beginning. It is a smooth-coated creature, 

 colored like a puma, and comes from northern China. Other 

 members of the Family Viverridae contained in the collection 

 are the Malayan Paradoxure, [P. hermaphroditus) ; the Black 

 Paratdoxure, (P. niger) ; the African Ichneumon, (Herpestes 

 ichneumon), the strange black creature from the Malay Pe- 

 ninsula called the Binturong, or "Bear-Cat," (Arctictis hin- 

 turong), and the Suricate, or Slender-Tailed Meerkat, {Suri- 

 cata tetradactyla), of South Africa. 



Into the Small-Mammal House have drifted and comfort- 

 ably settled down several canine species which were not 

 satisfied elsewhere. Of these, the most interesting and valu- 

 able is the Hyaena Dog, {Lycaon pictits), of eastern Africa, 

 a mottle-coated creature with a clog-like body and a head 

 like a hyaena. His mottled brindled coat— a medley of 

 yellow, brown and black — seems to have paused uncertainly 

 in an effort to become either distinctly hyaena-like or dog- 

 like. In a wild state this animal is quite savage and cour- 

 ageous. It hunts in packs, and pulls down antelopes many 

 times larger than itself. 



The New Mexico Desert Fox, {Vulpes macrotis neomexi- 

 canus), is a small understudy of the better known Swift or 

 Kit Fox of the northern plains, but it has larger ears. 



