108 
ALMOST HUMAN 
of the culprits. So the mother has to keep her eyes open for danger 
signals, even ’while she is engaged in satisfying her appetite. 
There used to be a bear pit at the Zoo, where everybody enjoyed 
watching the antics of the pair of occupants. The bears had no 
complaints to make about their quarters until their first triplets were 
born, and then they discovered there was no place in which they could 
hide their babies away from the public gaze, and as everybody wanted 
to see the little things there was always a crowd of curious spectators 
clustered about the iron railings, watching and throwing things down at 
the tiny scraps of fur. Poor Mother Bear was worried out of her wits. 
Day after day she tried to find a way of escape, snatching up first one 
baby and then another, and pacing round and round the pit seeking for 
a place of refuge, a corner for concealment. When all hope of hiding her 
little ones from the troublesome crowd was gone, in sore desperation she 
killed and ate them all. This is often done by wild animal mothers when 
they see their cubs in any grave danger from which they feel themselves 
powerless to shield them. It is not the cannibalism of the father, for there 
is no lack of mother love. Apparently they think that by absorbing them 
again into their bodies they are placing them quite beyond the reach of 
enemies. 
Naturally after such a terrible tragedy the director did not wish to 
expose any future baby bears to the possibility of such a fate, so the mother 
was taken from the pit and placed in a cosy cage where she had a fine 
bedroom to use when she wanted to get away from prying eyes. When 
the last babies came, although she could not get beneath a fine blanket 
of warm snow, she had a very good makeshift in a darkened cage, which 
was so securely boarded-up that no one saw the babies until the usual 
three months of concealment were over, and they were big enough for 
the mother to lose all fear of danger from exposure. 
But, even though their father was separated from them by stout 
iron bars, their mother had a most unhappy time in rearing them. 
They seemed to know that the last and worst penalty for disobedience 
could not befall them, so they did as they pleased, and obeyed their 
mother only when her commands coincided with their wishes. Let a 
peanut, a bit of fruit, or a biscuit, be thrown into the cage, and let 
one get it when another thought it was his by right, there would.be 
a sharp snarl, and instantly the two would be on their hind legs indulging 
in a first-rate boxing match. No mercy was asked or received as they 
danced around each other seeking for an opportunity to give a knock- 
out blow. Very often there would be a triangular match, as exciting 
as it was brief. None of the fights ever lasted long, because Mother 
