19 
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1948 
I Olm stead. 
When 
By Harman W. Nichols 
Washington (UP)--The tour 
of the Washington Zoo got around 
to the kusimanse, a mousy little 
critter 
ic name: Crossarchus 
Obscurus.) 
That little guy, said Dr. 
William Mann, zoo head man, 
came on a trade from Eng¬ 
land. The doctor’s special 
guest on the tour was Maj. 
Albert Pam, former treasurer 
of the Zoological Society of 
TBltthesa^Xhe major nodded. 
“It was like this, saidTTrT 
Mann. “I was having a little 
zooey chat in England with Dr. 
Geoffrey Vevers, director of 
the London Zoo, one day last 
summer. I admired his kusi- 
squirms 
manse. I said, ‘You folks have 
three of these things and the 
United States has none.’ 
Maj. Pam squirmed a little 
in the presence of the press 
as though he knew what was 
coming, which he probably 
did. 
Well, Dr. Mann talked the 
British zoo-man out of one of 
his prizes, but before he closed 
tile deal he said he wo^ld have 
to call Washington to see if his 
zoo had an extra cage. 
He picked up Dr. Vevers’ 
hone and called his lieutenant 
iiT>»r capital. After he had 
finished?^ called the operator 
and learned the call cost $15, 
including taxi 
Dr. Mann put his lunch hook 
into his money pocket, but the. 
Briton nay-bayed him. 
'fiange 
“Why fool with the silly ex¬ 
change of dollars, j*s aid the 
London man. “Well make a 
trade. What I would like in 
exchange for my kusimanse is 
a pair of marmots.” 
What the British call marmots, 
Americans, call prairie dogs. 
Dr. Mann said he thought he 
could oblige and, of course, he 
did. 
Our tour turned then to the 
reptile house and the Washington 
man gave the Briton his dues. 
“The design of this house 
is a direct steal from the London 
Zoo," he said. “Illumination 
in the cages. The false bottoms 
that allow the heat to come up 
from the floor instead of pouring 
in from the top. We save the 
lives of a lot of animals -- 
thanks to the tips I got from 
the British.” 
Heat’s the thing 
The alligator snapping turtle 
(Macochelys Temminickii) slept 
happily through the noise that 
was going on outside his cage. 
It was 80 inside, just like a turtle 
of his kind likes. Outside where 
people were, it was like what 
people like. About 68, 
Another steal from the London 
£oo--the right temperature for 
animals; ditto for humans. 
“More attention must be paid 
to the animals,” put in Maj, 
Pam. “They die easier than 
people, you know,” 
The tour worked its way to 
the zoo restaurant at lunchtime 
and Maj. Pam had to take a back 
seat to his host who was busy 
autographing his new book called 
“Ant Hill Odyssey.” 
Not aboirt' ants 
“Doesn’t have much to do 
with ants * w said Dr. Mann. 
“More about me — the first 
3 0 years of my life. In it l 
start out by getting born, which 
is kind of natural, and wind 
up 30 years later working for 
the government -- right here. 
I don’t know how the last part 
happened. ” 
I don’t know how it happened, 
either. But I know why he is 
still with us. He’d rather nurse 
animals than write books. This 
fact came out about this time 
when a messenger came and 
tapped Dr. Mann on the arm. * 
“Those snakes you've been 
expecting are here, sir," 
The doctor skipped his 
dessert. 
