In captivity the stags 
. . „ „ 0 appear to shed their 
Photo by W. Farnsworth , A.R. .S. antlers at approximately 
YOUNG FALLOW DEER the same period each 
spring. The new antlers 
appear immediately and growth continues apace until the late summer, when the 
“velvet” covering dries and cracks, and the stag then begins to rub the antlers against 
some handy object in preparation for the battles in which he is normally involved. 
DEEtt . . . 
D EER are unique 
among the mammals 
in that the males (and in 
the case of the reindeer, 
the females also) carry 
branched antlers on the 
head. These antlers, 
which are shed annually, 
are used by the males as 
weapons for fighting other 
males or stags, as they are 
popularly termed, for the 
possession of the females 
or hinds. These battles 
take place in the mating 
or rutting season in the 
autumn. 
Taking the red deer as 
typical of the family, we 
observe that the antlers 
first appear when the 
young stag has reached 
the age of six months, 
but nine or ten years 
must elapse before his 
antlers reach their greatest 
development. After the 
animal has passed his 
prime the antlers will 
diminish with each suc¬ 
cessive year, that is, the 
number of points or tines 
will steadily decrease. 
During the rutting period stags should be 
given a wide berth for they are apt to be 
highly dangerous and liable to attack humans 
who venture too near to the herd. In zoos 
they can be equally dangerous, even though 
no females may be present. 
Owing to the lack of suitable paddocks only 
red and fallow deer are shown at present. 
Of the red deer the hind is most interesting. 
Born in the Gardens August, 1937, she 
suffered a serious operation for the removal 
of a foetus in 1940 (this trouble was almost 
certainly due to the upset of the air-raids 
then prevailing). After a very long period of 
convalescence she recovered sufficiently for 
a new mate to be obtained and a fawn was 
born July, 1949. 
Deer are widely distributed throughout the 
world and are found in Europe, Asia, 
Northern Africa, and North and South 
America. 
Photo by A. Sinclair 
ARABIAN OR ONE-HUMPED CAMELS 
Eighteen 
CAMELS and LLAMAS . . . 
'T HERE are two species of camels, the one-humped camel of North Africa and Arabia, 
* and the larger two-humped Bactrian camel from Central Asia. Camels are no longer 
found truly wild, although a few have escaped from their owners and may be found 
existing under semi-wild conditions. 
Both the camels render man a great service as beasts of burden and also in providing 
food for the nomadic tribes to whom the camel is the most valuable possession. The 
term “ dromedary ” seems to cause a great deal of confusion, and should be applied only 
to certain one-humped camels which have been bred for fast messenger work rather than 
as baggage animals. Both kinds of camel can exist for many days without food and water, 
drawing on the accumulated fat in the hump and on the water stored in the first of the 
three stomachs. 
The llama and the alpaca (not at present represented in the collection) are probably 
domestic breeds which have been derived from the guanaco and the vicuna—inhabitants 
of the arid regions of Chili, Peru and Bolivia, and certain adjacent areas of South America. 
These animals may be regarded as close relatives of the camels, possessing many of the 
same traits, including that of spitting at objects which annoy them. Llamas are also used 
as beasts of burden and object strongly if they are overloaded, sitting down and stubbornly 
refusing to move until their load has been lightened. The Spaniards, like the Incas 
before them, used the llama extensively for carrying silver ore from the Peruvian mines in 
the Andes down to the Coast where the waiting ships carried the precious metal back to 
Spain, and it is not unlikely that the first knowledge of the llama (and perhaps the animals 
as well) reached Europe in this way. 
HIPPOPOTAMI . . . 
T HE common hippopotamus 
inhabits the lakes and rivers of 
Africa from the Sudan southwards 
to the Transvaal. They are sociable 
animals and are often found in great 
herds numbering many thousands. 
Aquatic plants form the bulk of 
their food, and in spite of their great 
size and weight they are graceful 
swimmers, and they can move 
speedily overland should the 
occasion demand. 
Our two fine male hippos are the 
most valuable animals in the whole 
collection. “ Tony,” who now 
weighs over 4,000 lbs., arrived as a 
mere three-year-old in February, 
1930. He was joined in 1937 by 
“ Gracie,” an eight-year-old hippo¬ 
potamus bred in the Amsterdam 
Zoological Gardens, and as a result, 
our first baby hippo, “ Nicholas,” 
was born on December 5th, 1938. 
“ Nicholas ” was approximately 
60 lbs. in weight at birth and when 
only twenty-four hours old he was 
allowed to join his mother for a 
swim. It is a remarkable fact that 
the baby hippopotamus can suckle 
from the mother while completely 
submerged. 
Photo by Thos. H. Mason 
HIPPOPOTAMUS “ NICHOLAS ” 
Nineteen 
