When “ Nicholas ” was six years old (on December 5th, 1944 he celebrated his birthday 
by making a sudden and unprovoked attack upon his mother while she was feeding, 
inflicting serious injuries and causing her to die from suffocation through a ball of food 
lodging in her throat. 
After the above-mentioned tragedy, “ Nicholas 55 has been in constant company with his 
father “ Tony 55 without any apparent bad feeling between the two animals. It is 
interesting to note that the wild-bred animal is so tame as to allow his keeper to ride on 
his back, while “ Nicholas,” who was born in the Zoo, is highly nervous and suspicious 
of humans who attempt to approach too closely. 
In addition to the common hippopotamus noted above there is also a pygmy species 
which has a restricted range on the coastal regions of West Africa, particularly in Liberia. 
Photo by A. E. Brodench 
ONE OF THE TWO GREAT ANTEATERS FROM BRITISH GUIANA, NAMED “SCHNOZZLE” AND 
“ NOSEY PARKER.” THEY ARE TO BE FOUND IN THE PADDOCK HOUSE 
Photo of the Caracal Lynx on front cover by Ben Garth, F.R.P.S. 
TATTIS POTATO CRISPS LTD., AUGHTON, Nr. ORMSKIRK 
(Sold Throughout Belle Vue) 
Twenty 
BIRDS . . . 
T HERE are about 
17,500 different 
kinds of birds inhab¬ 
iting the greater part 
of the world. They 
show great disparity 
in size—compare, for 
instance, the smallest 
of the humming birds 
(which weighs only a 
fraction of an ounce) 
with the largest bird 
of all, the ostrich, 
which may be eight 
feet tall and weigh 
300 lbs. Birds are 
covered with feathers 
which show great var¬ 
iation in texture and 
form. These feathers are usually moulted and replaced each year, but the males of some 
species have what is called an eclipse plumage which is assumed for the breeding season 
only (examples in the Zoo are the weaver and whydah birds and some of the fancy ducks). 
The great majority of birds are expert fliers but some have puny wings not strong enough 
to lift the heavy bodies of their owners from the ground (ostrich, emu, rhea, etc.). The 
ostrich partly makes up for its inability to fly by running at fifty miles per hour ! Other 
birds are equally at home in the air or swimming on the surface of the water (swans, 
geese, ducks, etc.), while others dive and swim expertly under the water (penguins, 
cormorants, etc.). 
Some birds are capable of great speeds in flight. A duck-hawk, over a timed stretch, 
is said to have reached 180 m.p.h. ; Indian swifts, 171 m.p.h. ; the golden eagle, 120 
m.p.h. ; and even the little humming birds are said to fly at from fifty to fifty-five m.p.h. 
Some birds have long lives—at least in captivity. Eagles, vultures and other birds of prey 
have lived in zoological gardens for more than sixty years. Swans and geese are also long 
lived but it is doubtful if the claims of 100 years have been substantiated. Some parrots, 
like the cockatoos, do occasionally reach the century, but such old birds must be rare. 
The collection of birds at Belle Vue is distributed over various sections of the Zoo, although 
by far the largest and most important part will be found in the Parrot House and Aviary. 
Photo by Platt Bros., S. & R.C. (Photo Section) 
SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO 
SPRING DISPLAY BY THE PEACOCK 
Photo by Kemsley Newspapers 
Twenty-one 
