ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
111 
THE “LAUGHING” HYENA—SPOTTED HYENA 
I never had believed in the laugh of the hyena until I had observed this one and heard his weird and truly 
nerve racking cry. Just at sundown when the long evening shadows creep over the Park, the hyena breaks 
the twilight silence with his uncanny “laugh.” He seems to select the moment when the hideous quality of the 
sound will produce the most thrilling effect; a pronouncement of the formidable havoc that the possessor 
of so horrible a voice could effect. Even as the sound is thrilling, so is the hideous curling of his lips, which is 
nothing less than a frightful grin. To the eye and to the ear, the hyena is a formidable mammal.— E. R. Y. 
Photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn. 
MY ANIMAL FRIENDS 
By Helen Keller 
PART I 
My Acquaintance with Domestic Animals 
I CANNOT remember a time in my life when 
animals and I were not the best of friends. 
I emerged from babyhood clinging franti¬ 
cally to the rough coat of my father’s favorite 
hunting dog, a beautiful Llewellyn setter. To¬ 
gether Belle and-1 explored the garden. Together 
we fought our way through box hedges and 
rose trees. I am sure Belle was often puzzled 
to account for my peculiarities. She would 
watch me fall over objects with a troubled ex¬ 
pression in her kind eyes. With remarkable 
intelligence she did her best to keep me out 
of trouble. She knew perfectly well that rose 
bushes have thorns, and that thorns scratcli 
children and tear their frocks. She would 
push and pull in her efforts to dissuade me from 
going where it was not safe, but when I per¬ 
sisted, despite her most energetic resistance, she 
gave in and faithfully kept her place at my 
side, poking out her head in front to take ob¬ 
servations and prevent, if possible, a bump or 
a tumble. 
I loved Belle dearly. She was almost human 
in her patience and foibearance with me when 
I was only a little savage, more ignorant and 
apparently less capable of learning than my 
faithful companion in the great darkness. 
No sooner had I learned to spell a word on 
my fingers than I was seized with the idea of 
imparting this new accomplishment to Belle. 
I found her asleep on the shady side of the 
piazza. I sat down beside her and began to 
manipulate her blunt toes. She seemed em¬ 
barrassed, she smelt her feet anxiously and 
whimpered a little resentfully. I kept on, de¬ 
termined to teach her to make the letters d-o-1-1. 
Realizing thatAurther objection would be use¬ 
less, she watched the performance with stolid 
